Odd birdcalls wake me the next morning. Groaning as I sit up, my situation sinks in. My back was aching, and I had a terrible crick in my neck. I guess I was going to have to find an unlikely pillow or give up sleeping on my side like I was used to. Whimpering slightly as I positioned myself against the cage bars, I looked around the sleeping camp. All the guards were in their bedrolls arranged around the fire, and only a few of the other slaves were up and about.

Intense blue eyes studied me from the corner of the cage by the door. She was a little bolder today, though Elendria still gave off the air of a skittish wild creature. I gave her a slightly longer examination, trying my best not to be a creep and leer at her lack of coverage. Her arms and legs were toned like a gymnast, and I could see the faintest hint of abs on her. While I couldn’t see her breasts because of the hair, they weren’t the ginormous ones that anime would have people believe all elves had. There were a series of purple hickeys leading from her neck down to her chest, but I ignored those.

“I can’t stop you from looking, human, but rest assured that you won’t be touching me.”

“Relax Elendria. I’m married.” I answered her.

“As if that ever stopped someone.” She grumbled, closing in on herself. It was awkward, as she couldn’t bring her knees to her chest without baring her sex for everyone to see, and I couldn’t stop myself from what I did next.

“Here, take this.” I said, removing my shirt. I tossed it in a wad next to her, and turned so that she could dress in peace.

“Take back your clothing.” She ordered, tears in her voice. “I’m not allowed to wear it anyway, though your courtesy is appreciated.”

“No problem.” I said, taking back my shirt and putting it on. I made sure to keep my movements smooth and a bit slow. “So, when do you start teaching me?”

“After breakfast.” She said, turning to stare vacantly out of the cage. I moved to the opposite corner of the cage, and sat down to twirl a blade of hay in my fingers. I don’t know how long I spent simply looking at the piece of hay, I had simply fallen into a daze where everything outside of the hay was blurry.

Skill obtained: Inspect (level 1/5)

Allows the user to identify common items that they have heard described before.

Huh. That was unexpected. And useless. At least for now. Perhaps I could upgrade the skill as it only had five levels. “Food.” A guard called, sliding us our breakfast. I let Elendria get hers first, downing mine in silence. It actually managed to taste worse than it did last night.

“Whoever keeps drawing the short straw should have stumbled upon the cooking skill by now.” Elendria growled. “Of course, if this is what they keep producing it isn’t surprising they haven’t gotten it.” She stared at the bowl for a bit before placing it by the cage door. “They’ll let us out in a minute to take care of bodily functions. Lessons start afterwards.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” I said, glad she had said something. Getting everything settled took about twenty minutes, not that there was much for us to do. The guards did nothing but walk around, letting several of the slaves pack everything up. Drivers from the other camp came over and hitched two creatures to each cage and we started off.

“You ready to learn human?”

“You can call me Sean if you want.”

“Is that your given name or your family name?”

“Given.”

“No. I’ll call you your family name, but that’s as familiar as I will get.”

“Fine. My family name is O’Carrol.”

“Right. Are you ready then? Let’s start with the easy stuff. Have you seen your status screen?”

“Yes. And I’ve checked out the descriptions for each attribute.”

“Perfect. Do you know what leveling entails?”

“Not exactly. I assume I earn experience, then when I cross a certain threshold I gain a level?”

“Yes, and it gets harder as you gain more levels. The most lucrative way to earn experience is by killing things. You can also earn it by completing quests. Humans average 5 for each attribute to start, and gain two attribute points per level. You have a maximum of 25 levels and can have a maximum of 50 points in any single attribute.”

“Seems simple enough. Anything special when you reach level 25?”

“You can ascend to a tier 2 species. What those are depends on too many factors to go into right now, and you are so far away that it isn’t important. If you want an example, take me. I started out as an elf, but have advanced to frost elf.”

“Fair enough.” I said, nodding along. “So what’s this about classes?”

“Classes allow you to go beyond the limits of your species, and are typically combat oriented. There are two types, open ended and set. You’ve probably noticed the first type, as slave is a class. You gain levels in a class by doing jobs associated with that class, and there is no limit. Open ended classes usually have a small gain per level, though this is forfeit if you don’t have the class equipped. The other classes usually don’t give a bonus at lower tiers, but they do provide a small permanent boost if you manage to finish them.”

