《Trial of Champions》 Chapter One: Preliminary Chapter One: Preliminary I was falling. It was a strange sensation, to be standing on solid ground and yet have my body feel weightless, my stomach protesting at the endless lurch. My family ¨C my little sister, my older brother, and my parents ¨C were with me, but the rest of the amusement park crowd around us had vanished, as had the amusement park itself. Instead, apart from the rapidly changing patch of land underneath cycling through different forms with dizzying speed, our surroundings were simply an endless kaleidoscope sky rushing up and away from us, and nothing else. My teenage sister let out an eep of surprise, while my graduate student brother looked around in confusion. My parents were silent; I glanced at them to find them staring at the strange environment in shock. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. We were in some sort of cave, damp and cool, lit only by the strange smokeless torches attached to the statue in front of us. The stone carving stood perhaps twenty feet high, the likeness of a man in a robe holding a sword forward as he raised his other hand high nearly perfect. At its base, a large plaque covering in strange runes served as our only greeting. ¡°What just happened?¡± my father said, suddenly alert for threats. He wasn¡¯t a violent man, but I knew he would do anything to protect his family, and though his tall frame wasn¡¯t rippling with muscle like a bodybuilder or a sports player, he was deceptively strong from his regular workouts at the gym. ¡°Where are we?¡± my sister added, sidling up to my mother with an expression that showed curiosity warring with fear. She was endlessly inquisitive, but such a sudden and strange occurrence as this was too much, even for her. And though she loved nature, a cave wasn¡¯t exactly the most thrilling of natural environments when the only feature worth noting was a manmade statue. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± my mother answered, wrapping an arm around my sister protectively. She was our family¡¯s glue, whose steadfastness, love, and stern guidance held us together. It was also from her that my sister probably got her curiosity; my mother had a deep and abiding love of science for the wonders it provided. My brother stepped forward, leaning in to examine the runes. He, like my father, was the scholarly sort, and his first thought seemed to be to examine the surroundings for clues. He adjusted his glasses ¨C all the males in my family had them ¨C and squinted at the carvings. ¡°I have no idea what these are,¡± he admitted after a moment. I, in my infinite wisdom and not-at-all-impulsive-idiocy, stepped up beside my brother and placed the palm of my hand against the relief. There was a loud ding, as from a toaster oven, and suddenly I could hear an androgynous voice in my head. [For being the first in your group to touch the Statue of Champions, you have been designated as Leader. The others in your group have been designated Members of your Party. Your Party has gained the ability to read Runescript. The Class options available to your Party have been adjusted based on your subconscious desires. Please make your Class selections within the next hour, or those who have not chosen will be assigned random Classes. You may select one Primary Class and one Secondary Class.] The runes didn¡¯t change, but suddenly, I could understand them. Judging by my brother¡¯s sudden exclamation, so could he. ¡°What was that?! Why can I read these runes all of a sudden?¡± I read silently along with him as he read aloud. ¡°Welcome to the Trial of Champions. Within lurk hazards, traps, and monsters. Should you pass the Trial, you will be transported to another world of adventure and danger. Before you begin, you must first choose your Primary and Secondary Class, which will grant you the powers you need to endure the challenges ahead. As you accomplish feats, your powers will grow stronger, enabling you to tackle more difficult tasks. You have one hour to make your decisions, after which the Trial will begin.¡± There was a great rumbling as pedestals rose out of the stone around us, each bearing a torch on its side and a hovering object above its flat top. It took nearly a minute for the dozens of pedestals to finish rising up, after which silence fell over my family. My sister was the first to move, her curiosity overcoming her fear. She practically dashed over to a pedestal with a statuette of a tiger above it. I heard my brother mutter, ¡°What is this, a LitRPG?¡± as he went to examine the nearest pedestal, which held a what looked like a potion bottle. My parents just looked perplexed. ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything,¡± my father warned. ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Be careful,¡± my mother added. As I investigated, I realized that each pedestal had a small plaque with the name of the class that the item on it represented. It didn¡¯t take me long to realize that many of them at the least shared a name with classes from a certain popular roleplaying game. The sword: Fighter. The shield: Paladin. The book: Wizard. The tiger: Druid. The wand: Sorcerer. The¡­ lute, I guess: Bard. The staff: Monk. The bow: Ranger. The lockpicks: Rogue. The cross: Cleric. The axe: Barbarian. But others were different. There was a four-leaf clover labeled Herbalist, a potion labeled Alchemist, what looked like a sack of coins labeled Merchant, a strange rod with liquid inside visible through a glass slit labeled Artificer, and many more. In total, there were thirty possible classes to choose from. Some of them seemed like support or creation classes, others were clearly for combat, and some were magic-focused. My parents quietly talked to each other and tried to find a way out (there wasn¡¯t one) while we siblings explored. [Time remaining: Forty-five minutes.] I wasn¡¯t the only one to hear the voice that time. We regrouped to discuss what to do. ¡°As crazy as this situation is, I say we roll with it,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, if we can¡¯t get out of here, isn¡¯t it better to try to equip ourselves as best as possible to handle whatever comes next? It kind of sounds like this is a life-or-death thing, and I really don¡¯t want to die.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± my brother said. ¡°Besides, as strange as this all is, it¡¯s fascinating. Don¡¯t you want to learn more, Dad? There has to be some kind of explanation for all this. It¡¯s like something out of a game novel, but there must be rules to how all this works.¡± ¡°I¡¯m kind of scared, but also excited,¡± my sister added. ¡°What if this is real magic?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe in what I don¡¯t have evidence for,¡± my father said. ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening. We can¡¯t jump to conclusions. Our main priority is staying safe, followed by finding a way out of here.¡± ¡°Your father is right. But you¡¯re also right, Yuan, and so are you, Todd. I¡¯m concerned, but like Renee, I¡¯m a little excited, too. Science is all about experimentation and studying how things work, after all, and if we truly have been brought somewhere with new rules we don¡¯t know¡­¡± There was a gleam in her eye, one I recognized from when she used to volunteer to teach science at the public school when we were kids. My father sighed. ¡°All right. But don¡¯t touch until we¡¯ve discussed together. Now, you kids seem to have some idea of what might be going on. Todd, you said this seemed like a ¡®game novel.¡¯ What¡¯s a game novel?¡± Before my brother could respond, I jumped in. ¡°More frequently called a LitRPG, which stands for literary RPG, where RPG stands for roleplaying game. Basically, it¡¯s a novel where the world follows videogame rules or similar. There are often classes, which determine what capabilities people have, and you can level up to get stronger or advance your capabilities, often by learning skills or fighting monsters. The whole mention of classes and the names of some of these classes seems very much like that sort of thing.¡± Todd nodded. ¡°Yeah, like Yuan said. Some of these pedestals are labeled with familiar class names, which could give us an idea of what they do, but others are new.¡± ¡°For example, Druids are nature magic users in a lot of games, often with animal sidekicks,¡± I said. My sister¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I want that one!¡± she declared. ¡°I¡¯m leaning toward Wizard, myself,¡± Todd said. ¡°They learn magic through study in many stories and games. Scholar mages, if you will.¡± ¡°Depending on whether these classes actually correspond to the game they seem to come from,¡± I said, ¡°Sorcerer may be my first pick. They do magic more intuitively, with magic running in their blood. Of course, if it¡¯s not corresponding to the game, it might be ¡®pacts with evil spirits¡¯ type magic, and that would be¡­ bad.¡± ¡°Which is why we need to see if there¡¯s any way to investigate what the classes do before choosing them,¡± my brother concluded. My mother nodded in agreement. ¡°What about this shield one, Paladin?¡± my father asked. He was also a scholarly type, which is probably where my brother got it from. ¡°Does it have something to do with Charlemagne?¡± ¡°Er¡­ no,¡± I said, suppressing a laugh. ¡°The word Paladin hasn¡¯t referred just to the knights of Charlemagne in a long time. It¡¯s basically a holy warrior. In the game that these seem to come from, Paladins are focused on smiting evil and healing others.¡± ¡°Why is the symbol a shield, then?¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Beats me. Maybe it¡¯s intended as a protector class?¡± We continued discussing things until we received another notification. [Time remaining: thirty minutes.] ¡°We¡¯d better start figuring out what the classes actually do,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to try something.¡± I walked over to the wand and poked it. Information popped into my head.
SORCERER A mage who uses magic by intuition. His spells are etched into his very blood. Starting Equipment: Enhancement Wand Starting Features: Spirit Animal Starting Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Minor Telekinesis, Force Armor, Magic Missile
¡°All right. Just touch the item ¨C but don¡¯t take it ¨C and it should give you a brief description. Also, yoink.¡± I grabbed the wand and removed it from the pedestal. [You have chosen Sorcerer as your Primary Class. Spirit Animal will be summoned based on personal preferences. Granting spell knowledge.] Darkness swirled around my ankles, and moments later ¨C moments during which the knowledge of how to channel magical energy into the listed spells poured into my brain ¨C a small black cat appeared right beside me. ¡°Uh¡­ hi?¡± The cat rubbed up against my ankle, purring. ¡°I¡¯mma name you Shadow,¡± I said. The cat kept purring. I glanced back up to see my father frowning at me. I probably should have asked first, shouldn¡¯t I? My seventeen-year-old sister followed my lead, poking the tiger figurine.
DRUID A mage connected to nature itself. Her spells are granted by that connection. Starting Equipment: Short Spear Starting Features: Animal Companion Starting Spells: Create Water, Detect Poison, Purify, Lesser Healing, Animal Speech
Why was I seeing the same information that she was? Maybe it was because I was the leader? In any event, she pulled the figurine off, almost immediately dropping it as it started to move, transforming in seconds into a full-grown tiger. A one-handed spear coalesced out of what looked like mist, dropping into her outstretched hand. Todd prodded the book.
WIZARD A mage who unravels the secrets of magic through diligent study. His spells are inscribed in his spellbook. Starting Equipment: Spellbook Starting Features: Spirit Animal Starting Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Decipher Script, Force Disk, Silent Illusion
He grabbed the book, and a white raven formed on his shoulder. Huh. He didn¡¯t have any attack spells. That seemed like an oversight. I turned to my parents. ¡°We should probably all pick our primary classes before any of us pick secondary classes,¡± I said. ¡°What about you guys?¡± They were much less eager to pick the first class they checked, but in the end, my father picked Paladin and my mother picked Alchemist.
PALADIN A shining knight who uses both martial might and blessed magic. A stalwart defender, his magic is not limited to spells alone; the blessed power comes from within. Starting Equipment: Shield, Sword Starting Features: Healing Hands, Smite Evil Starting Spells: Blessed Armaments
ALCHEMIST A magic scientist whose experiments yield potions, poisons, transmutations, and more. While she cannot cast spells, she can create a wide variety of magical effects with the right recipes. Starting Equipment: Portable Alchemist Lab, Ingredients for Starting Recipes Starting Features: Substance Identification, Mixing Intuition Starting Recipes: Healing Potion, Firebomb, Steel Transmutation, Mist Grenade
My father now had a large shield-shaped shield (I didn¡¯t know how else to describe it) and an arming sword. My mother, on the other hand, had a backpack full of equipment and a bandolier for holding potion bottles. [Time remaining: ten minutes.] With not much time left to decide on our secondary classes, my siblings just picked things that suited their personalities.
BARD A mage whose magic is embodied in music and dance. Her spells spring forth from her performances. Starting Equipment: Musical Instrument Starting Features: Magical Performance Starting Spells: Dancing Lights, Auditory Illusion, Lullaby, Charm, Frighten
ARTIFICER A magic crafter and engineer who creates equipment, tools, and garb imbued with magical traits. While he does not cast spells directly, his creations might enable him to mimic them. Starting Equipment: Portable Artificer Lab Starting Features: Magic Imbuement, Sculpt Mana Starting Skills: Woodcraft, Metalcraft, Tailoring
My parents and I had more trouble deciding. I wanted a way to fight without magic, but I wasn¡¯t very physically impressive. Eventually, I settled on Ranger.
RANGER A hunter who fights with sword and bow alongside his animal companion. He possesses some minor nature magic to complement his martial prowess. Starting Equipment: Bow, Sword Starting Features: Animal Companion Starting Spells: Animal Stealth
When I removed the bow, I also got a quiver full of arrows, an archery glove, and a single-edged straight sword. [You have chosen Ranger as your Secondary Class. Animal Companion will be summoned based on personal preferences. Granting spell knowledge.] After a few seconds, a bald-eagle-sized hawk appeared out of nowhere, landing on my instinctively-outstretched and inexplicably gloved left hand. I hadn¡¯t even noticed the glove appearing. Odd. My mother, after the countdown hit five minutes, chose Merchant; my father picked Summoner.
MERCHANT A savvy and clever buyer and seller of goods. She has great people skills, able to use her words and manner to convince others to like her, enabling her to get good bargains and make trade contacts easily. Starting Equipment: Gold, Silver. Starting Features: Magnetic Charm, Silver Tongue Starting Skills: Bargaining, Gather Information, Appraisal
SUMMONER A mage who calls upon the aid of spirits and monsters whose outlook is in line with his own. His spells are drawn from the veil between dimensions. Starting Equipment: Enhancement Talisman Starting Features: Summon Spirit, Summon Monster Starting Spells: Daze, Lux, Bolster, Draw Attack, Heal Spirit
[The Trial of Champions will now begin. Complete the Trial swiftly and with flair and you will be rewarded with a Boon.] With another grinding noise, the pedestals began to sink into the ground. The statue began to sink as well. When it had completely disappeared into the floor, a white circle whose circumference was composed of various tiny geometric shapes shimmered into being in its place. ¡°Is that some sort of teleportation circle?¡± I said. My cat meowed and my hawk shuffled its feathers. ¡°Yeah, I think so,¡± my brother¡¯s raven, which was sitting on his shoulder, squawked, startling all of us. ¡°You can talk?¡± Todd said in surprise. ¡°Oh, right, you¡¯re a raven, and raven famil¡ªI mean, spirit animals can talk.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can.¡± ¡°Fascinating. Do you have a name?¡± he said, adjusting his glasses. ¡°Nope, not yet.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re waiting for me to name you?¡± ¡°Yeah, I am.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ how about Albee? Short for albino,¡± he explained. ¡°Yeah, works for me.¡± I looked at my bird. It wasn¡¯t supernaturally intelligent, being an animal companion instead of a supernatural being. ¡°I¡¯mma call you Rusty,¡± I said, mimicking my brother and naming it after its coloration. ¡°Sheena,¡± I heard Renee say, and I glanced back at her to find her stroking the tiger¡¯s head. It seemed remarkably calm about that. My mother laughed nervously. ¡°All these animals¡­¡± she said. My father, who was holding his sword and shield at the ready, looked like he was contemplating something. ¡°I¡¯m going to try summoning a spirit,¡± he said at last. ¡°According to the knowledge shoved into my head¡± ¨C he sounded displeased about that ¨C ¡°I can only form a bond with one spirit upon summoning it for the first time. I wouldn¡¯t believe any of this, but after everything I¡¯ve just seen, I¡¯m suspending my disbelief until we¡¯re safe.¡± He closed his eyes and concentrated as we all watched, his mouth moving to unheard words. A full minute passed, my arm starting to grow a little tired from holding Rusty. Then, suddenly and without warning, there was a flash of golden light in front of him. When my eyes adjusted, I was met with the sight of what was obviously an angel. The man had smooth, porcelain-white skin, shimmering silver hair, bright blue eyes, large white-gold-feathered wings, a spotless white toga-like outfit, a golden bow on his back, and a silvery two-handed double-edged sword in his hands. He swept his eyes over all of us, then turned to face my father, who had finally opened his eyes. ¡°Mortal,¡± the angel said in a strong, melodious voice. ¡°You have summoned me from the celestial planes to bind us together. Only one with a strong sense of what is right is capable of such a feat. Tell me, mortal: who are you, and what is your goal?¡± ¡°My name is Jonathan,¡± my father said, his voice wavering, his expression screaming that he couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. ¡°And my goal is to protect my family.¡± ¡°A noble goal.¡± ¡°Are¡­ you an angel?¡± my father said skeptically. The angel smiled. ¡°I am Arkenthra, angel of the celestial planes.¡± ¡°Celestial planes?¡± ¡°I¡¯m like, ninety-nine percent sure we¡¯re not in the same universe anymore,¡± I interjected. Arkenthra glanced at me. ¡°Yes, this place does seem to be an unusual plane, artificially designed. You and I must indeed come from different worlds. I feel sorrow that you have been taken from your homes and brought to this place. Should we form a bond, I will do my utmost to ensure you are all protected until such a time as you find a way to return.¡± My father shook his head as though trying to clear his thoughts. ¡°Then let¡¯s form a bond.¡± ¡°Do you vow to be righteous in your conduct always?¡± ¡°I do. I chose Paladin for my other class, after all.¡± ¡°Then the pact is forged. Do not fear to place me in danger; I cannot die when not on the celestial planes. I will fight for your goal: to protect your family. Now, to that end, we must with haste use the teleportation circle, because I sense that this chamber is about to collapse.¡± ¡°I guess whatever¡¯s in charge of this Trial doesn¡¯t want us to stay here!¡± I said in alarm. ¡°Shadow, up on my shoulder!¡± My black cat jumped onto my extended right arm, then raced up onto my right shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll step through first,¡± my father said. ¡°It might be dangerous wherever it takes us.¡± He strode with purpose onto the teleportation circle, followed by the angel. Both vanished as soon as they were completely past the edge. My brother went next, followed by my sister, and then I went, my mother close behind. Chapter Two: Jungle Chapter Two: Jungle Jungle. No family. Panic. Oh no, oh no. The teleportation circle separated us! I thought we¡¯d all end up together ¨C we all thought that ¨C but it sent us to different places. This was not good. This was very, very bad. My mother and brother didn¡¯t have any combat abilities. My sister¡­ well, I guess she had a tiger to protect her. My father had a freaking angel. And I? I had weapons I didn¡¯t know how to use, access to two combat spells (one offensive and one defensive), a cat, and a hawk. So¡­ I was sort of in the middle, there. Not helpless, but not really capable of defending myself, either. I knew how to cast the spells ¨C the knowledge had been shoved into my mind ¨C but I had no experience with them, because hey, magic didn¡¯t exist back on Earth. And while having a hawk companion was kind of badass, a hawk was no tiger. And I really didn¡¯t expect my cat to be of any help. So. To take stock, I had a recurve bow on my back, some arrows in a quiver, a sword belted to my waist, a wooden wand with weird carvings on the side also slipped through my belt, and two animals. I was in the middle of some sort of jungle, complete with cacophony of animal and bug noises. I had no idea what I was going to face here, so my first order of business was to get my racing fear under control. If I was panicking, I couldn¡¯t handle anything. ¡°Fly,¡± I told Rusty, flicking my hand. The bird leapt off and winged his way through the trees. Shaking out my arm, I drew my sword with my right hand. I stopped. Drawing the sword felt way more comfortable than it should have. Familiar, as though I were used to doing it. Had gaining the class implanted some sort of muscle memory in me with regards to the use of my weapons? I carefully swung the sword, causing Shadow to jump off my shoulder with an irritated hiss. And I could feel her irritation. I think the game called it an ¡°empathic link.¡± It wasn¡¯t enough for real conversation, but urges and emotions could be transmitted from one of us to the other. That could be useful, if the cat was capable of contributing in any way, which I doubted. First things first, though: if this really was another world, which appeared to follow LitRPG rules, then did we have stats and such? ¡°Status. Menu. Character,¡± I muttered. ¡°Information. Stats. Abilities. Oh, for goodness sake. Self-analysis?¡±
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 1)
Sorcerer Class Points: 0 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 0 Mana: Full
Sorcerer Features: Spirit Animal (Avoidance, Empathic Bond) Ranger Features: Animal Companion (Lesser Avoidance, Master Bond) Miscellaneous Features: None
Sorcerer Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Minor Telekinesis, Force Armor, Magic Missile Ranger Spells: Animal Stealth
Proficiencies: Sword, Bow, Spells
