Rayna stood along with Derek. “I hope I’m not going to regret this.” She mused.
Derek looked at Thomas. “Are you ready to see if you really want to use daggers? It’s much easier to get yourself killed with short weapons like that. One mistake and…” Derek ran his thumb across his throat.
“I’m ready.” Thomas seemed resolute in his decision.
“Okay, let’s go then.” Derek led the group out of the residence. Then he turned back to Rayna. “Uh, we should probably not do this inside the village.” Then he looked at Leon and Richard. “Or with an audience.”
Rayna nodded, then turned to Richard and Leon. “You two go try to think about what we’re going to do about the dungeon. I’ll be back when we finish. If you need me, we’ll be…” She paused and looked at Derek.
Derek understood what she was asking. He pointed in a direction. “We’ll be a few miles that way.” Leon and Richard nodded.
Richard put his hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “Be careful.”
Thomas smiled. “Don’t worry, Derek’s going to be there.” That didn’t seem to reassure Richard, but he nodded.
“Okay, let’s go.” Derek walked toward the gate and his two trainees followed.
“Aright, this should be good enough.” Derek halted his steps. They were two or three miles away from the village. They could still make it out in the distance, but this would be good enough for their training.
The land had short grass and was relatively flat. “Okay, what is this amazing training that you want to do?” Rayna asked.
Derek smiled. Well, I don’t want to destroy my clothes. “Turn around for a second,” he said. Derek checked his bracelet’s storage space. Ah, that will work. Rayna shook her head, then turned around. Quickly, he swapped out his current clothes for a pair of shorts that he happened to still have. “Okay, you can turn back around. It’s PG-13 again.”
Rayna turned with a face full of confusion, then the confusion turned to shock after seeing Derek. He was standing with nothing but a pair of red basketball shorts. “W-what are you wearing?” Rayna said.
He looked down at his piece of clothing. “Um… shorts?” he responded.
“But why?” she asked.
“So I don’t ruin any more clothes that I like.” He spoke as if it was such an obvious reason. Before letting anyone else speak, he pulled a small stool out of his bracelet and sat it on the ground. He pointed at Rayna. “You’re going first. Thomas, have a seat.”
Thomas walked over to the stool and sat.
Derek went over to Rayna. “Okay, first, what magic-based skills do you have?”
Rayna furrowed her brows. “Wind Blade, Wind Walk, and Razor Edge.”
“And what do they do?”
She sighed. “Wind Blade allows me to send a blade of wind at an opponent. It’s level five. Wind Walk lets me channel wind into my feet and walk on air, but it takes a lot of mana. It’s also level five. Razor Edge is a weapon buff that makes my sword sharper. It’s level six.”
“Alright, we won’t need Wind Walk or Razor Edge for this. How much mana does Wind Blade use? How much mana do you have? Does it have a cooldown?” Derek asked. He figured that since she already revealed everything else, she wouldn’t mind revealing this.
“It costs 40 mana per cast, and it doesn’t have a cooldown.” She paused. “I have 1200 mana…”
“Oh, so you can use the skill around 30 times. That’s good. What upgrades when it levels? Mana cost?” he asked.
“No, activation speed, velocity, and damage,” she answered.
Derek nodded. “Good.” He jumped backward. “Ready?”
Seeing Derek retreat a distance, Rayna wasn’t sure what he was planning. “What would you like me to do?” she asked.
“It’s simple. Attack me with your Wind Blade until you run out of mana,” the man replied.
He’s crazy, she thought. “Are you sure?” Seeing him nod, she let out a breath. “Okay, here I go.”
With that, Rayna drew her new sword and activated the skill. A blue-green glow appeared on the blade. She slashed down in an arc, not using her full force. She wasn’t sure of Derek’s defense, so she held back as best she could.
A blue-green crescent flew from her sword towards Derek. Even with her holding back, the spell still moved at a rapid pace. Within a fraction of a second, it reached the man. He crossed his arms to block.
The wind magic collided with Derek’s arms. He held strong, not even being pushed back an inch. Soon, the magic waned, and the crescent blade grew smaller and small until it vanished. Rayna looked at the man who so casually took her magic. She was shocked. She didn’t know his level, but even high-ranked adventurers would not dare take a magic blade with no form of defense.