“I understand the slavery portion, but could you give an example of the other type of class?”

“Fine.” She sighed. “Novice. It’s the first level of the mage tree, and only has five levels. At level three you gain access to the Apprentice class, but if you stick it out and fill up all five levels you gain a point to intelligence and an extra 50 mana. Each higher tier gives more bonuses, but also has more levels to it. I see wheels turning in your mind, so I’ll go ahead and answer your question. You can have ten unfinished classes at a time, and fifty finished classes per tier of your species.”

“Now, professions are more out of combat options. Instead of levels, they have ranks you must progress through as you gain skill. Blacksmith, scribe, alchemist, these are professions you can obtain. Again you may obtain up to ten professions, but they may only be switched out once per week. Some will provide boosts to an attribute, like a blacksmith boosting strength, but not always. Understand?”

“Yeah. That all sounds simple enough. Now how do you obtain, say, the novice class?”

“Simple. Cast a spell. Don’t ask, I’m forbidden from teaching you spells.”

“So I heard.” I said. “It doesn’t matter anyway; I can’t seem to access my mana.”

“Makes sense.” She nodded. “Certain races like elves are born with it, while others need it unlocked. Either by someone with mana, exposure to high concentrations of mana, or a life threatening experience.”

“Would you be willing to unlock it for me?” I asked hopefully.

“No.” She immediately shut me down. “If they found out-.”

“I wouldn’t tell them.” I interrupted her. “Besides, you haven’t been forbidden from it, have you?” I asked, hoping she would take the loophole. After several moments of indecision, she answered.

“Fine. I’ll do it, but you tell no one. And only practice when you can’t be caught.” I swiftly agreed, and she placed a nervous hand on my shoulder. I felt a cool sensation move into me, and toward my heart. Once it hit there, it seemed like a wave expanded outward through my body. I could feel it moving, concentrating in my hands and feet. From there, it would leak out at the same rate I felt it entering my body. The bits that left my body naturally were beyond my control, and even as I tried to hold on to the feeling it rapidly started fading.

“Whoah, that felt weird.” I spoke slowly, still adjusting to the feel of mana in my system. Staring at the palm of my hand, I started to try and channel a bit of mana to form a ball.

“What are you thinking!” Elendria hissed, slamming my fingers closed. “Do you think they won’t see it? I never should have done this, your stupidity will get me killed.”

“Sorry, sorry!” I quickly apologized. “I’ll keep it hidden, don’t worry.”

“Whatever.” She said, moving away from me and turning slightly away. “What else do you have questions about?”

“Skills. I got inspect level 1 of 5. What does that mean?”

“Skills are just that, skills. The better you are at something, the higher the skill level. At the level cap, you might be given the option to upgrade your skill. Inspect is a common skill, and the more you use it and the more you know of this world, the better descriptions you will get. Once you get it to level five and have a wide enough knowledge base, it can change to basic identify. That has ten levels, and can identify any common ranked item. Beyond that, you need years of study and you might be able to learn magical identify.”

“Do spells count as skills?”

“Yes. The better you are at a spell, the faster you can cast it. It’ll also get stronger and take less mana.”

“Do I have to say the name of a skill to activate it?” I had to ask this question. It was one of the things that always bugged me about certain anime and stories. If you knew the skill was coming, even if you only got a moment’s notice, you could prepare a defense.

“Some people use this as a crutch, though it isn’t required. Some of the stronger spells will require it, along with a chant. It has been noted that saying the skill sometimes decreases the casting time on the mid-level spells.”

“I assume that spells have an upgrade as well? Say firebolt, fireball, then something else?”

“Yes, though it all depends on the caster. Those who focus on area destruction might upgrade to the fireball, while those that focus on destroying a single target might obtain piercing flame. Keep in mind, not everyone has access to all the elements.”

“Oh? What elements are there?” I asked, as we were finally getting to what I considered the important stuff. I had always loved tales of magic growing up, especially those where the main character exploited knowledge of it to their benefit. From the small slice of the world I had seen, I was definitely in a place that lacked the technical knowledge I had access to as a chemist.