¡°Ah, there we go. Hm.¡± Having something so blatantly game-like was helping me calm down and focus. My heartbeat was already slowing. ¡°Looks like HP and numerical stats aren¡¯t a thing. Most of what it shows me I already knew, though the Proficiencies probably explain the apparent muscle memory with regards to my sword. Apparently I do know how to use my weapons. Somehow.¡± I slipped my sword back into my belt ¨C very carefully, as it had no sheath ¨C and put on my archery glove, which had been in my pocket. I might need to use the bow. I had no idea how closely the Classes cleaved to the game on which they seemed to be based, but my suspicion was that there would be plenty of points of divergence. I had ¡°mana¡± rather than ¡°spell slots,¡± for one thing, and there was no numerical value listed for it either. There was also the issue of some of the spells being renamed. The knowledge of how to cast the spells was imprinted in my mind, but not the knowledge of what exactly they did, meaning I would have to experiment. Likely in combat. That sounded super safe. That was sarcasm. ¡°Skree!¡± Rusty reappeared, pumping his wings for extra speed, then circled around my head before landing on my left shoulder ¨C which had some sort of leather guard on top. When had that gotten there? Shadow darted between my legs, and I felt her nervousness and fear. A pair of mottled green felines that resembled panthers stalked into view, spreading out and moving to circle me, their yellow eyes fixed on me unblinkingly. A stab of fear. I only had seconds to decide on a course of action. ¡°Animal Stealth,¡± I said, drawing on something deep inside my core and weaving it into a strange lattice with my mind. The entire process took about three seconds, and when the lattice was complete, I felt something snap into place. The world took on a grayish tint, and the great cats stopped, looking around in confusion. Ding! [You have cast the first circle spell ¡°Animal Stealth¡± for the first time. This spell affects you and any bonded creatures, such as Animal Companions or Spirit Animals. It has two effects: it makes those affected undetectable by nonmagical animals and increases the difficulty of detecting those affected for all other creatures. The duration of this spell is indefinite; it constantly drains a small amount of mana while in effect. Attacking or casting offensive spells automatically dismisses the spell.] ¡°Undetectable? So they can¡¯t hear me if I talk?¡± The green panthers didn¡¯t react to my speech at all, but they started moving closer, sniffing. They were still looking for me. I needed to move. I walked right between them, tensing as I did. They continued their fruitless search, completely unnoticing of my passing. I kept walking forward, only adjusting my direction to avoid step around underbrush and avoid walking into trees. Only once I had put a several minutes of distance between me and the big cats did I finally heave a sigh of relief. I didn¡¯t cancel the spell, though. There were a lot of other animals around, including bugs the size of my thumb or even bigger and snakes that could easily swallow my cat whole. This place was clearly dangerous, and without this spell I wasn¡¯t sure I could defend myself properly. Some time later ¨C according to my cell phone, about ten minutes ¨C I heard a frightened cry. It sounded like a multisyllabic word, but definitely not an English one. I hesitated. The Trial never said that my family were the only ones, did it? It had sounded like a girl, not some sort of animal or monster, so maybe she was another prospective Champion? ¡°Skree!¡± Rusty lifted off my shoulder, accidentally whacking me in the head with his wing as he took off. I followed him as quickly as I could, abandoning all pretense at stealth just to try to keep up. Annoyingly, Shadow had an easier time than I did, as she didn¡¯t seem to be inhibited by the foliage nearly as much. Eventually we came to the edge of something that could very generously be called a clearing. Somewhere close to the center, her back pressed up against a large tree with lots of thick vines hanging from its branches, was a girl who appeared to be somewhere between my age and my sister¡¯s age. Her wavy hair, which fell to the middle of her shoulder blades, rippled with all the colors of the rainbow. Her ears were pointy, and long enough that they poked through her hair. Her violet eyes didn¡¯t seem to have any whites, and her skin was almost as pale as my pasty indoor self. The clothes she wore seemed vaguely sci-fi, with what looked like metal stripes creating circuits on her green bodysuit. A bracelet that was clearly some sort of computer was on her right wrist, and her shoes looked like liquid silver. Oh, and she was surrounded by creatures that absolutely looked like brown wolves with green pointy horns jutting out from above their eyes. There were four of them, and I could literally see the saliva dripping from their open mouths. ¡°Skree!¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Rusty was circling above the wolves, waiting for a command. The girl shouted something that sounded aggressive at the wolves, bringing her fists up defensively in front of her face like a boxer. If she had noticed Rusty, she gave no indication, and she definitely didn¡¯t seem to have seen me yet. I pulled my bow off my back (how was it stuck there, anyway? Questions for later) and drew an arrow from my quiver. Wait. I should armor up first. ¡°Force Armor.¡± The lattice, different from Animal Stealth, took roughly the same length of time to form. It snapped into place, and I briefly saw purple plates of armor form around my arms, on my legs, and protecting my torso (both front and back) before they disappeared from view. Ding! [You have cast the first circle spell ¡°Force Armor¡± for the first time. This spell affects you. It creates thin plates of protective force to guard your arms, legs, and torso from physical damage. The duration of this spell is indefinite; it constantly drains a small amount of mana while in effect. The plates sustaining a certain amount of damage will shatter and dismiss the spell.] Now I could fight. I nocked an arrow. Pulling back the bow was harder than I had expected it to be. It was probably because I was so weak. Still, I could probably manage a few shots. I aimed at the back of the head of one of the wolves, then let fly. Twhip! Crack! The sensation of Animal Stealth, which I had started to get used to, instantly disappeared, and my vision returned to normal. The wolf I shot collapsed with the arrow embedded in its skull. The other three reacted instantly. Two of them whirled around with a speed and grace that a quadruped really shouldn¡¯t be capable of, their amber eyes locating me in a fraction of a second. The third lunged for the girl. Her computer-bracelet sparked as she swung, discharging what looked like a massive jolt of electricity into its head when her fist connected with the side of its snout. It crashed into the ground beside her, twitching. ¡°Rusty! Attack!¡± The two wolves charged toward me. I cast aside my bow and drew my sword, but I wasn¡¯t fast enough. One of them jumped at me, teeth clamping down on the plates protecting my sword arm with a scraping sound. I stumbled back from the impact. The other jumped at me, too, but it was knocked off course by a rust-colored feathery comet impacting with its head. Still, it hit my legs and nearly knocked me over, unbalanced as I was. The wolf holding onto my arm shook its head vigorously, and I completely lost my footing. I was jerked forward and to the right; I crashed to the ground. Fear rose up and threatened to break my focus as the wolf let go of my arm and prepared to finish me off. I felt a flash of fury through my empathic bond. Shadow leapt from the ground directly into the wolf¡¯s face, clawing at its eyes. It yowled in pain and anger, whipping its head back and forth until the cat was thrown off. But the spirit animal had bought me some time. I lurched up and slashed, my sword cutting across the wolf¡¯s left front leg and into its neck and underside of its jaw. The pained cry was accompanied by a retreat the distance of several feet, allowing me to get up into a crouch. It eyed me warily, now seeing me as a threat rather than easy prey. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Rusty was distracting the other wolf, winging back up out of reach before divebombing and tearing with his talons. Good for him; I¡¯d be dead otherwise. My foe and I locked eyes. A beat. Lunge. Counter stab. My sword buried in the throat of the wolf, its teeth snapping less than a foot from my face. Blood washed over my hand, and I reflexively dropped my sword, springing up and stumbling back. ¡°Skree!¡± Rusty hurtled through the air before smacking into a tree, tossed by the final wolf. I was jolted out of my stunned stupor. The wolf prowled toward the flailing bird. I had to protect Rusty, but I didn¡¯t have a weapon! I extended my bloody hand toward the wolf. ¡°Magic Missile!¡± This time the spell¡¯s lattice seemed almost to complete itself, flowing to completion much more quickly: it took perhaps two seconds rather than three before the marble-sized shining blue star winked into existence and streaked between my palm and the wolf, exploding on impact with its side and hurling the wolf several feet away, flipping it sideways. Ding! [You have cast the first circle spell ¡°Magic Missile¡± for the first time. This spell creates one or more magical projectiles which home in on their targets and explode. This is an upgradeable spell.] The wolf struggled to get to its feet. I couldn¡¯t allow that. ¡°Magic Missile!¡± The shining blue star attacked in a curved arc, and this time the wolf didn¡¯t move after the explosion. Ding! [You have killed three horned wolves without assistance. You have killed three horned wolves without sustaining any damage. You have won your first battle. For these achievements, Experience Earned has been tripled.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up. Each time you increase your level, you will gain CP (half as much in your Secondary Class as your Primary Class), as well as slightly increase your physical, mental, or magical characteristics in accordance with the strengths of your classes. Class Points may be spent on earning new features or spells, or upgrading current features or spells.] That was all well and good ¨C and kind of exciting ¨C but there were a two much more important issues to take care of first. ¡°Rusty!¡± I said in concern, going over to the hawk¡¯s side. He was back on his feet, which was a good sign. ¡°Are you okay?¡± One of his legs was injured, presumably from the wolf grabbing and tossing him, but he seemed to stand on it just fine. I checked his wings; he keened in (presumably) irritation, but I was able to confirm that he hadn¡¯t broken anything, at least. Unfortunately that got some blood on him, though. Not a big priority, but I¡¯d have to take care of that at some point. I stood up. ¡°Shadow?¡± The black cat darted up to me and meowed. I felt concern through our link. ¡°I¡¯m all right, Shadow. Are you okay?¡± Shadow rubbed up against my leg, and I felt her satisfaction. ¡°Good.¡± Now for the second issue. I turned toward the pointy-eared girl. She pointed at me and said something in her unfamiliar language. I wasn¡¯t quite sure whether it was a statement or a question. ¡°I have no idea what you just said.¡± She blinked, then frowned. She tapped her computer-bracelet and said something. There was a pause, and then a mechanical voice emanated from it, speaking in the same language. She growled in frustration. ¡°So, uh, I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re here for the Trial of Champions, too?¡± I said taking a step toward her. She immediately raised her fists, shouting out something that I assumed was a warning. I held up my hands, palms toward her, and her eyes flicked to my blood-covered right hand. Er. That might be an issue. Maybe if I learned a spell to clean things? The Sorcerer class should be capable of that. ¡°Upgrades,¡± I said quietly. ¡°Level up. Class Points. Advancement.¡±
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 2)
Sorcerer Class Points: 4 Energy: High Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 2 Mana: Moderate
Sorcerer Advancement Options Enhance Spirit Animal, New 0th Circle Spell, New 1st Circle Spell, Upgrade Magic Missile
Ranger Advancement Options Enhance Animal Companion, New 1st Circle Spell, New Weapon Art, Increase Weapon Competency
Miscellaneous Advancement Options None
¡°New zeroth circle spell options,¡± I muttered. A list appeared in my mind. It had about two dozen options in it, and I quickly picked out the one called ¡°Cleanse.¡± My Sorcerer Class Points ticked down by one. I raised my eyebrows. If that was all it took¡­ ¡°Upgrade Magic Missile.¡± Two options came this time: ¡°25% reduction in casting time¡± and ¡°one additional missile.¡± That¡­ was actually a harder decision than I expected it would be. Cutting off a half-second from the casting time was a huge difference in the heat of battle, but it was less than the doubling of the DPS (or damage per second) that adding an additional missile was. After some brief indecision, I settled on reducing the casting time. One missile in one point five seconds was probably a better deal than two missiles in two seconds. This time it used two CP, and my advancement options for Sorcerer disappeared entirely. Would each choice I made cost more CP? Well, assuming the same pattern held true for my secondary class, I could pick one upgrade for Ranger. I assumed that ¡°Increase Weapon Competency¡± would make me more skilled at hitting my opponents, but given that the basic competency it gave me allowed me to hit the back of a wolf¡¯s head from around thirty feet away while it was stationary, I could save that for later. Rusty didn¡¯t need boosting any more than Shadow at the moment ¨C he had survived a toss with little injury, after all ¨C so that wasn¡¯t necessary either. So really, it was between learning a new spell and learning a new ¡°weapon art,¡± whatever that was. ¡°New weapon art options.¡± The list was fairly long, but the ¡°arts¡± were grouped together under various headings, and as my mental vision hovered over each group, the others faded away. I had a feeling they were mutually exclusive. I didn¡¯t spend a whole lot of ?time lingering; the girl had narrowed her eyes at me and was starting to inch away. Instead, I picked one of the options under ¡°Archery:¡± ¡°Swift Shot.¡± [You have learned the Archery Art: Swift Shot. You can now shoot arrows twice as quickly. As your skill improves the speed with which you can shoot, the effect of this Art continues to proportionately enhance your speed. Note: by choosing an Archery Art, you may no longer choose Arts from other combat disciplines.] My Ranger CP dropped by one, and my upgrade options vanished. ¡°Cleanse,¡± I cast. The zeroth circle spell completed its lattice far, far faster than any of the first circle spells, finishing in a mere half-second. It snapped into place, and I focused the magical energy ¨C a much smaller amount of energy than a first circle spell ¨C on myself. In an instant, blood, dirt, and grime disappeared from my skin, hair, and clothes. ¡°There,¡± I said aloud. ¡°Not bloody anymore!¡± [You have cast the zeroth circle spell ¡°Cleanse¡± for the first time. This spell affects you or any creature or object within twenty feet of you. The affected target and its equipment is cleansed of anything that soils it, be it solid or liquid. This does not eliminate food or water contamination.] I was pretty sure the last thing ¨C the thing that it didn¡¯t do ¨C was covered by my sister¡¯s Purify spell. But back to my present surroundings. The girl had stopped inching away and was now frowning at me. I smiled in a manner that I hoped was disarming. ¡°Uh, hi? Let¡¯s try this again. My name¡¯s Yuan, and I just helped you fight these wolves.¡± I tapped my chest. ¡°Yuan,¡± I repeated. She pointed to me. ¡°Yuan?¡± she asked. I nodded. She hesitated, then pointed to herself. ¡°Lartha,¡± she said. ¡°Lartha,¡± I repeated, pointing to her and getting a nod in return. Movement attracted my attention and I noticed that Rusty was circling me. I held out my arm and he landed. He didn¡¯t feel quite as heavy as before. With another nod at Lartha, I went to collect by weapons (and clean off the sword. With them safely back on my person (and I still didn¡¯t know how the bow was staying on my back), I turned back to her to find her staring at me curiously. ¡°Hey, Shadow? Go charm her, will you?¡± Shadow looked up at me with great amusement and padded over to Lartha, meowing. Lartha glanced between the two of us before crouching down and stroking Shadow, causing the feline to purr. The girl smiled, and didn¡¯t react with fear or hostility when I walked up to her. ¡°So,¡± I said. ¡°Shall we team up?¡±
You have extended a temporary party link request. Should this be accepted, both individuals will be capable of understanding one another¡¯s language. ¡­ Lartha has accepted your invitation.
Lartha looked up at me. ¡°Now,¡± she said, ¡°who the heck are you, Yuan?¡± Chapter Three: Animals Chapter Three: Animals ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°So we can understand each other now.¡± Lartha picked up Shadow and stood, still stroking the cat. ¡°Apparently. This despite my computer not recognizing your language at all. It¡¯s supposed to have all modern languages in its database, too.¡± I couldn¡¯t suppress a smirk, despite the circumstances. ¡°I doubt that extends to languages from other universes.¡± She froze. ¡°Other universes?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t figured it out by now? Wherever we are, it¡¯s not where we came from. You and I aren¡¯t from the same universe. For starters, there are no elves or whatever you are in my world, just humans.¡± ¡°¡­Please tell me this is your idea of a joke.¡± ¡°Unfortunately not. Did you have others you were with? I was with my family, but we got separated when the Trial started.¡± ¡°A few classmates. We weren¡¯t friends or anything, but when I arrived in this jungle alone, lacking the safety of companions, I was quite perturbed. I¡­ well, I assumed we had been abducted for a virtual reality experiment. How else to explain the Classes? But if you claim to be from a different universe¡­¡± She looked nervous. ¡°I am barely avoiding losing myself to panic right now,¡± I informed her cheerily. ¡°If I stop to think about things too hard I¡¯m going to lose all ability to take care of myself. Best that we just go with the flow.¡± ¡°¡­Oh.¡± ¡°Yeah, I only look like I know what I¡¯m doing. And Rusty and Shadow, the hawk and cat? I met them less than an hour ago. They¡¯re both connected to me through my classes. Speaking of, what classes do you have?¡± ¡°My primary is Technomage, and my secondary is Brawler. We thought it was virtual reality, so I figured a primary class involved in technology and a secondary class in fighting would be good for whatever sort of game whoever kidnapped us had planned.¡± ¡°That explains how you took out that wolf by socking it in the jaw. Is it dead, by the way?¡± ¡°Yeah. I finished it off while you were fighting.¡± She started petting Shadow again. ¡°So what classes do you have?¡± ¡°Sorcerer and Ranger. I leveled up from killing those wolves.¡± ¡°Is that what you were doing when you were muttering to yourself?¡± ¡°Yup. I was assigning my Class Points.¡± ¡°Class Points?¡± ¡°Have you looked at your status yet?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Try saying ¡®self-analysis.¡¯¡± ¡°Self-analysis. Huh. So you get Class Points for leveling up?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°And you level up by killing things?¡± ¡°So far that¡¯s what I¡¯ve seen, though who knows whether there are other ways. I assume there are, since not all classes are combat classes.¡± ¡°I suppose we should try to figure out what the goal of this Trial is. The voice said that we were being timed, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°And that if we finished quickly and with flair we would get a boon, whatever that means.¡± ¡°This place seems fairly dangerous. Is that why you extended the offer for us to team up?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°So, you never answered my first question: who are you, Yuan?¡± ¡°Regular college student. I¡¯m not anybody, really. From a planet called Earth; the only planet inhabited by humans ¨C the only inhabited planet that humans are aware of, for that matter. So, I¡¯d just call the world Earth, too.¡± ¡°I am also a student. From a planet called Taxan, the capital of the Interstellar Empire. ¡­You¡¯re really from a one-planet civilization?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t even developed transportation to get people from one planet to another in the same star system, let alone interstellar travel.¡± I patted my sword¡¯s hilt. ¡°We¡¯re well beyond weapons like these, though.¡± ¡°Are ordinary civilians allowed to possess weapons in your country?¡± ¡°Not everywhere on my planet, but in my country, yes.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ you have multiple countries on a single planet?¡± ¡°There are something like two hundred countries.¡± Lartha blinked in disbelief. ¡°How is that even possible? What kind of population does your world have?¡± ¡°About eight billion, I think.¡± She stopped petting Shadow to turn and stare at me. ¡°Eight billion? For a single planet? How big is your planet?¡± I gave a one-armed shrug. ¡°How should I know? I¡¯m no geologist.¡± I turned to Rusty. ¡°You know, I¡¯m still not that strong, you beautiful bird. You¡¯re tiring me out resting on my forearm like that.¡± ¡°Does that creature actually understand you?¡± ¡°He seems to understand simple commands, but other than that, no. Shadow, on the other hand, does understand speech.¡± Shadow meowed pleadingly, and Lartha started petting again. ¡°We should get going. We have no idea where we are or what we¡¯re supposed to do, but I¡¯m pretty sure sitting in one spot is not going to help us progress. Also, I want to find my family. My mother and brother don¡¯t have combat classes at all. My father and sister should be okay, though.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get moving.¡± Lartha started walking, and I followed, flicking my arm so that Rusty would take to the air again. It was a lot harder to walk through the jungle without Animal Stealth active, but since I couldn¡¯t cast it on my compatriot, there wasn¡¯t a lot of point to it. As long as we steered clear of colonies of giant bugs and skirted around any snakes we saw, I figured we would be all right, and for the first fifteen minutes or so I seemed to have been correct. Then a spider with a body as big as Shadow¡¯s dropped out of the canopy and landed on my head. I screamed. Lartha reacted almost instantly, turning and punching it off, dropping Shadow in the process. The hairs on its legs scratched my face as it went, but didn¡¯t draw blood. It landed on the tips of its legs (spiders don¡¯t really have ¡®feet¡¯) on the ground, then jumped toward me. Shadow sprang at it at the same time, trying to claw its face off. It bit back. Pain. Fear. ¡°Shadow!¡± I drew my sword and stabbed down, piercing into its abdomen. It shrieked ¨C a sound I didn¡¯t expect to hear from a bug ¨C and twitched. Ding! [You have killed one small jungle spider with assistance. You have killed one small jungle spider without sustaining damage. You have earned Experience.] ¡°Shadow! Are you okay?¡± ¡°Meow.¡± Shadow was definitely not okay. Her front left leg had been bitten by the spider, and the wound was already oozing. ¡°What do I do? What do I do?¡± ¡°Calm down. Don¡¯t you have a med patch?¡± I glared at the elf girl. ¡°Med patches don¡¯t exist where I¡¯m from.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, then I guess you can use one of mine?¡± She ran her finger along the circuitry on her suit, then peeled off a piece of the part covering his torso which had changed color to red. It was a square two inches to a side. ¡°Just place it over the injury. It disinfects and accelerates healing. I guess you should probably wash out the wound first, though. You don¡¯t have any water, do you?¡± I didn¡¯t. My mother was the one carrying our water bottles. Actually, the need for food and water might be an issue if this Trial lasted for more than a couple hours.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°That should be our first priority,¡± I decided. ¡°We need to find water, then food. We have no idea how long this trial will last.¡± ¡°Any ideas on that? I¡¯m not a wilderness survival expert.¡± ¡°Neither am I, though my secondary class is supposed to be. Maybe if I can get another level up I¡¯ll have the chance to acquire a skill or something?¡± ¡°Too bad you can¡¯t scout with your bird.¡± ¡°I could try¡­ but he doesn¡¯t really understand more complex concepts, being a regular animal. Maybe if I chose to upgrade him¡­¡± I pondered. As I had noted before, I really had no idea how much things diverged from the source material. Could I increase an animal¡¯s intelligence, or at least become able to communicate complex concepts? What about seeing through their eyes? Lartha seemed to be considering my words. ¡°Well then, maybe we should stop avoiding the wildlife and start killing it. That way we could level up, and you could test your idea.¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m a bit hesitant to do that,¡± I confessed. ¡°I¡¯m not exactly a hardened warrior, and killing wild animals when I could just let them live doesn¡¯t really sit right with me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s either that or let the wound fester without water.¡± I felt a pleading though my bond with Shadow. I sighed. ¡°All right. Let¡¯s do this. Carry her for me?¡± Lartha sighed, but took the cat from my arms. After retrieving, cleaning, and putting away my sword, I led the way forward, keeping an eye out for anything that looked like it might provide me with decent experience, like giant snakes. I killed a couple with Magic Missile, not wanting to risk wasting my arrows by missing, blasting the slithery reptiles from the trees. Each time I received a notification of experience being earned. However, my mana was now listed as ¡°Low¡± on my self-analysis, so I decided that any further slaying would have to be done with weapons. Every once in a while, Rusty would swing around to check on us before flying up away again. I hoped that nothing in the canopy would try to eat him. ¡°Skree!¡± he called out. ¡­I hate irony. Rusty plummeted toward the ground, swooping level to it at the last moment, knocking the thing that had tried to grab him aside to bounce on the dirt. It was some sort of almost-humanoid spider roughly three feet tall, several inches taller than my bird. I drew my sword and charged. The thing was fast. It dodged to the side easily, then lunged forward, fangs extended. The fangs and mandibles were rebuffed by the invisible plates of force armor around my stomach, and its top four legs scratched at my sides, tearing through cloth (but thankfully not skin) with the tiny iron-like hairs. I slashed again, and it jumped back out of range before springing forward once more, this time trying to bite my arm. The plates once again protected me. I shook it off, and it skittered around, trying to circle behind me. I whirled around, swinging my sword in a wide arc, but it remained just out of reach. ¡°Skree!¡± Rusty flew at the creature, and it jumped away from the swoop, putting it back in range of my sword. I capitalized on the opening, slashing from right to left, my sword cutting through its carapace and leaving a long gash on its¡­ torso? It turned its attention back to me and jumped, aiming for my face. In one moment of blinding terror, I stabbed up and forward with my sword while shielding my face with my other arm, squeezing my eyes shut. A sudden weight pulled my weapon down as the blade impaled something. Ding! [You have defeated one spider goblin without assistance. You have defeated one spider goblin without sustaining damage. For this accomplishment, Experience Earned has been doubled.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up.] I opened my eyes. ¡°Phew,¡± I said in relief. ¡°I¡¯d clap, but my arms are full,¡± Lartha said in a flat voice. ¡°Hush, you. That was scary.¡± It was freaking terrifying. That thing was way scarier than the wolves. ¡°Anyway, I finally leveled up. Let¡¯s see¡­¡±
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 3)
Sorcerer Class Points: 5 Energy: Moderate Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 3 Mana: Low
Sorcerer Advancement Options Enhance Spirit Animal, New 0th Circle Spell, New 1st Circle Spell, Upgrade Magic Missile
Ranger Advancement Options Enhance Animal Companion, New 1st Circle Spell, New Weapon Art, Increase Weapon Competency
Miscellaneous Advancement Options None
¡°Enhance Animal Companion.¡± As expected, this opened up a new list. It was¡­ bigger than I was expecting, but not too big.
Animal Companion Enhancements
Increase Robustness Increase Combat Prowess Increase Defenses
Extra Training Extra Talent Increase Physical Prowess
Increase Intelligence *Avoidance *Sensory Link
¡°Sensory Link.¡± [Your Animal Companion has gained the feature ¡°Sensory Link.¡± By closing your eyes and concentrating, you can see and hear what your Animal Companion does. Be careful, as you become blind and deaf to the world around you when you do so. The range of this link is five miles.] My Ranger CP went down by two, disabling any further upgrading of that class. ¡°Perfect. Rusty, Scout.¡± ¡°Skree!¡± he said in agreement, flying high and away. ¡°Watch me while he scouts,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t be aware of my surroundings while I look through his eyes.¡± I shut my eyes. It was stunning: such sharp vision, seeing things so far below with such detail. I felt like I was watching a first-person movie filmed from the air, but so much better. I could hear the whistle of the wind, the sounds of the jungle, moving all around me as Rusty traveled. I could get addicted to this. While I watched, I pulled up my upgrade options for Sorcerer. Part of me wanted a new spell, or an upgrade to Magic Missile, but I was curious what sort of differences there were between my Animal Companion options and my Spirit Animal upgrades. I couldn¡¯t hear my own words as I spoke them.
Spirit Animal Enhancements
Increase Intelligence Increase Defenses Increase Robustness
*Speak with Like Animals *Spellbond *Resistance to Magic
*Speak with Sorcerer *Sensory Link *Spirit Connection
Some of those I was pretty sure what they did. Spellbond and Spirit Connection? No idea. I was a sucker, so I chose Speak with Sorcerer, depleting my Sorcerer CP by three and disabling further upgrades. [Your Spirit Animal has gained the feature ¡°Speak with Sorcerer.¡± You and your Spirit Animal may now converse with one another, as though sharing a common language. This speech is unintelligible to all others.] Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be deaf to my surroundings right now? Maybe the system voice didn¡¯t count. I watched and waited. Water! There was a waterfall coming out of a hill and crashing into a pool that became a stream. I grinned, then opened my eyes. I could remember enough of the turns to know the general direction of our destination. ¡°I¡¯ll carry Shadow if you want to be our fighter,¡± I said. ¡°I know where we¡¯re going now.¡± She handed the cat and med patch to me. ¡°Hey there, Shadow,¡± I said softly, my voice surprising me by coming out as meows. ¡°I upgraded you. You can talk to me now.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ making animal noises?¡± Lartha said incredulously. ¡°¡­Sorta? I upgraded Shadow while I was at it, and now the two of us can speak to each other in a manner that can¡¯t be understood by anyone else. Right Shadow?¡± I said as we started walking. ¡°You understand me?¡± my cat meowed at me. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°It hurts.¡± ¡°I know. As soon as we get to the water, which should take twenty to thirty minutes, I¡¯ll wash off your wound and put this med patch on it. That should heal you fairly quickly.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She paused. ¡°What¡¯s a minute?¡± ¡°A¡­ unit of time?¡± I counted out fifteen seconds. ¡°Four times as long as that.¡± ¡°Thirty? That¡¯s a long time.¡± ¡°¡­Did you just start existing when you became my spirit animal?¡± ¡°Yes. Why?¡± ¡°I guess that explains why it would seem so long to you. It¡¯s a large chunk of how long you¡¯ve been alive.¡± I snuggled my face in her fur. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of you, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°That is very strange to listen to.¡± ¡°Stranger than just not being able to understand each other before we teamed up?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she said with certainty. As it turned out, Lartha was actually equipped with a weapon, which I discovered the next time we passed near a constrictor snake hanging from the trees. She pointed her fist toward it from a distance, flipped her hand upside-down, uncurled her fingers, and did everyone¡¯s favorite famous web-slinging hero¡¯s finger move. I couldn¡¯t see clearly exactly what happened to her bracelet, but something that looked like a small cylinder attached to a line of blue light shot out and stuck to the snake. She squeezed her middle and ring fingers twice quickly, and electricity shot through the line to the cylinder, shocking the snake like a taser. It fell out of the tree with a thump, and she released her fingers, causing the cylinder to fly back into her bracelet. After that, she charged over to the fallen animal, and with a single sign-language ¡°yes¡± of her hand, a blue blade maybe seven inches long that looked like it was some sort of sci-fi ¡°hard light¡± construction extended forward over her hand from the top part of her bracelet. She stomped on the snake¡¯s head, then stabbed it in the neck. ¡°Ooh, I leveled up! Nice! Four points to Technomage and two to Brawler.¡± ¡°¡­Why do you have an energy dagger?¡± ¡°Hm? It¡¯s a self-defense weapon.¡± ¡°I thought you had implied that your country didn¡¯t let ordinary civilians carry weapons.¡± Her eyes widened like she¡¯d been caught out on something. ¡°¡­You¡¯re not just an ordinary civilian student, are you?¡± I concluded. She sighed. ¡°If we really are in a different world, I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. As the daughter of an Imperial Parliament Member, I¡¯m allowed to carry weapons for self-defense.¡± ¡°Oh? So your father or mother is some sort of big shot?¡± ¡°My mother, yes. The position of Parliament Member is hereditary, so¡­ I guess you could say I¡¯m something like nobility? That¡¯s a concept that still exists on some of the planets; I don¡¯t know if you have nobles on your world or not.¡± ¡°Not in most countries, but it¡¯s only been a couple hundred years since most places have moved on from that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really not that long, assuming your years are anything like Imperial Standard.¡± ¡°Three hundred and sixty five point two five days, where a day is twenty four hours, where an hour is sixty minutes, where a minute is sixty seconds¡­ where a second is¡­¡± I counted out a second. ¡°Hey, Bracelet. Convert that to Imperial Standard.¡± ¡°One Earth year is roughly zero point nine Imperial Standard years, assuming the boy¡¯s measurement of one second is accurate,¡± a mechanical voice said. ¡°So two hundred years would be about a hundred and eighty Imperial Standard years,¡± Lartha mused. ¡°That¡¯s really not much time at all.¡± ¡°How long do your people live?¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself from asking. ¡°About five hundred years ¨C Imperial Standard ¨C give or take a tenth of that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ way longer than humans live in my world.¡± ¡°Oh? How long does your kind live?¡± ¡°In the better developed countries, about eighty years ¨C Earth years, obviously ¨C give or take a decade or two. Barring health problems, most people live at least seventy years, and living past ninety isn¡¯t exactly rare. Most people die in their seventies or eighties, I think.¡± ¡°Wow. You¡¯re really short-lived. How old are you, then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m twenty years old. You?¡± ¡°I¡¯m ninety-four. Your people age really fast, huh?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Compared to you elves, maybe. Compared to most other mammals on our planet? Not really. We¡¯re actually pretty slow to reach adulthood compared to most things.¡± ¡°¡­Why do you keep calling me an elf?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the name of a fictional species of person that is extremely long-lived and has pointy ears.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Using her electric punch, her energy blade, and her taser cylinder, she killed a couple more snakes, a couple spiders, and one of those green leopards. Apparently her bodysuit also worked as armor, because it protected her from getting mauled by the leopard, though she did end up with scratches on her hands and face. She was very unimpressed that I didn¡¯t drop Shadow to help her, but I pointed out that she hadn¡¯t helped me with the spider goblin either, and she leveled up after that fight anyway. Not long after that, we finally reached the water, where Rusty was waiting for us. Chapter Four: Three Chapter Four: Three ¡°Hold still, Shadow,¡± I complained as I used my handkerchief to clean the cat¡¯s wound while holding her leg underwater. ¡°I don¡¯t like it!¡± she yowled. ¡°We¡¯ll be finished soon. Be patient. You want to be healed, don¡¯t you?¡± After I got the med patch attached (which adhered to her skin and then changed color to match her fur) Shadow lay down on a rock by the pool and sulked. I could tell she was sulking because I could feel it through our bond. ¡°So,¡± I said to Lartha. ¡°Have any way of carrying this water?¡± ¡°No. You?¡± ¡°Nope. I guess we¡¯ll make this our base for a little while. You wouldn¡¯t happen to have any way to purify the water, would you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°I guess we¡¯ll just have to risk it, then.¡± The underbrush on the far side of the pool rustled. Lartha and I looked at it, preparing for a fight. ¡­And out stepped a tiger. A tiger upon which my sister was riding. I let out a huge sigh. ¡°Renee!¡± I called out. ¡°Oh! Hey, Yuan!¡± Her face lit up. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking everywhere! I¡¯m so glad I found you. Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Relieved to see you unharmed; I¡¯ve been really worried about you guys. Especially Mom and Todd.¡± She pouted. ¡°Not me?¡± ¡°You have a tiger to protect you,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Fair. This place is amazing! All the different animals and plants¡­¡± ¡°¡­That are trying to kill you. Seriously, only you could be excited about being lost in the jungle.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t had anything try to kill me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you have a freaking tiger!¡± Renee finally noticed Lartha. ¡°Oh? Who is she? Another Champion?¡± ¡°Yeah, from a sci-fi world. This is Lartha. Lartha, this is my sister Renee.¡± ¡°Greetings, Renee,¡± Lartha said politely. ¡°Is that beast your pet?¡± ¡°She¡¯s my animal companion ¨C a part of my primary class.¡± Renee petted the tiger. ¡°She¡¯s so soft and sweet.¡± ¡°They¡¯re normally a dangerous species,¡± I said to Lartha. ¡°They¡¯re deadly predators.¡± ¡°Ah. Hence your comments about her safety in its company. If it won¡¯t attack her, it will deter other creatures from doing so.¡± ¡°Right. Hey, Sis, what did you name her?¡± ¡°Sheena. Don¡¯t you remember?¡± ¡°No,¡± I answered honestly. ¡°Come join us over here. You can purify water, right?¡± ¡°Sure can! It¡¯s one of my zeroth circle spells. Want me to purify some water for you? I¡¯ve got an empty water bottle.¡± ¡°I thought Mom had our water bottles?¡± ¡°I kept one in my fanny pack,¡± she said, patting the belt-attached pack in question. ¡°I can also just straight-up create water.¡± ¡°¡­Is that why your hair is wet?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The tiger padded over to our side of the pool, and Renee dismounted and set her spear down. She opened her pack, took out a miniature water bottle, and scooped water out of the pool. ¡°Purify,¡± she cast, then handed it over. I drank the whole thing. It was quite refreshing. It had some interesting undertones, probably from minerals in the water. I handed it back, and she did the same for Lartha. ¡°So, did you do anything to get experience on the way here?¡± I asked. ¡°Sheena killed a few spiders. I reached level two.¡± ¡°What¡¯d you do with the points?¡± ¡°Nothing. I couldn¡¯t figure out how.¡± ¡°The keywords are ¡®self-analysis¡¯ for your status screen and ¡®advancement¡¯ to get your upgrade screen.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± They all sat in silence for several minutes. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°What¡¯d you upgrade?¡± ¡°Gave Sheena Avoidance and an intelligence boost, and upgraded my musical competence.¡± She patted the lute on her back. ¡°I want to actually be good with the instrument I play.¡± ¡°So what next? Hunting for food?¡± Lartha asked. ¡°Well, it does seem to be early afternoon. I think maybe we should try looking for others first. This spot is the first place I¡¯ve seen with an actual opening in the canopy; maybe I can send Rusty up top and see whether there¡¯s anything notable above the treetops.¡± I stood up. As I did so, something slammed into my backplate hard enough to shatter it, causing the rest of the spell to immediately fail. I stumbled, then turned around to see an arrow with a broken arrowhead on the ground. As my companions reacted, my head whipped up and scanned the trees, even as I started recasting the spell. [Your Mana is nearly depleted. The spell ¡°Force Armor¡± will only last for a maximum of thirty minutes.] Thanks, disembodied voice of the system. I really needed that kind of reassurance. There! There was something high in the trees! The lizardman pulled back his bow, aiming at me. I threw myself to the side, ramming into Sheena. The arrow whistled past, striking the water with a splash. I pulled my bow off my back and grabbed an arrow, not bothering to fool with my glove, which I had taken off when cleaning Shadow¡¯s wound. I set it to the string, drew it back, and loosed it. Thwip! The arrow missed, sailing a few feet below the humanoid reptile. He was too high up and far away for me to get a good bead on him with my current skills. ¡°Renee! Get Sheena to climb the tree and attack! Rusty!¡± ¡°Skree!¡± ¡°Attack!¡± I said, pointing. The lizardman pulled back another arrow. This time I lunged left, away from the tiger, and the arrow clipped a plate on my upper arm, spinning me slightly but not breaking the magic. ¡°Sheena! Attack!¡± my sister cried, her arm outstretched. ¡°ROAR!¡± Sheena bounded forward, even as Rusty spiraled up. For a moment, the lizardman hesitated, unsure which target to aim at, before he decided on the hawk. He fired, his arrow sailing straight through Rusty¡¯s right wing. With a cry, the bird¡¯s upward spiral turned into a downward one as he desperately tried to slow his descent. ¡°Bastard!¡± I swore, aiming another arrow. This time I purposely aimed it what felt like too high, hoping that I was judging the distance right. Thwip! The arrow barely missed, going right over his shoulder. He started, clearly not expecting me to be that accurate. He ignored the climbing feline to aim at me again. I dodged. He delayed his shot until I was moving, and the impact shattered my breastplate, cancelling the spell. It also sent me back a couple steps, right to the water¡¯s edge.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Lartha grabbed me and steadied me before I fell in. ¡°Can¡¯t do much with it up there,¡± she said. ¡°My weapons don¡¯t have that kind of reach.¡± I grabbed another arrow. Our enemy¡¯s attention was no longer on me. He aimed straight down at the approaching tiger. I adjusted my aim carefully. ¡°Gotcha,¡± I said. Thwip! We released our arrows at the same time. His buried itself in Sheena¡¯s shoulder, causing the big cat to yowl in pain, though she didn¡¯t let go of the trunk. Mine hit him right in the torso. It didn¡¯t bury very far ¨C only the arrowhead went through his scales ¨C but the unexpected impact while he was already slightly unbalanced was enough to knock him off the branch. He let out what sounded like a scream as he fell, hitting the ground with a crunch. Sheena let go and landed heavily beside him. It didn¡¯t take a genius to guess what she was going to do next. [You have killed a Level 4 Champion Contestant with assistance. You have killed a Level 4 Champion Contestant without sustaining damage. You have won your first battle against another Champion Contestant. For this achievement, Experience Earned has been doubled.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up.] My eyes went wide at the revelation. ¡°That was a person!¡± ¡°Uh¡­ obviously?¡± Lartha said. ¡°It was using a bow.¡± ¡°Skree¡­¡± ¡°Oh, right! Rusty!¡± I put my bow on my back and rushed over to the wounded bird. He had a big hole in his wing, and it was bleeding pretty badly. ¡°Sheena! Come!¡± I heard the tiger approach, then hiss in pain as Renee yanked out the arrow, something I really didn¡¯t think she had the strength to do. Those arrows had been shot pretty hard; I was willing to bet that bow had a much heavier draw than mine. Also, weren¡¯t you not supposed to rip out arrows like that? ¡°Lesser Healing,¡± Renee cast. Oh. Right. ¡°There now, isn¡¯t that better?¡± my sister cooed to her tiger. It purred at her. ¡°Renee, a little help?¡± I said, picked up and cradling the giant hawk. I was pretty sure that there were no hawks this big on Earth, but he was definitely a hawk, not an eagle. My sister rushed over and placed her hands over the hole. ¡°Lesser Healing.¡± Before my eyes, the flesh grew back over the wound ¨C as did feathers. Within seconds, it looked like the bird had never been injured. He flapped his wing experimentally, then got out of my arms double-quick. I didn¡¯t think he liked being held that way. ¡°That¡¯s healing magic?¡± Lartha said interestedly. ¡°That¡¯s even faster than a med laser.¡± ¡°Just be glad it didn¡¯t damage bone or internal organs,¡± Renee said. ¡°Lesser Healing can¡¯t help with those.¡± ¡°But didn¡¯t Sheena get shot in the shoulder?¡± Renee shook her head. ¡°It buried in the muscle.¡± ¡°So, did you two level up?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­ we just killed somebody.¡± ¡°Again¡­ yes?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about your planet or whatever,¡± Renee said seriously, ¡°but where we come from, killing is not something normal people do. Murder is illegal, and regular people don¡¯t go around killing people.¡± She grimaced. ¡°Is it bad that I find this easier because he was a lizard-person?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see what you¡¯re so worked up over. It was self-defense.¡± ¡°Have you ever killed someone?¡± I asked. Lartha nodded. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve survived multiple assassination and kidnapping attempts. Sometimes I had to kill the attackers in self-defense.¡± ¡°Well, neither of us has had to deal with that kind of situation. This is a first.¡± Lartha shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just disappointed that I didn¡¯t get in on it. I presume it was worth more experience than killing beasts.¡± ¡°How can you be so callous?¡± Renee demanded. ¡°This is obviously a death game,¡± Lartha reasoned callously. ¡°To win, we have to survive, even if that means killing the other contestants. For all we know, we might have to whittle down the competition in order to pass the Trial.¡± ¡°I really hope this Trial isn¡¯t that cruel,¡± I said. ¡°Well, it might be,¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°Anyone want to see if the scaled person is edible?¡± Both my sister and I flinched. Lartha rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not cannibalism if it isn¡¯t your own species. What¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just eat people!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°¡­It¡¯s not alive, and it¡¯s not like we killed it in order to eat it. What¡¯s the point of just leaving the body out if it is edible?¡± ¡°Are you saying you¡¯d eat either of us if we died?¡± my sister said, drawing back a little and huddling against Sheena. ¡°Well, no. You¡¯re too similar to my own species in appearance. It would feel weird.¡± ¡°Do your people regularly eat other people in your Empire?¡± I asked. Part of me was disgusted and creeped out, and part of me was genuinely curious. It just felt so wrong. ¡°Depends on what you mean by regularly. Selling the recently dead to people of other species isn¡¯t exactly uncommon in the Empire; that way you make money off of dead relatives rather than spending money on preserving the body or something. Also, certain species find other species to taste good if the body isn¡¯t extremely old or disease-ridden. Of course, this does result in illegal trades revolving around kidnapping and murder, but the Empire really cracks down on those.¡± ¡°Remind me to never go to your universe,¡± I said with a shudder. ¡°Somehow I doubt that was ever a possibility,¡± she replied. ¡°At any rate, I¡¯ll take that as a ¡®no¡¯ to my initial question. If you¡¯re not willing to help me prepare it, then I¡¯m not going to bother. Let it be food for your beasts.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a terrible idea,¡± my sister said thoughtfully. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let Sheena eat a human, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to get a taste for human flesh by eating a lizardman.¡± ¡°The question then is what to do for our own food,¡± I said. ¡°Hm¡­ you leveled up too, right, Sis?¡± ¡°Yeah. Why?¡± ¡°Can you see if there¡¯s a first circle spell revolving around berries in your options?¡± ¡°Um¡­ okay. I guess this is something from the game?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°There is! ¡®Sustaining Berries.¡¯¡± ¡°Perfect. Make that your advancement.¡± ¡°Why? What does it do?¡± ¡°You can turn a small handful of freshly picked berries into magical meals. One berry equals one entire meal. With that, even if we have trouble finding other fruit or killing edible animals and preparing them, we¡¯ll have food and water through your spells.¡± ¡°That does sound useful! Especially since we have no idea how long the Trial will last. It could be hours. It could be days. It could be weeks! It could be months!¡± I interrupted her. ¡°If you say ¡®it could be years¡¯ I¡¯m going to hit you.¡± ¡°Aw¡­¡± A few seconds later, she brightened. ¡°All right! I¡¯ve selected it. I¡¯m not upgrading Bard for now; I think I¡¯ll save the points until better options unlock. Welp, guess I¡¯d better go berry-hunting.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certainly not staying behind by myself,¡± Lartha said. ¡°More the merrier!¡± And so we searched for non-poisonous berries, with Renee¡¯s ¡°Detect Poison¡± spell ¨C a zeroth circle spell that used barely any mana ¨C identifying which ones were poisonous, which turned out to be most of them. Eventually we found some purple berries roughly the size of blueberries, and Renee picked six of them, casting Sustaining Berries on the handful. Each of us Contestants ate one, our hunger completely sated, and m sister put the rest in her pocket for the future. After that, we returned to the pool, letting our animal friends feast on the lizardman. It was starting to get a bit darker. I didn¡¯t think that it was evening yet; I surmised that the canopy simply blocked a lot of the light when the sun wasn¡¯t directly overhead. It was certainly brighter in the clearing then elsewhere. I was starting to wonder whether we should just pick a direction and walk or whether we should try setting up camp here. First, though, I should probably make my advancement choices.