“Earth, air, fire, water, light, and dark. Keep in mind, these are only elements, there are other types of magic as well.” I was brought out of my daydreaming by her answer. “They can combine to create new elements, but these are the six that the world is built upon.”

“Are they considered opposites, or can they be combined?” I asked.

“That is up to debate. In most cases, adding equal parts indiscriminately will result in a failed spell. If you are asking if fire and water can be combined to make a steam based spell, the answer is yes. Just know that the hardest to combine is light and dark.”

“Thanks, that makes things a lot clearer.” I said, nodding. “Can I assume that types of magic would be along the lines of illusion, summoning, mental, things like that?”

“Yes. You will find that you have better luck with certain spells, but I will not be the one to figure out how you will learn this.” She said. “And that is enough for today I think. Tomorrow we start learning of the geography of Vitae.”

I initially thought to try and pressure her a little more, but decided against it. We were going to be here for a while, and I really didn’t want to antagonize her. Slumping against the wall of the cage, I thought over what she described. Seems like this was a typical game world, though there was a way to cheat the system. While the professions seemed to be geared toward boosting people who didn’t want a combat class, there was no rule limiting me to choosing one of each. In fact, I seemed to have an extra slot of each, maybe it was something to do with being summoned. I decided to check out the information on the summoned hero title.

Summoned hero

Drawn from another world, this is often the summoned hero’s first introduction to the system. To remedy that, they gain some boosts.

+100% to learning and increasing skills rate

Chosen of Arianna

This hero was summoned to Vitae by Arianna. Increased reputation with all factions that view Arianna in a positive regard.

Blessed by Lokir

Hey friend! I wanted to help you have fun here, so I gave you an extra class and profession slot. Hidden bonuses always make fights better, don’t you think? Oops, gotta go! System is almost free and he looks mad.

Otherworldly traveler

Those who are sensitive may determine that you have crossed the vast gulfs between planets. In addition, all classes and professions are unlocked, provided you meet the prerequisites.

Huh. Seems like I have Lokir to thank for those extra slots. Of course, that makes me the new favorite toy of a possibly insane, thoroughly bored god of tricksters. I really hope he finds a new toy, and fast. Either way, if he had a way to bind up the system, even for a little while, it might be a good idea to just avoid him.

Blowing out a sigh, I turned my thoughts to my predicament. Obviously the first thing I had to do was escape slavery, preferably before I got sold. After that, I needed to get stronger. To do that, I needed to pick a path and I figured that magic was going to be the answer. It was also the way to get out of the slave collar. Somehow. I shifted the collar just a bit, and felt two prongs slightly scrape across my skin. Not long enough to penetrate, it seemed like a magical version of a shock collar for dogs back home. If I could block the prongs, the collar’s magic might be useless. Eh, I needed to be a lot better at magic before I could use that.

So. Getting stronger. The typical response would be to invent guns and obliterate everyone with less tech than me. Simple. Effective. Useless. Sure, I was a chemist back on earth, but I had no idea how to make gunpowder. Why would I? All I did was test blood samples for drugs in the hospital. Knowing how to set up and run an instrument that would separate blood samples and tell you what’s in it doesn’t translate to throwing metal chunks at high rates of speed very well. Even if I could do it with magic of some sort, there were all sorts of problems.

Guns really shined when you compared their rates of fire to a bow and arrow. To boost that, you need a magazine. Gravity could feed it from the top, but those always seemed clunky and awkward. Or you could use a spring, but I had no idea if this world could produce the springs required. Then you needed rifling for accuracy, and a perfectly straight barrel. That might be castable, but I doubted it.

So no guns for me. I didn’t have any martial training, and no experience with swords so I wouldn’t have any boosts from taking one of those paths. I did have increased intelligence and wisdom stats, so I should get the best boost from them should I go with magic. I was also hoping that knowing a bit of how the world actually worked was going to make spells a bit easier. Well, I had to wait for darkness to practice mana, so I decided to take a nap. It wasn’t like there were any skills I could grind at the moment anyhow.