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 4)
Sorcerer Class Points: 6 Energy: Below Moderate Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 3 Mana: Depleted
Sorcerer Advancement Options Enhance Spirit Animal, New 0th Circle Spell, New 1st Circle Spell, Upgrade Magic Missile
Ranger Advancement Options Enhance Animal Companion, New 1st Circle Spell, New Weapon Art, Increase Weapon Competency
Miscellaneous Advancement Options None
It would take four CP to get my next Sorcerer advancement and three CP for my next Ranger advancement. So one of each. Last time, I had upgraded my animals. This time, I was going to focus on myself. I chose to increase weapon competency (which thankfully helped with both of my weapons, not forcing me to choose ¨C I was kind of worried about that) and upgrade Magic Missile again, this time choosing to add another missile rather than reducing by twenty-five percent again ¨C I suspected it was a multiplicative reduction, not a subtractive one, meaning that it wouldn¡¯t reduce it down to one second. After some discussion, we decided to send Rusty scouting above the canopy. For the next several hours, I watched through the hawk¡¯s eyes and he spiraled further and further out from our current location. Eventually the sun started to set, but just as I was getting ready to pull back into myself and trust that the birdy would come on back, I spotted something. There was an opening in the jungle in the distance, some sort of structure jutting out, illuminated in red by the sun. Rusty noticed it too, and immediately changed direction. After about five minutes of travel, my senses cut out and I was thrust back into my own body. Rusty had exited my range. Now we just had to wait for him to return and watch which direction he came from. If I remembered my horizon math right, the structure was probably a little over six miles away, based on how long it took him to escape my range once he spotted it. Given how much of a slog it was to travel in the jungle, it would take significantly longer than the couple hours it would have been on a flat plain. In fact, it might take most of the next day, since we obviously weren¡¯t going to travel at night. Slightly less than half an hour later ¨C when it was well and truly dark where we were, and probably pitch black under the canopy ¨C Rusty returned, swooping down to join us. I marked the direction with a few pebbles so that I wouldn¡¯t forget. We ate our second helping of berry shortly after. Just as we were getting ready to settle in to sleep, Sheena raised her head and looked around, bringing the rust of us to full alertness. Lartha used her bracelet as a flashlight, and I pulled out my phone to do the same. I had a zeroth circle spell that could generate light, but unfortunately my mana remained stubbornly depleted. Renee cast her zeroth circle lighting spell, Dancing Lights, which conjured four multicolored light in a ring around her, spaced about ten feet away in every direction. Eyes flashed in the dark. And then the creatures emerged from the darkness, into the shadows. Lartha and I shined our lights on them. The creatures were strange. Two of them resembled an odd cross between elk and giraffe, standing ten feet tall with two pairs of antlers and four forward-facing eyes. Between the two was a twelve-foot giant that was mostly composed of leg, its furry black oval-shaped body/head not starting until eight feet off the ground. Long, spindly arms hung to the ground, ending in claw-like hands. Then, on either size of the elk-giraffes, there were six-legged vulpine creatures with two fluffy tails and overly-large fangs, standing at least as tall as wolves. The moment of confusion passed, replaced with gut-wrenching terror. This was like something out of a creepy illustrated horror story. We remained completely still as the creatures stopped, watching us in turn. Seconds ticked by. The creatures moved. They advanced toward us¡­ then parted around us, stopping at the water to drink. The giant stepped right over me and into the water, lowering itself until its body was partially submerged. Ding! [You have encountered the optional Sub-Trial: Creatures of the Night.] Sub-trial? Were we supposed to fight those things?! That was madness! Our level two, three, and four selves had no way of taking those things on, especially with me all out of magic. ¡­Wait. It called it a sub-trial, but it didn¡¯t say we were supposed to fight. The creatures weren¡¯t being aggressive, either. Maybe we just had to¡­ let them be? After the more animal-like creatures had slaked their thirst, they settled down as though to sleep. I shut my phone light off. A moment later, my sister¡¯s lights winked out. Finally, Lartha turned off the light on her bracelet. I snuggled up close to Sheena, Shadow on my lap and my sister beside me. Rusty nestled on top of the tiger, while Lartha curled up against a rock a few feet away ¨C or so I assumed, since I could no longer see her clearly, the light of the stars doing little to illuminate the night. Gradually, the breathing of my companions and the creatures of the night began to level off, and then at last, I slipped away to dreamland. Chapter Five: Spiders Chapter Five: Spiders I woke to sunlight. Ding! [Congratulations: you have passed the Sub-Trial: Creatures of the Night. Your rating is: Pacifistic Coexistence. For completing the Sub-Trial in such a brazenly bold manner, sleeping alongside the creatures of the night, you have earned 100 Experience and one Flair Tally Point.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up from level four to level seven. You have earned a total of 20 Primary and 10 Secondary CP. For reaching level six, more upgrade options have been unlocked.] I felt downright amazing. The sudden jump of three levels made the physical boost definitely noticeable. The amount of mana I could sense within me was much greater than it had been the previous day. I decided to check my self-analysis screen before I even bothered to get up.
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 7)
Sorcerer Class Points: 22 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 10 Mana: Full
Sorcerer Features: Spirit Animal (Avoidance, Empathic Bond, Speak with Sorcerer) Ranger Features: Animal Companion (Lesser Avoidance, Master Bond, Sensory Link), Swift Shot Miscellaneous Features: None
Sorcerer Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Minor Telekinesis, Cleanse, Force Armor, Magic Missile (x2, 75%) Ranger Spells: Animal Stealth
Proficiencies: Sword (2), Bow (2), Spells
Why had I gained so many Class Points? Hm. Well, if I doubled the amount earned at levels two through four at levels six and seven, that would add up, right? Four/two at level five, eight/four at six, and eight/four at seven, plus the leftover two in my primary from earlier. Yeah, that measured out right. Now, what upgrades could I get?
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 7)
Sorcerer Class Points: 22 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 10 Mana: Full
Sorcerer Advancement Options Enhance Spirit Animal, New 0th Circle Spell, New 1st Circle Spell, Upgrade Magic Missile, New 2nd Circle Spell, Magical Augmentation
Ranger Advancement Options Enhance Animal Companion, New 1st Circle Spell, New Weapon Art, Increase Weapon Competency, Terrain Mastery, Foe Bane
Miscellaneous Advancement Options Enhance Self, Extra Talent
Huh. That was a lot of new stuff, and while I could guess at some of it, I wasn¡¯t certain about anything. There was only one way to find out. I decided to check my second circle Sorcerer spells first. To my surprise, some of them were faded out, unable to be selected. When I tried to focus on ¡°Fire Beam,¡± it told me I needed to know the first circle spell ¡°Burning Blast¡± first. Ah. So spells could have prerequisites from the lower circles. Well, I supposed there was no rush to have higher-tier spells. What about Magical Augmentation? The list was rather sizeable, but none of the available options were unambiguous in what they did except for one: Dual Spell. I selected it without a second thought. [You have gained the feature ¡°Dual Spell.¡± You may now cast two spells simultaneously, each spell using one and a half times the normal amount of mana. The dual spells complete casting at the same time, using the longer of the two casting times.] That was something way stronger than anything easily available in the game, serving as a major divergence. The five CP was well spent. I spent the next six CP on Burning Blast and seven more CP (leaving me with four remaining) on another first-tier spell, Lightning Grasp. Then I turned my attention to my Ranger options. If Foe Bane worked like I thought it did, it would pull up a list when I selected it. It didn¡¯t. Instead¡­ [You have gained the feature ¡°Foe Bane.¡± Your ability to notice danger and spot enemies has increased. Additionally, you may designate a particular species as your True Foe (this may be changed once each day). Your weapon attacks are more accurate and deal more damage against your True Foe, and you become more adept at spotting their weaknesses.] Huh. That was not quite what I expected, but still very useful. I had six Ranger CP left, and getting one more advancement would cost five of those points. I noticed that it was possible to take Foe Bane again. I wasn¡¯t sure whether that would let me have multiple True Foes or simply increase the effects, but either way I wasn¡¯t willing to test it. I wasn¡¯t super interested in Terrain Mastery, either, so instead I opted for a new weapon art: Focused Shot. [You have learned the Archery Art: ¡°Focused Shot.¡± By taking extra time to aim, you greatly reduce the risk of hitting allies engaged in combat with your target. Additionally, your accuracy and damage greatly increase the longer you take to aim. As your combat skill increases, the additional time required diminishes.] Ooh, a two-for-one! Very nice. Now, while I could no longer choose more advancements for my classes, the miscellaneous category was still there. I decided to check on the Extra Talents. There were a lot. Eventually, one caught my mind¡¯s eye. I selected it, losing both a sorcerer CP and a ranger CP, and closing out my advancement menu. [You have learned the Talent: ¡°Might & Magic.¡± You may now blend your weapon skills with your spells, allowing you to channel spells through your weapons. The following are spells you currently know that can be channeled: Lightning Grasp, Burning Blast.] ¡°Wha?¡± I turned toward Renee, who had just started stirring. She rubbed her eyes, looking around in confusion. After a few seconds, she seemed to realize where she was and let out a sigh. ¡°Not a dream,¡± she muttered. ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°I feel surprisingly good for having slept outside while leaning against a tiger. And¡­ wow, that¡¯s a lot of Class Points. We got that many level ups just for sleeping next to those weird creatures?¡± ¡°So it would seem. You should probably go ahead and upgrade yourself. I¡¯m already done.¡± ¡°You said we¡¯re party members, right? I wonder if¡­¡± She looked at me. ¡°Party member analysis.¡± She blinked. ¡°Hey, it worked!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I could examine my other party members to see what their capabilities were? That would be quite useful. I opted to wait until my sister had made her decisions before trying anything. She let me know when she was done.
Renee Rivers (Druid/Bard Level 7)
Druid Class Points: 1 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Bard Class Points: 3 Mana: FullYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Druid Features: Animal Companion (Avoidance, Master Bond, Intelligence (2)) Bard Features: Magical Performance Miscellaneous Features: Harvester, Robustness (1)
Druid Spells: Create Water, Detect Poison, Purify, Lesser Healing, Animal Speech, Sustaining Berries, Enchanted Claw, Moderate Healing, Restore Bard Spells: Dancing Lights, Auditory Hallucination, Lullaby, Charm, Frighten, Understand Languages, Omniglot
Proficiencies: Spear, Instruments (2), Spells, Singing (1)
By the time I got to see Renee¡¯s profile, Lartha and the animals were also awake. Lartha was a bit hard to read, but she seemed almost happy that this was, in fact, reality rather than a dream or something. I peeled the med patch off of Shadow, who was fully healed, and then we prepared to head out. ¡°So, Renee,¡± I said. ¡°What does Harvester do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a Talent that gives me knowledge and skills to harvest plants and skin/dissect/prepare animals.¡± ¡°Sounds like it should be a Druid or Ranger thing.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s in the miscellaneous category because everyone can learn it, not just Druids or Rangers. If there are rules to that sort of thing at all.¡± ¡°Are Moderate Healing, Spider Walk, and Omniglot second circle spells?¡± I was pretty sure they were, because they sounded like they corresponded to certain second level spells from the game. ¡°Yeah. When I took the first one, I was warned that while zeroth circle spells use very small amounts of mana, second circle ones use double the amount of a first circle spell.¡± ¡°I figured.¡± ¡°What is our goal for today?¡± Lartha asked, interrupting our conversation. ¡°To get to the structure that Rusty spotted. First, though, we should find one of those purple berry bushes and get some breakfast, then go hunting for food for the animals,¡± I said. Both my little sister and the weird elf girl nodded. We drank some water that Renee conjured into the bottle. We really needed more bottles; she could conjure far more water with that spell than we had room to store. Just as we were getting ready to set off, I noticed that hey, there were fish in the pool. Lartha did some electrofishing, and our animals ate some fish. That would tide them over until we ran into hostile animals. Probably. And then off we went, using the stones I had laid out as a guide. The difference between traveling with a hawk and a housecat and traveling with a full-grown tiger was stark. Where before we had to be careful to avoid dangerous animals or strike them first, now even the group of three horned wolves we encountered were wary enough to let us pass unmolested. The smaller creatures avoided us entirely. After we had been traveling for a couple hours, we reached a semi-clearing much like the one where I met Lartha and spotted a couple of large boars. Knowing that this potential food source would run from our large predator, we decided to strike hard and fast. Sheena burst into the clearing, charging for the one on the left at the same time that Lartha sent her taser cylinder at the one on the right. The wild hogs looked up in alarm, but they reacted too slowly. Sheena pounced, felling her prey quickly and ending its life. I aimed an arrow at the stunned boar, holding the arrow drawn and feeling power build in the bow, my movements smooth and steady as I adjusted my angle slightly. I released the arrow, and it slammed into the animal¡¯s brain through its eye socket; apparently my ¡°focused shot¡± was powerful enough to break the bone between eyeball and brain. We all earned some experience for our quick kills, and my sister set about instructing Sheena on how to skin and carve the pigs for everyone, not just the animals, to eat. To do that, she had to use her ¡°Animal Speech¡± spell, which let her converse with animals, but I was still surprised the tiger was able to follow the somewhat complicated instructions. I supposed spending CP on making her companion smarter wasn¡¯t wasted after all. Once that was done, I helped Renee gather supplied to make a fire so that we could cook the meat. The animals could eat it raw, but we sure didn¡¯t want to. Lartha was quite annoyed that we were bothering with this, stating that we should just eat berries and leave the pigs to the animals, and after a while she left to go hunting for experience. We were ¨C or at least I was ¨C hungry again by the time the cooking was finished. It was no surprise; the whole thing took nearly five hours from kill to meal. We were just about to start eating when Lartha came back again ¨C she had been stopping by relatively regularly ¨C and joined us. ¡°Maybe it was worth it,¡± she said through a mouthful of meat. ¡°A little bland without spices, but much better than a single berry.¡± ¡°You¡¯re hurt,¡± Renee said in concern. ¡°Just scratches. My clothes are quite protective.¡± ¡°I could heal you¡­¡± ¡°No. Save your magic for real injuries. Besides, if I need them I have med patches.¡± I frowned at her sharp and dismissive tone. ¡°Renee was only trying to help. You don¡¯t need to snap at her.¡± Lartha looked at me for several seconds, chewing. ¡°I did not intend to be rude,¡± she said once her mouth was empty. ¡°But we are allies of convenience, not friends, and I don¡¯t need to be pampered.¡± ¡°Allies of convenience, huh?¡± I murmured. She was right. I hadn¡¯t really thought about it, but she was right. We were sticking together to raise our chances of survival, not out of any sense of camaraderie. Still, I had been thinking of her as a teammate, despite her odd cultural differences. I mean, seriously: eating people? It seemed she didn¡¯t think the same, however. I pondered. Would she turn on us, eventually? If this trial could only have a limited number of victors¡­ would she stab us in the back to guarantee her own win? I decided not to trust her too much. I couldn¡¯t afford to be betrayed, not when I had my little sister to look out for. Maybe I could spout some bullshit about being noble and trusting and virtuous if it were just me, but I had my family to think about, too. Lartha might have been pretty, but nice-looking does not equal good, and I had no way to gauge her intentions. We continued on our way after we finished stuffing ourselves. It was tempting to take the leftovers with us, but that would just attract animals and maybe even monsters like the spider goblin. Sheena as a deterrent could only work so well if we were walking around carrying bait. Besides, it wasn¡¯t really fair to our animals to make them smell the stuff as we traveled, either. If only we had some sort of dimensional storage. Hah! I almost didn¡¯t hear the rustling in the canopy over the other jungle noises. Shapes dropped from above. It was starting to get darker ¨C it was about two hours since we started traveling again, and I estimated it was probably about five in the afternoon - so I didn¡¯t immediately recognize them. ¡°Force Armor!¡± A spider goblin bounced off my magical breastplate, and I finally realized how screwed we were. A dozen of the fast-moving creatures had us surrounded. A full half of them were targeting Sheena, one had knocked Rusty out of the air and was contending with Shadow¡¯s counterattack, one of them had landed on top of Sheena to attack Renee, two of them had flanked me, and two of them were going after Lartha. There was no running from this ¨C it was fight or die. It was the lack of terror from Shadow ¨C just anger ¨C that kept me from locking up in fear. If my cat wasn¡¯t going down without a fight, then I sure as hell wasn¡¯t either. I drew my sword. I swung it at the spider goblin in front of me, forcing myself to focus only on the two monsters attacking me. It dodged back, of course, but it wasn¡¯t as much faster than me than the first I had fought. My level ups had increased more than my strength and stamina. I was already turning when the one behind me leapt at my head, and I blocked it with my arm before making a vertical slash. I hit, but it had dodged back even as I struck it, and the blow failed to kill it. I backhanded the other one when it jumped, and surprisingly the leather glove covering my left hand kept me from getting injured as my fist slammed into its face. What kind of leather was that, anyway? It landed, momentarily stunned, and I ran it through. The injured one jumped on my back, scrabbling at my clothes and armor as it tried to bite my neck. As it did bite my neck. My eyes went wide and my left hand reached back, grabbing its head as I desperately wove together the lattice of one of my new spells, the two seconds it took serving as plenty of time for the spider goblin to keep pumping venom into me. ¡°L-lightning Grasp!¡± I couldn¡¯t see it ¨C I could barely even feel it ¨C but electrical energy, or the magical equivalent, exploded from my hand and fried the spider. It dropped off me. My vision began to swim. [You have cast the first circle spell ¡°Lightning Grasp¡± for the first time. This spell channels lightning magic through your touch, electrocuting your foe. This is an upgradeable spell.] Even as I heard the words, I was already casting dual casting magic missile. A miniature swarm of four glittering blue stars appeared around my hands before seeking out their victims. The one Shadow and Rusty were harassing blew back out of their reach, exoskeleton cracked open, but strangely the explosion didn¡¯t affect the nearby animals ¨C one of whom was actually latched onto the monster and simply jumped off. Similarly, the one my sister was fighting ¨C the one that had hurt my sister ¨C was blasted off of Sheena without harm to Renee or the tiger. Two of the ones fighting the tiger were likewise slain. My sister¡¯s companion had already killed two, and a glance at Lartha showed that she was already finished with her attackers. I swayed, the edges of my vision fraying, as the elf lunged past me to deliver a devastating bladed punch to one of the two remaining. The last one turned to flee and was run through by m sister¡¯s thrown spear before it got very far. Ding! [You have killed three spider goblins without assistance. You have killed three spider goblins with assistance. You have sustained damage. Your Experience Gained has been slightly reduced.] I collapsed. ¡°Restore,¡± I heard Renee cast. A few seconds later, she cast it again. I was vaguely aware of her dismounting and stepping over to me. ¡°Restore.¡± Immediately my head cleared, my strength returned, and my vision sharpened. My neck still hurt like hell, though. ¡°Lesser Healing,¡± Renee cast, her hand over the back of my neck. Ah, sweet relief. I let out an involuntary sigh. ¡°Lesser Healing.¡± She had cast the spell on herself that time. Then she placed hands on Sheena. ¡°Moderate Healing.¡± Funny. Wasn¡¯t that supposed be a third level spell for druids and a second level spell for clerics? Another divergence from the game rules, it seemed. ¡­Also, my sister had rather sizeable mana reserves. Was it from having two spellcasting classes? ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°That was too close. If we hadn¡¯t had all of us¡­¡± ¡°An ambush from these ¡®spider goblins,¡¯¡± Lartha said. ¡°Quite unfortunate, and I am disappointed that I still haven¡¯t gained another level.¡± ¡°Yeah, neither did I,¡± I said, standing. Shadow came to rub up against me, meowing her concern. I picked her up and petted her distractedly. ¡°I¡¯m just glad we survived that.¡± ¡°You do seem to be having trouble adapting to close-range combat,¡± she noted. ¡°You do much better with archery and spells. Your sister serves as support and medic, while her beast handles close-quarters combat. And I can handle close combat and mid-range stunning. We should reconfigure how we walk.¡± I cocked my head at her. ¡°Did you play virtual reality games a lot?¡± She looked away, and I could have sworn she looked embarrassed. ¡°Yes,¡± was all she said. As it grew darker still, Renee cast Dancing Lights and I cast Lux on my left glove. [You have cast the zeroth circle spell ¡°Lux¡± for the first time. This spell causes a single object to glow with a pale white light, illuminating the area around it. The duration of this spell is indefinite; it constantly drains a miniscule amount of mana while in effect.] We carried on for another two hours until I got a strange tingling sensation, like I was being watched. ¡°Renee,¡± I said softly. ¡°You can direct those lights away from you, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Can you search the area with them?¡± Lartha turned her bracelet¡¯s light on before my sister could respond. She started by scanning in front of us, then turned it toward the canopy. My stomach lurched. Spiders. Everywhere. Some were on the trees themselves, while others were on webbing spread between branches. The size of the spiders varied, from cat-sized like the one we had fought before to ones as big as a human on all fours, to a couple whose bodies were even bigger than Sheena¡¯s, and Sheena was bigger than the tigers I had seen pictures of. And then there was the big one: as tall and long as a damn Clydesdale and about three times as broad. Renee, bless her heart, send up the lights to illuminate more of the spider-infested canopy at once, and the moment they got close to the bugs, the arachnids reacted. Some spiders started crawling down, while others simply dropped the hundred or so feet to land in front of us, completely unharmed. [You have encountered the optional Sub-Trial: Spider¡¯s Nest.] I reached for my sword, but my hand brushed my wand on the way. I hadn¡¯t used my wand yet. It had been called an ¡°Enhancement Wand,¡± but I didn¡¯t know what it did. Might as well find out. I drew it. Spiders approached. I took a step forward. ¡°What are you doing? Stay back!¡± Lartha shouted. Engravings on my wand lit up as I started casting. [Wand activated. Spell enhanced.] ¡°Burning Blast!¡± Roaring flames spewed forth from the tip of my wand, fanning out in a in a wedge thirty feet deep and wide and about twelve feet tall. My mana dropped by twice as much as I was expecting, probably due to the wand pulling on extra mana to give it more oomph. All the spiders caught in the flames let out shrieks as they went belly-up, legs curling as the fire stole their lives. It was much more efficient than Magic Missile would have been, given the large number of spiders¡­ and the fact that several trees caught on fire, the flames racing up toward the canopy. Oops? Chapter Six: Tribeswoman
Chapter Six: Tribeswoman [You have cast the first circle spell ¡°Burning Blast¡± for the first time. This spell creates a cone of flames bursting from your outstretched hand. This is an upgradeable spell.] ¡°Are you an idiot?!¡± my sister yelled, rolling off Sheena to give the great cat more maneuverability. Thud! The giant spider, seeing its home burning around it, dropped to the jungle floor to challenge its attackers. It let out a screech. Sheena rushed to meet it. I stowed my wand and started casting again. The two great beasts clashed, and though Sheena managed to claw several of its eyes out, she received a powerful bite to her chest in return. ¡°Dual Magic Missile!¡± Four shining stars swerved around the tiger and slammed into the spider, the explosions cracking carapace and rocking the arachnid, but not killing it. Lartha ran forward and sliced into one of its legs, sending electricity into its body. The creature twitched as she slashed again, cutting the leg off. ¡°Dual Magic Missile!¡± Sheena kept clawing and biting at the spider even as fluid flowed from the holes in its carapace. Lartha ducked under it and delivered a powerful punch to the spot where its abdomen met its head, more electricity surging. I pulled out my bow and took aim. True Foe: Jungle Spider, I thought. Steady¡­ Steady¡­ Release! The arrow cracked through, directly in the middle of its array of eyes, sinking halfway up the shaft. The spider fell. Another shriek. I turned to see that several small and medium sized spiders had avoided dying to the flames (mostly ones that had crawled down trees) and were now ready to press the attack. ¡°Restore!¡± Renee cast on Sheena, having moved closer to her companion in the last few seconds. Sheena and Lartha attacked the medium-sized spiders, while my sister and I used spear and bow to kill smaller ones, even as the flames around us grew higher and spread further. I had used six more arrows ¨C leaving me with eighteen out of my original thirty ¨C when suddenly the world was water, and the flames were quenched. I bent over, hacking and coughing as air returned; so did the others. Fortunately, the spiders hadn¡¯t fared any better, and the two tiger-plus-sized ones, which hadn¡¯t yet joined the fight, fell from the canopy and landed on their backs. I turned toward them, as did my sister, who sent her lights over to keep them clearly illuminated. In the shadows beyond, I saw two humanoid figures approach. One leisurely, the other at a run, somehow unimpeded by the underbrush. With a war cry in an unfamiliar tongue, the greatsword-wielding woman leaped at the spiders before they could right themselves, cleaving into first one, then the other, with startling ease. Then she looked up at us and started yelling. Ding! [Congratulations: you have passed the Sub-Trial: Spider¡¯s Nest. Your rating is: Arachnicidal Pyromaniac. For completing the Sub-Trial in a way that would have guaranteed your own death if not for outside intervention by setting the jungle on fire, you have earned 100 Experience.] [No, you don¡¯t also get experience for the kills. That¡¯s included.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up from level seven to level ten. You have earned a total of 24 Primary and 12 Secondary CP.] That was nice at least. The woman who had saved us (I guess) looked fairly young, perhaps in her mid-twenties, but she was far from beautiful. The right half of her face was covered in a burn scar, and the left half had a giant white scar that barely missed her eye. She was tall ¨C slightly taller than my five-foot-ten frame ¨C and quite muscular. Her orange hair was patchy on the right side and down to her shoulder on the left, and she was missing several teeth. Her top was covered in a bloodstained brown chest wrap, while her bottom half had ripped trousers and boots. Her companion, who walked up beside her with a bored expression, looked like an elf wizard. He had waist-length blue hair, pointy ears, glittering blue eyes, torn blue robes, a staff with a piece of obsidian on the top, and a pendant necklace. He tapped the woman on her shoulder, interrupting her, then said something in a flat voice. She frowned, then replied at a more normal volume. ¡°Moderate Healing,¡± Sheena said, mending Sheena¡¯s wounds. ¡°I¡¯m tapped,¡± she told me quietly. ¡°No more spells from me today once my lights run out.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t seem to be hostile,¡± Lartha commented. ¡°What¡¯s our course of action?¡± ¡°Hey, wizardy dude and sword lady,¡± I called out. ¡°Wanna team up?¡±
You have extended a temporary party link request. Should this be accepted, all individuals will be capable of understanding one another¡¯s languages. ¡­ Svenia and Aguin have accepted your invitation.
¡°Hey!¡± Svenia (I assumed that was the woman¡¯s name) barked. ¡°You can understand me now, right?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said slowly. ¡°Good. Now what the hells were you thinking, setting the damn forest on fire?! Were you trying to kill everyone in the whole place?! Including yourselves?!¡± ¡°Aren''t jungles supposed to be, like, wet? Not easily set on fire?¡± I protested weakly. Rusty landed on my arm, and Shadow came to stand on my feet. Svenia¡¯s eyes drifted over my full party, lingering on my sister, who was petting Sheena. ¡°Ones who have tamed beasts should know better than to make such assumptions,¡± she said after a long pause, but there was less heat to her words. I figured she realized I had a point. Seriously, a jungle catching aflame made about as much sense as spiderwebs being flammable (videogames notwithstanding, spiderwebs weren''t actually easy to set on fire, but the ones here burned just as readily as the not-as-wet-as-they-should-have-been trees). Though now that I thought about it, not only had there not been any rain since our arrival, but it wasn''t actually that humid, either. Maybe it wasn''t really a jungle? Maybe it just looked like one? ¡°My brother is just an idiot sometimes,¡± Renee said apologetically. ¡°Just like when he offered for us to link our parties without consulting the rest of us just now,¡± Lartha said, irritation in her voice. ¡°Well, we weren¡¯t going to be able to communicate otherwise,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Renee has a spell that would help, but she¡¯s almost out of mana.¡± ¡°Who is the leader of your band?¡± Svenia demanded. ¡°¡­I guess I am,¡± I said. ¡°Renee¡¯s part of my party, and I¡¯m the one who initiated the party link with Lartha.¡± ¡°Hmph. A fool like you, leading others? You will only guide them into a Behemoth¡¯s jaws!¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s an idiom. Are you the leader of your group?¡± ¡°Yes and no. Of the two of us, yes. But we were separated from the others of my tribe, including the Chieftain¡¯s son.¡± She stood proudly, thrusting her greatsword into the ground. ¡°I am Warrior Svenia of the Blackmarrow Tribe. My companion is Aquin of the elves, a mercenary wizard with whom we do business.¡± ¡°Elves,¡± Lartha muttered. ¡°My name is Yuan, this is my sister Renee, and she¡¯s Lartha.¡± ¡°Are you not people of importance? What tribes do you hail from?¡± ¡°We aren¡¯t, and we don¡¯t,¡± my sister said. ¡°We come from a large country called America, but we¡¯re not part of a tribe, and we aren¡¯t all that important.¡± Renee looked apologetic. ¡°I come from the Interstellar Empire, and¡­ well, we use different words, but I guess you could say I am the daughter of an Elder.¡± Svenia nodded. ¡°Come, let us leave this place of death,¡± she said. ¡°We will take you to the clearing where we will sleep, protected by Aguin¡¯s magic.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. By my guess, we still had about two hours to reach the structure, but it was probably around seven o-clock and everything was already cast in dark shadow. If there was a defensible spot, it would be a good idea to make use of it to rest. It took less only a couple minutes to reach, which explained how they had gotten to us so fast. We settled in to sleep in three distinct groups: me and my sister, Svenia and Aguin, and Lartha. I had a much harder time falling asleep than when we were surrounded by monsters. To help pass the time while my eyes were closed, I focused on advancement. I had 27 Sorcerer CP and 12 Ranger CP, enough for three Sorcerer advancements and one Ranger advancement. I took the second circle spell Fire Beam, then reduced its casting time by 25%, then reduced Magic Missile¡¯s casting time by 25% ¨C and to my shock, it was subtractive, reducing Magic Missile¡¯s casting time by a total of 50%. I decided to hold off on the Ranger stuff for now and wait until I got my next level up, which I suspected would open up more options. Eventually, listening to the quiet breathing of my companions was enough for me to drift off.
¡°Awaken, slugs!¡± I snapped awake at the loud shout, briefly disoriented. Groaning, I struggled to my feet, equipping my sword and bow. ¡°Was that really necessary?¡± I complained to the boisterous woman. ¡°Every day must begin with fervor and good food!¡± Svenia declared. ¡°And so we must rouse to hunt!¡± ¡°My sister has a magic spell that turns berries into a full meal. That¡¯s not really necessary.¡± ¡°Berries?! Are you a prey animal?! To maintain strength you must eat heartily of meat!¡± ¡°What is your problem?¡± Lartha demanded, rising. ¡°You could have gone out to hunt while leaving the rest of us to sleep!¡± ¡°Are you a carrion bird?! You must hunt if you wish to eat!¡± ¡°Also, why are you so loud?¡± I said. ¡°We just woke up.¡± ¡°You get used to it, I hope,¡± Aguin commented, the first words I had heard from him. The elf looked just as disgruntled as I felt. I glanced at Renee. My sister was still dead to the world. I had no idea how she could sleep through the tribeswoman¡¯s racket, but she always was a heavy sleeper. Her tiger, on the other hand, looked supremely irritated, her ears flattened. I was surprised she wasn¡¯t trying to rip the woman¡¯s throat out. Possibly she didn¡¯t want to disturb her mistress. ¡°Your sister is like a bear in winter!¡± Svenia said. ¡°Slumbering so deep! I will leave it to you to awaken her, for I fear that her great tiger will not take kindly to my approach.¡± I sighed and bent down, shaking Renee awake. ¡°Good morning,¡± she yawned. ¡°Svenia wants us to go hunting. I just realized that I¡¯ve gotten a bit turned around, so I¡¯m not sure the right direction toward the structure, which is pitiful for a Ranger. I¡¯m going to see if there¡¯s something in my advancement menu that can help: Terrain Mastery is worth a shot.¡± [You have gained the feature ¡°Terrain Mastery.¡± When in wilderness settings, you automatically know cardinal directions, as well as the distance and direction to the closest three sources of water. Your stealth and perception capabilities also improve in such settings. Difficult terrain, such as broken rocks or underbrush, impedes your movement significantly less.] Well! That was more useful than I was expecting it to be. Unless there was water at the structure, that wouldn¡¯t help me locate it, though. But¡­ I was sensing three different ¡°pulls,¡± for lack of a better way of describing it. Given the distance, I was pretty sure that one was the waterfall. The structure should be in the opposite direction¡­ and I was sensing water roughly a mile and a half that way. So, probably our destination. ¡°Alright,¡± my sister replied, stretching. ¡°C¡¯mon, Sheena, let¡¯s get ready to go hunting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± Svenia roared, hefting her massive sword with one hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got a good feeling about that direction,¡± I said, pointing toward the third and closest water source. ¡°One of my class features says there¡¯s a water source about three quarters of a mile that way. We might find some beasts to hunt there.¡± ¡°Perfect! Lead the way, Rabbit!¡± ¡°¡­My name is Yuan.¡± ¡°You must first prove your might before I honor you with a name! It is the way of my tribe.¡± I stared at her. Was she for real? ¡°Right.¡± The wildlife avoided us just as much as the previous day, perhaps even more intimidated than before by the addition of a fierce warrior (and potent water mage, as I found out by asking, but I doubted the animals would care about that). When we reached the pond ¨C which was surrounded by a marshy wetland instead of forest, giving us a clear view of the sky ¨C we were met with the sight of a truly massive boar, far bigger than anything that existed on earth: it was about as tall as the giant spider had been. A boar bigger than most cars was frankly terrifying to look at. It was busy eating a jungle cat when we arrived, but it noticed us almost instantly and turned toward us, red eyes glowing. Svenia strode out into the clearing, wearing a feral grin. ¡°Come at me, my prey!¡± The boar snorted and dug at the ground as though preparing to charge. ¡°Is she gonna be okay?¡± I asked Aguin. ¡°Her class choices only made her more formidable than she already was,¡± he answered. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt she can win.¡± A silvery¡­ aura?¡­ rose up around the warrior as I readied my bow, aiming for the boar¡¯s right eye. What were her classes, anyway? The boar charged like an accelerating car, picking up speed far faster than it should have been capable of. I let my arrow fly, blinding the beast in one eye but failing to penetrate its skull. Svenia brought her sword down in a vertical slash, the blade meeting flesh and stopping the charge. She was pushed back maybe a foot, but the boar¡¯s momentum was stopped entirely, her weapon cleaving through its skull and embedding itself in the body parallel to the ground. Did¡­ did she just one hit kill a freaking boar the size of an SUV?! [You have killed one Greater Dire Boar with assistance. You have killed one Greater Dire Boar without sustaining any damage. You have earned Experience.] ¡°We shall feast today!¡± she declared, placing her boot on one half of its face and yanking her sword free. ¡°Pig is a good meat. Now, help me to skin and prepare it, or I will not share with any but Rabbit, who attempted to help take down the beast.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ kind of big,¡± my sister said hesitantly. ¡°I don¡¯t know if all of us together will be enough to do it in one day.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Aguin said, striding forward. ¡°My secondary class will prove helpful here.¡± ¡°What are your classes, both of you?¡± I asked. ¡°You said you¡¯re originally a water mage on your home world, but¡­¡± ¡°My primary class is also Water Mage, which augments my original skills nicely. My secondary class is Animation Mage, which allows me to animate nonliving things. There is a great synergy between my two classes, as liquids count for animation as well. Combining the two enables me to do things like this.¡± He raised his staff, and water streaming out of the pond, forming a giant sphere some fifteen feet in diameter above him. Cutting beams of water shot out, slicing through the creature¡¯s hide before sliding underneath it, shearing it off before returning to the sphere. With a wave of his hand, the now-freed hide lifted away from the body and moved over to a space beside it. After that, he commanded the water to slice chunks off the body, though the cutting power wasn¡¯t great enough to cut through the bones, requiring him to cut around them instead. After some of the meat was set aside for our animals, who immediately started chowing down, Renee joined in, using a knife that Svenia had on her leather belt. Lartha reluctantly also helped, using her energy blade. Fires were built, blood was drained, hunks of meat were cooked. Various herbs were gathered by my sister to improve flavor. I helped Svenia with the actual cooking ¨C I had known enough to do it with regular-sized boars, so I knew enough to help out here, though between the herbs and Svenia¡¯s actual expertise, the end result was much, much tastier. While we worked, we talked. ¡°I chose the classes Vital Warrior and Ki Master,¡± Svenia told me. ¡°I refused to choose a ¡®primary¡¯ and ¡®secondary.¡¯ All warriors know that to be half-hearted is to be half-dead, so I demanded that both classes be equal.¡± ¡°And that worked?¡± I said incredulously. ¡°My self-telling says both are primary, and I started earning three class points in each when I increased my level. I now receive twelve each!¡± ¡°What level are you?¡± ¡°I am level eleven!¡± I blinked. She was that powerful and only one level above me? Holy crap. Just how strong was she before this started? ¡°What was it like, when you chose classes? Did you understand what was going on?¡± ¡°Not really. Our shaman, who was also with us, interpreted the runes and told us that these ¡®classes¡¯ were a way to become stronger to face a great trial given by the gods. He told us to examine each offering and decide which classes we would add to our strength.¡± ¡°Your shaman must be a wise man, to figure that out so quickly.¡± ¡°Of course. How could our shaman not be wise?¡± she scoffed. ¡°So, are you one of the greatest warriors of your tribe?¡± I asked. ¡°We do not rank our warriors,¡± she answered. ¡°All warriors are equals; only the gods may judge their individual worth.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your tribe like? Like I said, I¡¯m not part of a tribe, so this is my first time meeting a tribeswoman.¡± ¡°The Blackmarrow Tribe is a good tribe,¡± she said with pride. ¡°My family. My home. We are semi-nomadic, with several permanent encampments that we rotate between depending on the season. We are led by our Chieftain, who is advised by our shaman and our Elders. Many of us are hunters or warriors, but we do have those who tend to or gather plants as well as artists and healers.¡± That was an interesting combination. So they were hunter-gatherers with artist as a profession? I wondered if she was using the term more broadly than I was understanding it. At any rate, this was actually a good sign. I was half-convinced that she was from some battle-thirsty ¡°noble warrior race¡± sort of tribe, but if they valued art enough to allow people to be full-time artists, clearly they were more nuanced than that. ¡°How long have you been a warrior?¡± ¡°Ever since my coming of age, ten years ago.¡± ¡°And that makes you how old?¡± ¡°I am twenty-four years old.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ve been a warrior since you were fourteen? What was your coming of age like? Do you have some sort of ceremony/¡± ¡°Every child who becomes a man or woman of the tribe must undertake a task to prove themselves. Mine was to defeat a den of kormarashes.¡± ¡°What are kormarashes?¡± I interjected. ¡°They are creatures that walk on two feet as people do, but with only half the stature. They are covered in fur, and have a face like a wolf. They use crude weapons and are violent, attacking people for pleasure. They breed quickly, so dens pop up often.¡± ¡°And you had to take out an entire den by yourself?¡± ¡°I wanted to be a warrior, not just a hunter. The tasks for warriors are never easy. It was a quite a battle, but I returned home victorious. I will always remember that day fondly.¡± Yeah, she was definitely a little crazy, I decided, looking at her reminiscing smile. Who had fond memories of fighting a life-and-death battle against monsters as a young teen? A part of me wondered if every girl I met here was going to be partially insane. Lartha didn¡¯t see anything wrong with eating people, so long as they weren¡¯t the same species. I had to stop my mind from wandering to thoughts of what other sorts of craziness I might encounter. Somewhat to my surprise, Svenia actually liked talking to me ¨C or maybe she just liked talking. From what I gathered from some of her stories, she was the child of a warrior and a healer who got into a lot of fights with monsters and enemy tribesmen. Her missing teeth? From getting bashed in the face. Her white scar? An enemy¡¯s blade nearly taking her life. The burns? Facing down a fire drake to protect the village. Each was a mark of pride: something she survived while fighting for her tribe. I don¡¯t think it even occurred to her that others would see them as blemishes. In a way, I found that strangely inspiring. She also revealed that she had hobbies other than fighting. A friend of hers was an artist and had taught her woodcarving and metal engraving. She showed me the designs etched into the flat of her sword. They were rough and aggressive-feeling, but they had a certain stark beauty to them. Another hobby of hers was some manner of sport that she tried to explain to me. It seemed similar to rugby or football. And she liked poetry, too, but that didn¡¯t really translate so well. In the end, we made no progress toward our actual destination that day due to how long it took to prepare and cook things, but it wasn¡¯t an entire waste. Besides having some of the best pork of my life and learning about my new companion, we also got some near gear, courtesy of Lartha of all people. So far, I had only seen her use her homeworld¡¯s technology and her Brawler abilities, but her main class was Technomage. I had assumed that she simply couldn¡¯t use it without other technology to interact with, but apparently that wasn¡¯t the case. Because she could conjure nanobots out of nothing by using her mana, and command those nanobots to replicate and perform tasks for her. Apparently she was really bored (she mostly didn¡¯t help out after the cutting part), so she decided to use supplies to make stuff. She could also apparently transmute items into related materials, turning the boar hide into cured hide in a matter of minutes. She used this to make hide armor for my sister, since Renee had no protective gear. Some bones were also transformed into various weapons and tools ¨C or even art pieces, much to Svenia¡¯s delight. She fashioned packs for us from hide so that we could actually carry things, such as the extra meat that we didn¡¯t eat for lunch or supper that day. For the first time since the start of the Trial, I genuinely enjoyed myself. Of course, nothing could remain idyllic forever. Chapter Seven: Reunion Chapter Seven: Reunion ¡°So, Rabbit, where are we going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I just know it¡¯s a large structure of some kind, and that it shouldn¡¯t take more than two and a half hours or so, barring delays, to get there.¡± I shifted my pack uncomfortably. It wasn¡¯t heavy per se, but it was rough and unwieldy. Lartha¡¯s craftmanship left a lot to be desired. ¡°I figure that a giant structure in the middle of the jungle is likely to be a main part of the Trial. It also serves as a landmark, since I¡¯m trying to find the rest of my family.¡± Svenia clapped me on the shoulder so hard I nearly stumbled. ¡°Should the gods favor us, we will find your parents and brother,¡± she reassured me. ¡°Just as I will find my tribesmen.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I agreed. ¡°Just gotta keep positive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± ¡°He seems to be getting along well with the savage,¡± I heard Lartha mutter from behind me. ¡°Don¡¯t be rude,¡± my sister admonished her. ¡°What? She is.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one that eats people,¡± Renee pointed out. Svenia raised an eyebrow ¨C the only eyebrow she had. ¡°Your elven companion eats people?¡± she asked me. ¡°It¡¯s not cannibalism if they¡¯re not the same species,¡± Lartha said matter-of-factly, replying to her directly. ¡°That is technically true, but that doesn¡¯t make it any less messed up,¡± I said. ¡°There is a tribe where I come from which believes that they can steal the might of their foes by consuming them,¡± Svenia said. ¡°Is it like that?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just¡­ some species taste good, and them being intelligent doesn¡¯t change that. We don¡¯t murder people in order to eat them, so I don¡¯t see what the big deal is.¡± ¡°Maybe it is you who is the savage,¡± Svenia said with a laugh. ¡°I come from a civilization more advanced than either of yours,¡± Lartha said indignantly. ¡°Technologically, maybe. But just because your technology is more advanced doesn¡¯t mean your societal and cultural practices are.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± ¡°Master, I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°What do you not understand, Shadow?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Oh, right. If it corresponded to anything like the game, Shadow¡¯s current intelligence was something like that of a slow-witted child. I should probably invest in increasing her intelligence in the future to bring her up to something where I could hold actual conversations with her. I glanced up at Rusty, who was flying relatively low above us. Maybe I could boost his intelligence, too. I couldn¡¯t really use him to scout effectively if I couldn¡¯t really communicate complex concepts to him. The problem was that it was getting pretty expensive to upgrade, and it felt kind of wasteful to spend my class points on something other than myself. I needed a way to level up quickly; the only reason that my sister and I were close to Svenia¡¯s level was because of two completed sub-trials. So either we needed to hunt, or we needed to find more sub-trials. ¡°You can converse with your cat? How fascinating!¡± ¡°It¡¯s one of my class abilities. I can also see through my hawk¡¯s eyes, but I¡¯m blinded through my own when I do.¡± ¡°How useful!¡± We fell silent as we got closer, and when we reached within a thousand feet, we stopped and I sent Rusty forward to scout. I leaned against a tree and connected my mind to his senses. The tree line abruptly ended not far beyond where we could see, the jungle opening into a massive clearing occupied by the structure: a ziggurat made of green-gray stone. I estimated its height to be around a hundred and fifty feet or so, though it was hard to make precise judgements, especially when viewing through a hawk¡¯s eyes. It was also quite broad, the base being between two and three times the height. The ziggurat appeared old and weathered, but there were no plants growing over it ¨C in fact, there was no greenery at all beyond the moat that surrounded it. There were two other things in the clearing that caught my attention. The first was the great beast that appeared to be guarding the entrance of the ziggurat. It lounged on the far side of the moat, watching to make sure that none tried to cross the water. It was a little difficult to describe, mainly because it was such a mishmash of different animals: the body of a lion with hard-looking scales covering most of it, a tail that ended in a snake¡¯s head, eight spider legs jutting out of its sides (turned up instead of down), and a head that seemed almost humanoid and made me think ¡°ogre¡± with massive tusks and fangs. Oh, and it was absolutely gigantic ¨C it made the Greater Dire Boar look small; my guess was that it was roughly the size of an eighteen-wheeler: maybe sixty feet long, fourteen feet or so tall, and a little over ten feet wide. The second was the presence of other people. Along the edge of the trees were three different groups, one of them in the open and the other two just inside the trees. To my delight, the one in the open, which was the one in the center, had both my brother and my father. There were also two others with them, a lizardman (uh-oh) and some sort of bird-person. The other two groups were similarly sized; one had three humans and the other had a human, an ¡°elf¡± like Lartha, and three people with animal ears and tails. Rusty circled around, and on the far side of the ziggurat there were two more groups ¨C one was made up of three lizardmen and my mother, while the other was¡­ well, it didn¡¯t matter what they were, because they were dead. My mother looked scared and miserable, and her hands were tied, so I was betting she was a captive who had formerly been part of the dead group. The thought made my blood boil. After making a few passes, Rusty returned to us, and I informed the others of the situation. ¡°Everyone¡¯s alive!¡± my sister cheered, embracing me happily. I hugged her back. ¡°Then let us go meet your family!¡± Svenia said with a grin, walking in the direction that I had specified. ¡°Am I the only one worried about the fact that people are apparently camping out rather than fighting the monster?¡± Lartha said. Nobody answered her. We exited the jungle and my father¡¯s angel noticed us immediately. ¡°Jonathan, your other children are here,¡± he said in his melodious voice. My family and their two companions turned. Dad¡¯s face split into a wide smile as Renee and I rushed forward, followed by our animals. They even joined in on our group hug. ¡°Yuan, Renee! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay!¡± ¡°I was so worried about you guys,¡± my brother added. ¡°How did you survive, Todd?¡± I asked, half-joking. ¡°By lucking out early on. I was rescued by Kekir.¡± He gestured to the bird-person after we separated. ¡°He invited me to join him and said he¡¯d protect me. He¡¯s a really good archer and a wind mage.¡± ¡°And this is Hessin,¡± my father said, gesturing to the lizardman. ¡°Unlike your brother and Kekir, we can¡¯t understand each other. Todd said Kekir invited him to party link, but I haven¡¯t figured out how to do that.¡± ¡°It might be something only the leader of the party can do. When I touched the statue, I was designated the leader of the family. Kekir, are you a Leader also?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the birdman said in a soft voice. ¡°I was the one who approached the strange statue first. Unfortunately, I have not been able to reunite with my companions. I came across the corpse of one of them, may his soul wing freely in the Great Sky.¡± He dipped his head. ¡°I greet you, Yuan of the Rivers.¡± I dipped my head in return. ¡°I greet you as well, Kekir. Thank you for taking care of my brother.¡± ¡°The teachings of the Roost are clear: we must aid those in need. I have done nothing to warrant thanks.¡± I turned to Hessin and offered for him to party link. He accepted. ¡°It is nice to finally be able to speak and be understood,¡± he hissed. ¡°Jonathan and his strange spirit are strong warriors, else I would not have joined him.¡± ¡°My hawk scouted this area for us. There is a group of three of your kind on the other side of the ziggurat, holding my mother captive,¡± I said without preamble. My father¡¯s eyes widened and my brother gasped. ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re your friends or not, but I¡¯d like you to try convincing them to release her to us.¡± He let out a hissing laugh. ¡°Why would I do that? If they are not my kin, they would no more listen to me than to you. If they are my kin, I should join them and fight you in battle. We do not release slaves out of pity.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. My father had his sword out in a blink, pointing it at the lizardman. ¡°My wife is held against her will and you expect me to accept you have any right to keep her?! If you don¡¯t agree to help free her, I¡¯ll kill you right now, slaver!¡± ¡°I understand why he¡¯s angry, but isn¡¯t he overreacting?¡± Lartha muttered to herself. ¡°Jonathan, your woman must be weak, to have been captured. The strong take. It is the way of the world,¡± Hessin said lazily. ¡°If you want her back, take her back with your own strength.¡± ¡°One of your kind tried to kill us with a surprise attack from the trees,¡± I said. ¡°We killed him.¡± ¡°Such is the fate of the weak,¡± the lizardman said carelessly. ¡°Indeed,¡± I replied, raising my hand as I started to weave a new lattice. ¡°Fire Beam.¡± A beam of scorching hot flames nearly two inches in diameter shot out of my palm when the spell snapped into place after a second and a half of casting. It struck him in the chest, scorching his scales black before breaking through and spreading its heat underneath his skin, the flames bursting out from between scales all over his body. After nearly two seconds of sustained fire, the beam cut out, and his smoking corpse fell to the ground. Ding! [You have cast the second circle spell ¡°Fire Beam¡± for the first time. This spell creates a sustained beam of fire shooting out from your palm. This beam can be moved. This spell is upgradeable.] [You have killed one level 5 Champion Contestant without assistance. You have killed one level 5 Champion Contestant without sustaining any damage. For this achievement, your Experience Earned has been doubled.] [You have betrayed and killed a party-linked Champion Contestant. For this, you have received one Flair Tally Point.] Everyone stared at me in shock. ¡°Nobody talks about my mom like that,¡± I said, shaking slightly. I¡¯d just deliberately killed a person, and not in self-defense. The system even called it out as a betrayal and rewarded me for it. ¡°Anyone who thinks its okay to take slaves is evil, and nobody takes my mother as a slave.¡± ¡°Well said!¡± Svenia cried, slapping me on the shoulder. ¡°Now all you need to do is single-handedly free your mother!¡± ¡°You are quite brutal, Yuan of the Rivers, but your fury is understandable.¡± ¡°¡­Why single-handedly?¡± my brother asked. ¡°To prove his might as a warrior, of course!¡± she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°If I do that, I might not have enough mana left to help fight the monster,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Hm. Fair point. All right, Rabbit, I will help you rescue your mother! Let us be off!¡± ¡°Who are these people, Yuan?¡± my father asked, a befuddled look on his face. ¡°Oh, right, I forgot to introduce you. This is Svenia, Warrior of the Blackmarrow Tribe. This is Aguin, a mercenary mage. And this is Lartha, a student from a sci-fi interstellar empire. Everyone, this is my father, Jonathan, and my brother, Todd.¡± ¡°Well met, Rabbit¡¯s family!¡± Svenia said with a grin. ¡°¡­Well met?¡± my father ventured. ¡°Let¡¯s go rescue Mom,¡± my sister urged. And so we set out to circle around the ziggurat. Fortunately, the group of humans we passed by, hidden in the jungle, didn¡¯t do anything to us. We encountered the lizardmen earlier than expected, as they had decided to circle the structure as well. Neither we nor they slowed the approach as we continued toward each other until we were about a hundred feet away from one another, at which point my mother called out to us. ¡°Jonathan! Todd! Renee! Yuan!¡± ¡°Mom!¡± ¡°Tina!¡± One of the lizardmen, who was wielding a spear, said something in his hissing language to my mother. She responded in kind. He hissed back. ¡°You will release my wife,¡± Dad yelled, ¡°or I will kill you!¡± I¡¯d rarely seen him so angry. It was to be expected; my blood was boiling too. How dare they? Another of the trio, an archer, nocked an arrow to his bow and loosed it in one smooth motion, aiming at my father. Though the arrow flew hard and fast, it cracked off Dad¡¯s shield harmlessly. With a wordless cry, my father charged. I joined him, and Svenia rushed on ahead on my other side. Kekir leaped into the air, drawing an arrow on his bow with his taloned feet. The lizardmen never stood a chance. An arrow struck the archer before he could fire again, and then my father was on him with his sword, slicing through scale and flesh. Svenia knocked the greataxe out of the third lizardman¡¯s hands with a single swing, then cut him in two with a backswing. And I kept running until my spell completed, then halted and trained my fire beam on the spearman. I leveled up to level eleven, getting more upgrade options, for killing a level six Champion Contestant. I even got a free unlisted feature that upgraded status screens. It was a tearful reunion.
We regrouped back on the same side as the entrance. Sheena removed the lizardman¡¯s corpse (and all the animals ate), while the rest of us ate leftovers from the boar and caught up. Apparently my mother had met up with a group of others fairly early on, after she had killed a few forest spiders with firebombs that she had mixed together. She had had the foresight to make small versions by altering the volume of ingredients so that she could easily put the resultant fire out rather than burning the jungle down. For her first Merchant feature, she had chosen the capability to speak any language ¨C essentially the same as Renee¡¯s second circle spell, but permanent. This had helped her team up with those she met as well as helped her convince the lizardmen to spare her life. My brother had yet to gain any experience at all, and my father was level five. I examined their status screens, as well as my own after I picked my advancements.
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 11)
Sorcerer Class Points: 5 Energy: High Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 7 Mana: 17/21
Sorcerer Features: Spirit Animal (Avoidance, Empathic Bond, Speak with Sorcerer), Dual Spell Ranger Features: Animal Companion (Lesser Avoidance, Master Bond, Sensory Link, Intelligence (1)), Swift Shot, Focused Shot, Foe Bane, Terrain Mastery Miscellaneous Features: Might & Magic
Sorcerer Spells: 0th (Magic Sight, Lux, Minor Telekinesis, Cleanse), 1st (Force Armor, Magic Missile (x2, 50%), Lightning Grasp, Burning Blast), 2nd (Fire Beam (75%, x2 time)) Ranger Spells: 1st (Animal Stealth)
Proficiencies: Sword (2), Bow (2), Spells
Renee Rivers (Druid/Bard Level 10)
Druid Class Points: 8 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Bard Class Points: 4 Mana: 22/22
Druid Features: Animal Companion (Avoidance, Master Bond, Intelligence (2)), Nature Guru, Animal Aspect Bard Features: Magical Performance Miscellaneous Features: Harvester, Robustness (1)
Druid Spells: 0th (Create Water, Detect Poison, Purify), 1st (Lesser Healing, Animal Speech, Sustaining Berries, Enchanted Claw), 2nd (Moderate Healing, Restore) Bard Spells: 0th (Dancing Lights, Auditory Hallucination, Lullaby), 1st (Charm, Frighten, Understand Languages), 2nd (Omniglot)
Proficiencies: Spear, Instruments (2), Spells, Singing (2)
Todd Rivers (Wizard/Artificer Level 1)
Wizard Class Points: 0 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Artificer Class Points: 0 Mana: 8/8
Wizard Features: Spirit Animal (Avoidance, Empathic Bond, Speak English) Artificer Features: Magic Imbuement, Sculpt Mana Miscellaneous Features: None
Wizard Spells: 0th (Magic Sight, Lux, Decipher Script), 1st (Force Disk, Silent Illusion) Artificer Skills: Woodcraft, Metalcraft, Tailoring
Proficiencies: Spells
Tina Rivers (Alchemist/Merchant Level 2)
Druid Class Points: 1 Energy: Full Condition: Healthy
Bard Class Points: 1 Mana: 4/4
Alchemist Features: Substance Identification, Mixing Intuition, Reagent Fabrication, Master Harvester Merchant Features: Magnetic Charm, Silver Tongue Miscellaneous Features: None
Alchemist Recipes: Healing Potion, Firebomb, Steel Transmutation, Mist Grenade Merchant Skills: Bargaining, Gather Information, Appraisal
Proficiencies: None
Jonathan Rivers (Paladin/Summoner Level 5)
Paladin Class Points: 1 Energy: High Condition: Healthy
Summoner Class Points: 2 Mana: 11/11
Paladin Features: Healing Hands, Smite Evil, Restoring Touch, Courageous Aura Summoner Features: Summon Spirit, Summon Monster (Stronger (3)) Miscellaneous Features: None
Paladin Spells: 1st (Blessed Armaments, Radiant Defender) Summoner Spells: 0th (Daze, Lux, Bolster), 1st (Draw Attack, Heal Spirit)
Proficiencies: Sword(3), Shield(3), spells
I also tried to examine Svenia¡¯s status screen, but apparently you could only examine those who were in your party, not those party-linked. It was also too bad that my upgraded screens didn¡¯t show how much experience we needed to level up. ¡°So, any idea what that monster¡¯s capabilities are?¡± I asked Dad. ¡°We saw another group of two fight it. It killed and ate them. The snake tail moves independently, and I think it has venom. They weren¡¯t able to penetrate its scales, and its teeth and claws ripped through them easily. I have no idea what the spider legs do; I didn¡¯t see it use them. Do you think we¡¯re supposed to kill it?¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet on it, yes.¡± ¡°Todd thought the same thing.¡± ¡°Why do you suppose it¡¯s not attacking us? It can clearly see us,¡± Renee said. ¡°We never saw it cross the water. Maybe it can¡¯t?¡± Kekir suggested. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, should we try attacking it from the other side of the moat with arrows and magic?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s worth a try,¡± Aguin agreed. ¡°With your fire beam and magical stars that you told us of, my water and animation magic, the angel¡¯s bow, and Kekir¡¯s bow, four of us have enough range to attack across the water.¡± ¡°And if it does cross the water, then Rabbit¡¯s father and I will be fight on the front!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I can do against something that big, so I¡¯ll guard Renee while see serves as the healer, and Renee¡¯s beast can distract it,¡± Lartha said. ¡°I have a few full-powered firebombs and mist grenades, as well as healing potions,¡± Mom said. ¡°I can serve as support.¡± ¡°That leaves me the only one unable to contribute,¡± Todd sighed. ¡°That means you¡¯re the safest one,¡± I pointed out. ¡°You can hang back and guard our supplies.¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°Are we ready for this? That thing is terrifying, but we can¡¯t back down. The Trial¡­ well, I don¡¯t want to find out what happens if we fail.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Aguin said, his face determined. As one, we walked toward the moat. The moat itself was about thirty feet across, and on the far side was an expanse of bare ground maybe four times that depth (roughly twice as long as the beast) before the base of the ziggurat. We had nearly reached the moat when a message echoed in our minds. Ding! [You have encountered the mandatory Sub-Trial: Guardian of the Pyramid.] Here we go. Chapter Eight: Battle Chapter Eight: Battle ¡°Preparatory spells first,¡± Todd reminded us as the monster looked up at us, its yellow eyes unblinking. ¡°Force Armor.¡± ¡°Enchanted Claw. Animal Speech.¡± ¡°Blessed Armaments. Radiant Defender.¡± ¡°On my mark,¡± Dad said. He raised up his sword (which was glowing with golden light), and the archers drew their bows back. I stretched out my hand, and Aguin raised his staff. ¡°Three¡­ two¡­ one¡­ Now!¡± He swung down his sword. ¡°Fire Beam!¡± Arrows hit the beast ¨C obviously a boss monster ¨C and became embedded in its scales. My fire beam crossed the distance and hit it in the head. Water sliced out of the moat and slashed the creature in a cutting wave. It rose to its feet, angry, and in less than a second it was at the water¡¯s edge, upturned spider legs twitching. I changed the angle of my hand to keep the fire beam trained on its face ¨C my beam could last for about four seconds before it cut out, and I didn¡¯t intend to waste any of that time. Burns were appearing under the beam and flames licked out further, but it stubbornly refused to actually ignite. It howled in anger as the archers loosed arrow after arrow, some striking the body and some hitting the face, but it didn¡¯t look like it was going down anytime soon. More and more water sliced into its scales and the flesh of its face, shearing off its protective covering and causing it to bleed. I grabbed my wand and cast another Fire Beam, the spell hungrily sucking out four points of my mana, double the normal amount required for a second circle spell. The effect was immediate and noticeable, as the blue-hot flames set its face ablaze and started to burn a hole in its forehead. No longer content to simply take the damage, it shifted its bulk and turned sideways, sending my beam blazing across its scales, leaving the once-yellow-brown blackened in the spell¡¯s wake. To my delight, not only was the spell significantly stronger, but it also lasted twice as long, allowing me to focus on a spot and break through the scales, sending the fire underneath the protective barrier. When my spell finally stopped, I finally noticed something I had been too focused to see: the spider legs had all curled toward a central point, and a small ball of darkness was forming. It turned its head directly toward me. ¡°Incoming!¡± I cried out. The sphere shot toward me with frightening speed, but my father, who was standing beside me, was faster. He interposed his golden-glowing shield, and the ball of black struck it with a sound like a cannon. I saw him stagger from the impact, but he did not falter. At the same time, the tail rose up and the snake mouth spit something out ¨C something that struck Kekir square in the chest. The birdman staggered midair, then dropped. Renee rushed toward him. The spider legs started forming another ball, even as Arkenthra the angel managed to stick an arrow in the boss monster¡¯s left eye. Slashing water opened up new wounds on the beast¡¯s flank, and then another glob of venom splashed against a thin shield of water that the mage had conjured to protect himself. ¡°Restore! Lesser Healing!¡± As soon as the sphere fired upon the angel, I stepped out from behind my father and cast another Fire Beam through my wand. While I was still casting, I saw out of the corner of my eye the devastating effect of the ball that my Paladin father had blocked the first time. It blasted Arkenthra back out of my sight, and I heard him slam into the ground with a crack. ¡°Fire Beam!¡± When my spell hit it in the side of the head, the beast suddenly crouched. And then it jumped. Unknown tons of feline-reptilian-ogrish flesh landed adjacent to us. I whirled to keep the spell focused on the creature. Claws rose, then descended, but the broken-winged angel, who was trailing light like blood, managed to throw himself to the side. Discarding his bow ¨C which promptly vanished ¨C he grabbed his sword and cut deep into its massive paw. Another black sphere was already forming. ¡°No you don¡¯t!¡± I changed my target to one of the spider leg joints. It was a race against time. A powerful cutting wave of water sliced off the snake head just as it was getting ready to spit again. Arkenthra landed another strong blow before massive claws cut across him, shredding him into streaks of golden light. Sheena, her own claws and fangs coated in an ominous red light, raced to the closest leg ¨C its back left leg ¨C and leapt on, climbing the limb as though it were a thick tree. Rusty, who had been flying around, took it upon himself to fly into its face to distract it, while Shadow¡­ ¡­Where was Shadow? Hopefully somewhere safe, because I didn¡¯t have time to think about her. Just as the sphere completed, my flames burned through the leg, making the top part fall off. The sphere dropped onto the beast¡¯s back and exploded. KABOOM! Scales and blood scattered as the monster was pressed against the ground, and Sheena finished her ascent, leaping onto the open wound and going at it with everything she had. It stood and turned, only to face a charging Svenia. The tribeswoman was grinning like a madwoman, glowing with a silver aura. She swung at the same time as its injured paw descended. She sliced right through. The momentum wasn¡¯t completely halted, her having cut through instead of the weapon sticking inside, and the bisected paw slammed into her with somewhat diminished force. It was sill enough to cut through flesh and knock her back. I grabbed my bow off my back and nocked an arrow, noting that Renee was running up to Svenia to heal her, Lartha to guard my sister, and my father to intercept the follow-up attack. Which happened to be a bite that he deflected with his shield. Rusty, seeing where things were about to go, flew out of the way. ¡°Lightning Grasp,¡± I cast, using the two second casting time to activate Focused Shot. And True Foe ¨C whatever that thing is, I added mentally. My arrow sparked with lightning magic. I let it fly. It buried itself up to the feather in the undamaged eye, discharging its magical energy. The beast froze. Lartha added her taser to the equation. Then my mother and brother simultaneously chucked bottles filled with orange liquid at its face. KABOOM! It roared in pain, completely blinded and badly burned. It shook itself like a wet dog, trying to shake Sheena loose, but she clung on tight. Dad and Svenia charged in again, slashing at its front legs. Kekir peppered it with arrows as it tried to fight back, but both of the frontliners were sturdy enough to block its attacks, though the momentum did push them back. I nocked another arrow, aiming at its neck. I wasn¡¯t sure whether this would work, but I had to give it a try. ¡°Fire Beam.¡± The moment the lattice completed, I released the arrow. It sank all the way into the side of its neck¡­ and then burst into flame, the beam¡¯s point of origin the arrowhead instead of my palm. The monster¡¯s cry was deafening. Seconds passed. The creature slumped. Ding! [Congratulations: you have passed the Sub-Trial: Guardian of the Pyramid. Your rating is: Flawless Victory. For defeating the Guardian without suffering a single casualty with under ten Champion Contestants, you have earned 250 Experience and one Flair Tally Point.] [Congratulations. By defeating the Guardian of the Pyramid, you have unlocked the next stage of the Trial of Champions. Enter the Pyramid when you wish to continue.] [Congratulations: you have cleared the first stage of the Trial of Champions in less than 72 hours. You have earned one Speed Tally Point.] [Congratulations: you have leveled up from level eleven to level fifteen. You have earned 64 Sorcerer CP and 32 Ranger CP.] [You have a total of 3 Flair Tally Points and 1 Speed Tally Point thus far. Continue to accumulate these and the strength of the Boon granted you will be increased.] [Defeating the Guardian has earned your party rewards.] The corpse of the guardian began to glow and dissolve into motes of light, dropping Sheena from its back onto the ground. That light then swirled and coalesced into shimmering objects before the illumination faded away, leaving only the objects behind.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. There were, counting the one pile the same as a single object, a total of nine things, each slightly separated from the others. I immediately made to approach. ¡°Wait!¡± Todd shouted. ¡°We all have a lot of points to spend, right? We just leveled up a bunch; I went all the way to level ten. I think I might have a spell that will be able to help us tell exactly what these thing are. First¡­ Magic Sight.¡± I followed my brother¡¯s lead, murmuring ¡°Magic Sight.¡± The world tinted gray, like it did when I was using Animal Stealth, but the items before me suddenly blazed with light, most surrounded by a colored aura. So, they were magical. ¡°They¡¯re definitely magical,¡± Todd said, ¡°which means we need to identify them. Give me a second¡­ how do you spend your points?¡± ¡°Say ¡®advancement,¡¯¡± I told him. ¡°Advancement. Ah, okay, I see how it is. Go to first circle spells¡­. And there it is. Select Identify. Okay, now I should be able to figure these things out.¡± While he talked to himself and learned his new spell, I came closer and examined the rewards without touching them. The only thing that wasn¡¯t magical was a pile of fabric with a handful of gemstones the size of the end segment of my thumb; I couldn¡¯t be sure without feeling them, but I thought the fabric might be silk. Next was an amulet on some kind of lanyard-like necklace; it appeared to be made of bronze and had an embossed design that made me thing of a spell lattice. Beside that was a gold ring with something engraved along the outside. A spiked collar sized for a tiger was between a white badge with a cloud pattern and what looked like a glass decanter filled with water. Some kind of sci-fi gauntlet rested not too far from what seemed to be a simple orange headband. And finally, there was a full set of plate armor (with an open-faced helm) that was made of polished silver. Todd began his identification, touching each magic item and casting his newly acquired spell. ¡°This is the Amulet of Overdrive,¡± he said, passing the bronze amulet to me. ¡°When you are out of mana, it lets you cast from your physical energy instead. Use too much, and you can knock yourself out, so be careful.¡± He handed the collar to Renee. ¡°The Harmony Collar. Instead of boosting everyone in the vicinity with your magical performance, you can focus solely on your tiger while it is wearing the collar and have the effects greatly magnified.¡± ¡°This one is definitely yours,¡± he told Kekir, who accepted the badge from him. ¡°The Talisman of the North Wind. It allows your wind magic to also have frost effects.¡± Todd merely gestured at Dad when he got to the armor. ¡°I¡¯m assuming this one is yours, Dad. It¡¯s called the Armor of the Moon. It has two effects: first, it protects against elemental and magical attacks just as well as it does against physical attacks, and second, you can command it to release blinding light that only effects evil beings. ¡°These silks and gems aren¡¯t magic, and I figure they probably are meant for the merchant ¨C meaning you, Mom.¡± Todd put on the gold ring. ¡°This one is a Storage Ring. Extradimensional storage. Meaning we won¡¯t have to worry about how to carry stuff.¡± Aguin took the decanter from him as soon as he finished the identification. ¡°Endless Water Decanter. Basically, it produces a limitless amount of water, and by saying the command words written on the bottom of the bottle in runes you can make the water come out in one of several speeds and quantities.¡± The gauntlet, appropriate called the Tech Gauntlet, was Lartha¡¯s prize, and it fit perfectly over her left hand. It served to let her do¡­ something with solid holographs? ¡°Manipulate hard light projections and elemental energy.¡± It was a solid illusion generator and energy gun, I thought. As for the headband, which Svenia eagerly tied around her head¡­ ¡°The Quintessence Headband,¡± Todd told her. ¡°It allows you to temporarily surpass your physical limits and gives you a temporary boost to your ki. It can only be activated once per day, and it leaves you exhausted afterward.¡± ¡°Perfect!¡± the warrioress said excitedly. After we all had our rewards (either on our person or stowed away), we had to decide whether to take the time to spend our points now or to cross over the moat and enter the ziggurat. We had just started the discussion (well, Dad was already working on his upgrades) when I felt indignation, anger, and pain through my empathic bond with Shadow. Right! Shadow had gone missing during the fight! Where was she? ¡°Shadow!¡± I shouted. ¡°Where are you?¡± Sheena¡¯s nose and ears twitched, and she turned toward the¡­ well, it was north, according to my inner compass. The ziggurat was east, we had come from the west, and the north was the direction where the three humans had been hiding in the trees. The south was where the other group was. The air rippled, and creatures appeared to step out of invisible portals about thirty feet away from the northernmost person ¨C me. There were a half-dozen of them, and they looked like they had been summoned from the pits of hell. Two were red skeletons with black voids in their eye sockets that wore black armor and carried wicked curved swords with crimson blades. Two were obviously hellhounds, with burning red eyes, blood-soaked fur, black teeth and claws, and flames spewing from their mouths. One was a tiger even bigger than Sheena (who, as I previously noted, was bigger than a male Siberian tiger) which instead of being black and orange was black and red, with soulless black eyes. The last was a biped that stood about ten feet tall and was all muscle, with black and red skin, and carried a flanged mace. ¡°Ward Against Evil!¡± my father cast immediately ¨C and I do mean immediately; the spell¡¯s light flashed around all nine of us ¨C and Sheena ¨C the moment he finished talking. I guess his spells didn¡¯t need a lattice painstakingly built like mine. Then, before the foul beasts even finished registering where they were, Dad clapped his gauntleted hands together and a magic circle appeared in the air around him. ¡°I call upon the holy monsters of virtue, inhabitants of the upper planes,¡± he started casting. ¡°Don¡¯t attack them!¡± I called out. If his ¡°Ward Against Evil¡± worked like its similarly-named game equivalent, it would protect us from evil summoned creatures ¨C at least the ones that didn¡¯t have weapons ¨C completely. ¡°Only guard! Dad¡¯s spell will protect us!¡± ¡°¡­come and fight to defend my people!¡± my father finished as the evil creatures attacked. Evil Tiger bounded toward Sheena, recoiling as soon as it came within striking distance. Hellhounds charged me, doing the same. Svenia rushed forward, drawing the attention of the presumed demon, which swung its mace only to have it blocked by Sheena¡¯s blade. The skeletons ran past my chanting father toward the rest of the group, and my sister and Lartha blocked their swords with their own weapons (Lartha used her energy blade). Then Dad¡¯s spell completed, and four spheres of light appeared around us. A split second later, the lights exploded out into the shapes of creatures, all with golden-white fur: two giant bears that were at almost twice as big as a grizzly in every dimension and two tigers that were the celestial counter to the fiendish tiger. They reacted faster to their summoning than the evil ones did. A golden-white tiger pounced on the black-and-red one; its partner slammed into the hellhounds in front of me. One of the bears roared as it crashed into the skeleton attacking Renee, and the other one smashed into the skeleton assaulting Lartha. ¡°Sorry, Yuan!¡± Svenia said. ¡°I¡¯m a warrior, I can¡¯t just block!¡± Wait, she just called me Yuan! Was that because of my performance against the Guardian? Svenia parried another swing of the mace. She swung in an almost horizontal slash from right to left, her blade slicing through skin and flesh but doing far less damage than I had seen it do to animals or the Guardian, leaving a gash rather than completely ripping through. Why? Was it because she didn¡¯t have her aura around her? The demon brought down its mace with a two-handed vertical swing, roaring in anger. Svenia swung up, meeting the strike with one of her own, and I swore the impact caused a shockwave that I could feel nearly twenty feet away. The demon pressed down, trying to overpower her, but just as her knees were bending and her sword starting to slide down, her silver aura erupted around her. She overpowered it in the next moment, throwing its mace to her right, then twisted her sword and slashed diagonally down to the left. The blow was devastating, sinking deep into its body and shattering bone. And yet, she still couldn¡¯t cleave through, her sword stuck inside its torso. It released the mace with its left hand, then swept it toward her with its right. Realizing she wouldn¡¯t free her sword in time, she released it and¡­ Holy shit. She just grabbed the mace with her bare hands by its flanges. Her muscles bulged, and she yanked the weapon right out of the demon¡¯s grip, tossing it aside. ¡°Nice try, hell warrior!¡± she shouted, and I could hear the glee in her voice. She adjusted her stance, stepping into something that looked like eastern martial arts to my untrained eye, pulling her right fist back while her left hand remained forward, palm facing toward her foe. She took a breath as the bewildered demon stared down at her, reaching for her sword to pull it out. And then she punched. The demon¡¯s stomach caved in and the monster rocketed backwards, slamming into the ground and digging a small furrow as its momentum carried it even further on its back. A man winked into visibility as he was knocked over by the sliding demon. Ah. The human trio had summoned the monsters to attack us, while hiding just behind them under the cloak of invisibility. I heard a cry of pain, and Shadow appeared not far away, dropping from chest height and immediately racing toward me. I grabbed my bow and let loose an arrow at the spot where she had appeared. Another man appeared, clutching at the shaft protruding from his chest, his eyes wide. I fired another arrow at him. He fell backwards. I glanced to my left at the ongoing combat between the celestial tiger and the hellhounds. It was going rather well, with the tiger having the upper hand, and I didn¡¯t see the need to intervene. I twisted to look further back at the other celestial tiger engaged with the fiendish tiger. That was also going well, mostly because Sheena had joined the fight and was keeping the fiendish tiger from being able to focus all of its attention on the celestial tiger, which was doing most of the damage. There was no way the giant bears were losing to the skeletons, so I turned back forward. Svenia was standing on top of the demon, sword in reverse grip. She slammed it point first into the demon¡¯s face. The demon smeared and disappeared, much like Arkenthra had when defeated by the Guardian. ¡°Master Yuan!¡± Shadow said as she rubbed up against me. ¡°Thank you!¡± I¡¯d leave the question of what, exactly, happened to Shadow for later. I shot an arrow at the other man as he struggled to stand, taking the extra second to adjust my aim and end him. I had no idea what capabilities the two men had, but they were dead now so I supposed it didn¡¯t matter. The final man, though¡­ would he attack or run? He was still invisible, so running was probably the smartest¡­ ¡­ The ziggurat entrance! ¡°Aguin!¡± I yelled, spinning around. ¡°Get me a bridge!¡± To his credit, he didn¡¯t even hesitate. With a sweep of his staff, he solidified a path across the moat. I took off running, my feet pounding on the ground as I sprinted for the entrance. I crossed the moat in barely a second, the water as firm as stone. I raced across the earth toward the entrance, crossing it in seconds. I had no time to marvel at how much more in shape I was than I had ever been, because less than ten feet from the open square doorway I slammed into something invisible, which immediately became visible. I fell, tangled with the third man, and we rolled to a stop with him on top of me. My bow had flung away from me, but somehow my arrows were still in their quiver on my back. The only reason my leg wasn¡¯t bleeding from my sword was the presence of my Force Armor. ¡°Goddammit!¡± he swore. He was a thin man with roughly the same build as me, wearing distinctly modern clothes, unlike his two companions. And he was swearing in English. Another Champion Contestant from Earth. He pulled back a fist and swung down. I caught the blow with both hands. ¡°Asshole!¡± I yelled back. ¡°You just tried to kill us!¡± He froze. ¡°You speak English?¡± ¡°Yeah, I do! Not that it matters! You tried to fucking kill me and my family! You think I¡¯m going to let you get away with that?¡± His face twisted. ¡°This is a fucking death game! It¡¯s kill or be killed! You killed the men I was with, too, right?! Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯re a goddamn saint!¡± He pulled back his other fist. I twisted and yanked, pulling him off balance and rolling so that I was on top. My heart hammered, and I could feel my heartbeat all throughout my body, hear it pounding in my ears. Even through the adrenaline, I realized something terrible. I was going to murder this man. I grabbed his arms and held him down with superior strength. Whatever classes he had, they hadn¡¯t done much to enhance his physical prowess. ¡°Magic¡ª¡± KABOOM! I was falling. It took me a moment to realize that, to be falling from several dozen feet up, I had to have been blasted up that several dozen feet. I couldn¡¯t hear anything, and I hurt all over, but especially in my chest. My Force Armor was gone, likely shattered. The ground rushed up at me. The air grew thicker, and I slowed. I slowed¡­ but not quickly enough. I smacked into the ground with a crunch. I blacked out. Chapter Nine: Ziggurat Chapter Nine: Ziggurat I came to to a Ding! [You have killed one level four Champion Contestant without assistance. You have killed one level five Champion Contestant without assistance. You have killed one level six Champion Contestant with assistance. Your Experience Earned has been slightly reduced.] [You successfully deduced and stopped an enemy Champion Contestant¡¯s plan to usurp your entrance to the Second Stage. For this, you have received one Flair Tally Point.] I felt surprisingly good for being exploded forty feet in the air and then falling back down again. By this, I mean that I felt completely fine. A bit tired, but fine. I wasn¡¯t hurt at all. Given that I was pretty sure I had broken bones (I mean, come on) this was a surprise. I didn¡¯t think that Renee could fix broken bones. That meant there was only one person who might have been able to do it: Dad. His Paladin class must be significantly more powerful than the game version of the same. Besides that, though, I¡¯m pretty sure the fall would have killed me if the air hadn¡¯t suddenly gotten thicker like that. Only one of us could use wind magic, which meant I owed my life to our birdman friend. He was probably also the one who finished off the man I was fighting. The man who somehow blasted me into the sky when I was still mid-cast. A part of me was glad that I didn¡¯t have the chance to kill the man. It was different, killing someone who was within arms reach, as opposed to shooting them with a bow. More personal. I should know. I opened my eyes. The flickering of torches was my only light source, and my vision ended in darkness above. There were no stars. The murmurs of quiet conversation echoed oddly around me. I¡¯m inside the ziggurat, I realized. Had the second stage of the Trial started? I sat up, causing the conversation to cut out. I turned my head, taking in my surroundings. The entire group was inside a relatively large stone chamber lit only by torches along the walls and on the sides of pillars. To the west was what I was positive was a closed door with no handle ¨C the entrance, which was sealed behind us. To the east was another statue like the one we had seen when we were first kidnapped from Earth, complete with rune writing on a plaque attached to it near the base. ¡°Good, you¡¯re awake,¡± my father said, relief in his voice. My mother rushed over, crouching beside me. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± she asked in concern. ¡°Your father said that you were completely healed, even your broken bones, but¡­ it¡¯s hard to trust magic when it didn¡¯t exist on Earth.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I reassured her. I stood up. ¡°See? Perfectly fine. Thanks to Dad and Kekir.¡± I nodded to the birdman. ¡°I owe you my life, Kekir. If you hadn¡¯t slowed my fall, I would have died on impact.¡± Kekir nodded in return. ¡°I only did what was right. I followed you when you ran for the pyramid, and when you were blasted into the sky, I knew I had to act. Once you landed, I finished the man who had nearly slain you with an arrow.¡± ¡°After the celestial monsters slew the hellish ones, I immediately came over to heal you,¡± Dad said. ¡°I had to spend a lot of points to get my Restoring Touch powerful enough to fix broken bones.¡± ¡°How did you know that would work?¡± I asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t. I just went by the name.¡± So we lucked out, basically. ¡°But we don¡¯t have a lot of time to talk.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± My brother answered in my father¡¯s stead. ¡°We saw another group of people approaching, so we decided that if you thought we needed to get into the ziggurat first then we should do it before they got there. We all entered and it closed behind us. The moment it did, a one hour countdown started, just like before. We were afraid that you might not wake up before we ran out of time. You need to read the writing at the statue.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I walked over, Shadow padding along beside me and Rusty landing on my left shoulder. ¡°Welcome to the Second Stage of the Trial of Champions. Where the First Stage had you begin alone, the Second Stage allows you to start as part of a group. The Second Stage focuses on puzzles and traps, so you will need more than brute strength to survive. Each group can have no more than three people. You have one hour to select how you will be grouped. If the Party Leaders among you do not decide before the time limit is up, your distribution will be decided randomly.¡± I frowned. We were going to get separated again? That was completely unfair. It was practically a miracle that we were able to find each other as it was. And the Party Leaders ¨C that is, me and Kekir ¨C had to make the decision of how to split up? Grr¡­ ¡°How long do we have?¡± ¡°About a half hour. That¡¯s roughly how long you were out,¡± Todd said. ¡°What do you guys think? I mean, I hate that they¡¯re splitting us, but we have to figure out how to group, or we could be stuck in dangerously sub-optimal groupings.¡± ¡°I want us to have the family as together as possible,¡± my mother said immediately. ¡°I agree,¡± my father said. I thought about it. My father should be in one of the groups and I should be in another, since the two of us were probably the most powerful. Mom and Todd should be split up, too. Mom should be with Dad, and I doubt they¡¯d want all their children in a group separate from them. ¡°Mom, Dad, and Renee in one group,¡± I said. ¡°Me, Todd, and one other person in another. The remaining three in the last group.¡± ¡°I choose your group, Rabbit!¡± Svenia said decisively. ¡°I thought you were calling me Yuan now?¡± ¡°I changed my mind. Rabbit suits you better. You run so fast!¡± ¡°¡­I¡¯ll do my best to re-earn my name,¡± I said dryly. ¡°Then my group will have Aguin and Lartha,¡± Kekir said. My parents looked at each other. ¡°I think that we¡ª¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°The two of you are in the same group. I¡¯m not splitting my parents apart. Todd and I are both adults; we¡¯re both smart, and with Svenia in our group we don¡¯t need to worry about strength. This way, each group has only one noncombatant as well. This is how we¡¯re doing it. I¡¯m the one with the power to decide, and that¡¯s what I¡¯ve decided. Now, we should spend the rest of the time we have figuring out our points purchases.¡± Dad looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he could tell from my expression that he wouldn¡¯t be able to change my mind, so he backed down. I don¡¯t think he was happy about me being the Leader; it was a whim of fate that I had gotten the role. I wasn¡¯t pleased about it either, honestly; I didn¡¯t want that kind of responsibility. However, it came with perks that made our accomplishments so far possible ¨C I would never have been able to team up with Lartha or Svenia without being a Leader, and I wouldn¡¯t have survived without either of them. Without me, Mom wouldn¡¯t have rejoined with the rest of the family, even if Renee had found her way to the ziggurat. And without Svenia, me, and Aguin, the Guardian would have been impossible to defeat. So really, it had worked out for the best. I turned my attention toward my advancement options.
Yuan Rivers (Sorcerer/Ranger Level 15)
Sorcerer Class Points: 69 Energy: Low Condition: Healthy
Ranger Class Points: 39 Mana: 4/27
Sorcerer Advancement Options Enhance Spirit Animal, New 0th Circle Spell, New 1st Circle Spell, Upgrade Magic Missile, New 2nd Circle Spell, Magical Augmentation, Upgrade Lightning Grasp, Upgrade Burning Blast, Upgrade Fire Beam, Sorcerer Self EnhancementThis narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Ranger Advancement Options Enhance Animal Companion, New 1st Circle Spell, New 2nd Circle Spell, New Weapon Art, Increase Weapon Competency, Terrain Mastery, Foe Bane, Ranger Self Enhancement
Miscellaneous Advancement Options Enhance Self, Extra Talent
Given that the next Sorcerer advancement would cost twelve points, I could only choose four of them. So many things to upgrade, though. It was frustrating. Magical Augmentation had a lot of options, but many they weren¡¯t obvious what they did. I checked the Sorcerer Self Enhancement list. Oh my. Some of these were quite useful. Elemental resistances? Extra Mana? Increased resistance to hostile mental effects? Other magical resistance? Interesting stuff. Before I went wild and spent all my points on things I would regret, I refreshed my memory on the options for enhancing Shadow.
Spirit Animal Enhancements
Increase Intelligence Increase Defenses Increase Robustness
*Speak with Like Animals *Spellbond *Resistance to Magic
*Telepathy with Sorcerer *Sensory Link *Spirit Connection
There were two of those that I had no clue what they did: Spellbond and Spirit Connection. So, naturally, I impulsively purchased both of them. [You Spirit Animal has gained the feature ¡°Spellbond.¡± By drawing on your mana, your Spirit Animal can now cast any spell that you know. Additionally, your Spirit Animal gains the benefits of your Magical Augmentation features.] [Your Spirit Animal has gained the feature ¡°Spirit Connection.¡± You have gained access to the following Connection Spells, which alter, improve, or otherwise effect your Spirit Animal for a limited time when cast: Polymorph Spirit, Augment Spirit, Spirit Transposition. Additionally, any spell you cast on yourself automatically affects your Spirit Animal as well.] Very useful! I checked the list again.
Spirit Animal Enhancements
Increase Intelligence Increase Defenses Increase Robustness
*Speak with Like Animals *Sorcerous Ascension *Resistance to Magic
*Telepathy with Sorcerer *Sensory Link *(Locked)
Huh. Each time I took one, a new thing became available. One of them was currently locked, but¡­ Okay, what did Sorcerous Ascension do? I had to know. [Your Spirit Animal has gained the feature ¡°Sorcerous Ascension.¡± No longer needing to draw on your mana to cast spells, your Spirit Animal has become a spellcaster in its own right. Your Spirit Animal now has its own pool of mana equal to one half your mana pool.] SCORE! That was absolutely astounding! Checking the list again, that slot was now empty. So there were limits, but that was just simply too good. Absolutely worth the points I just spent. However¡­ Shadow was kind of dumb. She had a fairly low intelligence for a person, which I should probably rectify if I wanted to be able to count on her casting spells in combat with me. We didn¡¯t exactly have visible Intelligence stats so that I could gauge her intelligence, which was unfortunate, but¡­ it was probably worth the investment anyway. [Your Spirit Animal has had its intelligence increased. Your Spirit Animal requires 1 more intelligence boost to reach the human average. Your Spirit Animal requires 3 more intelligence boosts to reach your current level of intelligence.] I¡­ really wasn¡¯t sure how to take that. I was two boosts beyond average? Well, I did consider myself fairly smart; I was valedictorian of my high school graduating class. In the game, ten was the human average and six was the starting score for a familiar, which was the equivalent of the spirit animal, while normal animals started at two. I didn¡¯t remember it giving me a message like that when I boosted Rusty¡¯s intelligence. My sister had boosted Sheena¡¯s intelligence twice, I¡¯d have to ask her whether it did something similar the second time. Actually¡­ let¡¯s do that now. ¡°Hey, Renee?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Did you get any kind of special message when you boosted Sheena¡¯s intelligence?¡± ¡°Not the first time. The second time, it told me that her ¡®mind has transformed,¡¯ but didn¡¯t elaborate.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± In the game, three was the ¡°this is a really stupid, not really functional person¡± cutoff, but what if instead one intelligence boost to an animal companion made it a smarter animal, and a second intelligence boost transformed the mind into a kind-of-dumb person, such as what Shadow started out as? I had no proof, but if it gave Renee a message like it just gave me on her next intelligence boost to Sheena, then it would be very strong evidence for that theory. But anyway, back to my point spending. No more Sorcerer upgrades for the moment ¨C I needed sixteen points and I only had fifteen left ¨C so on to Ranger. I could do up to four upgrades here, too, though that would leave me with only one point, making it impossible for me to do any miscellaneous advancements. With access to second circle Ranger spells, I decided on one called Animal Prowess. I had a hunch that it would increase my stats as a basic augmentation spell, but I wouldn¡¯t know for sure until I cast it for the first time. Hm. There was a first circle spell that I could take that Renee already had as a Druid spell: Animal Speech. It would let me talk to animals. Until such a time as I could bring Rusty¡¯s intelligence up to the level of an average human and teach him language rather than just the few commands that he somehow intrinsically knew, like Fly, Scout, and Attack (giving him ¡°Extra Training¡± would presumably increase these), Animal Speech would be a good way to communicate more complicated concepts. With his current boosted intelligence, he would probably be capable of understanding them. Okay, Animal Speech taken as well! All right¡­ should I try to focus on myself, increasing my combat abilities? Should I take one of the (small number of) Ranger Self Enhancements? Or should I just boost Rusty, who was basically useless in a fight? ¡­Okay, that wasn¡¯t really fair. He was a hawk the size of a bald eagle; he was actually a pretty strong bird. But¡­ he wasn¡¯t really powerful. What were my options again?
Animal Companion Enhancements
Increase Robustness Increase Combat Prowess Increase Defenses
Extra Training Extra Talent Increase Physical Prowess
Increase Intelligence *Avoidance *Unlimited Sensory Link
Let¡¯s keep the feathery dude alive. Avoidance! [Your Animal Companion has gained the feature ¡°Avoidance.¡± Your Animal Companion now excels at dodging attacks, even going so far as to be capable of supernaturally avoiding area of effect attacks that it is completely inside of.] Yep, that¡¯s pretty much exactly what I thought that did. It¡¯s actually probably a little stronger than the game equivalent, because I thought it also affected dodging other stuff too. One more enhancement, and then I¡¯m done spending points. Hm¡­ Robustness probably was how much resilience to damage he had. Defenses¡­ not entirely sure. Either damage reduction or skill in mitigating damage, probably. Combat prowess ¨C attack and damage. Physical prowess ¨C erm, physical stats? Or I could just go for another intelligence boost. Or maybe a Talent? What were my options for Talents? Oh, wow, that was a long list. Huh. Yeah, I did not have the time to sift through that. Let¡¯s just go with increasing intelligence again. [Your Animal Companion has had its intelligence increased for the second time. This has triggered a qualitative change in its cognitive capabilities and emotional complexity. Its mind has transformed.] And there was the message my sister told me about. It didn¡¯t explain much, but it supported my theory. Anyway, that was it for my upgrades. Next time I¡¯d focus on myself more. [Five minutes remaining.] Wait, what? I spend around twenty-five minutes pondering over all that? I thought it was ten minutes, tops. ¡°Hey, Todd, are you done making your selections?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°And thank god for that,¡± squawked the ever-present white raven on his shoulder. Albee, I think he named it? I¡¯m betting he enhanced the raven¡¯s intelligence. What choices did he make, anyway? Let¡¯s take a look.
Todd Rivers (Wizard/Artificer Level 10)
Wizard Class Points: 1 Energy: High Condition: Healthy
Artificer Class Points: 0 Mana: 0/19
Wizard Features: Spirit Animal (Avoidance, Empathic Bond, Speak English, Sensory Link, Resistance to Magic, Intelligence (2)), Teleporting Step, Telekinetic Assault Artificer Features: Magic Imbuement, Sculpt Mana, Material Fabrication, Cannibalize Item, Swift Assembly, Spell Mimicry (2) Miscellaneous Features: None
Wizard Spells: 0th (Magic Sight, Lux, Decipher Script), 1st (Force Disk, Silent Illusion, Identify, Understand Languages) 2nd (Omniglot, See Invisibility) Artificer Skills: Woodcraft, Metalcraft, Tailoring, Glassmaking, Gears
Proficiencies: Spells
¡°Before you ask,¡± he said, raising a hand as he saw my expression, ¡°I have zero offensive spells available to choose as a wizard, and I am highly annoyed. Telekinetic Assault is my only offensive ability right now, which allows me to throw things around. Once I actually get the opportunity to make magic items, I should be able to make tools that replicate your attack spells, but until then, I¡¯m still a noncombatant. I was glad that Omniglot, which annoyingly required Understand Languages, was only a second circle spell. Wasn¡¯t it third level in the game?¡± ¡°For wizards, yeah. For bards it was second, and I think that all spells are at the lowest possible regardless of class. Which reminds me ¨C I¡¯m an idiot for not choosing a healing spell. We won¡¯t have any healers in our group.¡± ¡°Mom gave me all of her healing potions, since they¡¯ll have two healers,¡± Todd told me, holding up his hand again, this time to show me his ring. ¡°That¡¯s still not that many ¨C just six ¨C but it¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Everyone in the family gave everyone else hugs as we prepared for our second separation. Just as our reunion only hours earlier was tearful, so too was our farewell. I swore to myself that I would see my parents and sister again. I didn¡¯t really mind if I never saw Lartha, Aguin, and Kekir again, but I hoped that they would survive until the end. They were good people. Well, Kekir was a good person. Lartha was¡­ decent, and I was glad that she never betrayed us. Aguin was a mercenary, and I just hoped we¡¯d never end up as enemies, because he was pretty damn powerful. That water spell he used to turn the air into water for a fraction of a second to put out the fire was terrifying. The ziggurat rumbled, and we quickly got into our groups and linked hands, just in case. The countdown was in the seconds now. Soon, the second stage of the Trial of Champions would begin. The rumbling grew louder, and the floor began to shake. Dust fell down from the darkness above. ¡°This is quite exciting, Rabbit!¡± Svenia said with a grin. ¡°It is like a delve into an ancient magical tomb!¡± ¡°Dungeon delve,¡± my brother muttered, and I could hear the nervousness in his voice. ¡°Yeah, this is a real-life dungeon delve.¡± ¡°Well, so long as it¡¯s not our tomb,¡± Albee squawked. ¡°Tell that bird to be quiet,¡± Shadow hissed at me from on my right shoulder. She was already more eloquent than before. Rusty shuffled his wings. My stomach lurched. And then there was darkness.