Derek rubbed his arm before looking down and smiling. Rayna could barely make out a small line on his forearm. The spell wasn’t even enough to break his skin. He’s a monster.
The man looked back up at her. “That’s good. I’m guessing that wasn’t the best you can do either. Now you know you don’t have to hold back. Come on, hit me with your best shot. No holding back.”
Rayna felt a tinge of irritation at the man’s words, but she did as he asked and loosed another blade, this time swinging with all her heart. Derek didn’t choose to block this strike with his arms. Instead, he took the full blow to his chest. A small smile lingered on his face the entire time.
Again, the spell left but a mark. “You don’t have to stop. Keep them coming,” he said.
Rayna began launching Wind Blades one after another. In minutes, she found her mana empty, and a terrible headache formed from lack of mana.
“Out of mana?” Derek asked.
Rayna flinched and nodded her head.
“Okay, trade places with the kid. Use Meditation until you’ve recovered. Once you’re full up, we’ll continue.”
Rayna thought about saying something but gave up. She went over to the now-empty seat and sat down. She tried Meditation for the first time, trusting that Derek wouldn’t let anything happen while she was out.
Derek watched as Thomas moved to where Rayna previously stood. “W-what are we going to do?” the boy asked.
“Well, you’re pretty persistent about using daggers, so I thought we’d see if you’re any good with them.” With that, Derek summoned two daggers from his bracelet and tossed them at the ground in front of the kid’s feet. He laughed as Thomas jumped back. “Pick them up.”
Thomas walked forward and picked the daggers up. “Now, come on. Do your best to kill me,” Derek commanded.
Thomas stared wide-eyed. “Kill you?” he asked.
Derek sighed. “You literally just saw me take 30 Wind Blades to the chest. What, you think that you and your puny strength will be able to hurt me?” Derek shook his head. “Your ‘training’ is going to be much tougher than hers. Now, come on, kill me.”
Thomas finally seemed to understand. With daggers in hand, he ran up to Derek. Using the dagger in his right hand, he slashed in a wide, clumsy arc. Derek watched as the blade came towards him, then… missed. “Oi, kid. Are you serious? You missed a still target.” He was flabbergasted. He didn’t have a problem stabbing the monster. Is he just this bad at fighting? Derek wondered.
“S-sorry,” Thomas said with a face full of embarrassment.
“Don’t be sorry, do it again. With a swing like that, you’d already be dead. If you don’t take this seriously, I can take you back home right now,” Derek threatened.
“N-no. I’ll do my best,” Thomas replied.
“Then attack me.”
Thomas moved forward again. Swinging his blade in another wide arc. This time, the blade barely touched the motionless Derek. Still disappointed, Derek lightly backhanded Thomas on the back of the head. Thomas stumbled to the side and fell over. “What are you doing? You want to use daggers, but you’re too scared to get in close? Get up and go again.” Derek’s hit caused little damage to Thomas, but he cast Rejuvenation just to be on the safe side.
This left Thomas staring at Derek again. “A healing spell?” he blurted out.
“Yes, now get up and come on.” He motioned for the kid to stand again.
Thomas stood and tried again, but he still balked when he got close. “Kid, I don’t think ultra-close ranged weapons are for you,” Derek said. Then he retrieved a short sword from his bracelet. “Try this instead.” He tossed it down in front of Thomas.
“But I want to use daggers,” Thomas complained.
“Remember what we discussed? Do as I say.”
Thomas sighed and picked up the short sword, giving the daggers back to Derek in the process. The two sparred again. This time, Thomas did much better. After a while, Derek pulled a different weapon from his bracelet, a longsword.
The two continued sparring. Occasionally, Derek would have Thomas change weapons to see what he was best at. He would also punish Thomas occasionally when he got the feeling that the boy was taking the training lightly. After some time passed, Rayna finally opened her eyes.
Derek pulled the spear away from Thomas and stopped the boy’s attack. He looked at Rayna. “You ready to go again?”
“Yes,” the chief answered.
Like this, the trio fell into a routine. In between training sessions, Derek would venture out into the forest and bring back a mid-level beast for Thomas to kill. He wanted Thomas to have a class before he took him anywhere. They did this for days.
Rayna had thanked Derek during this time. She had told him that her Wind Blade had grown two levels, and her Meditation skill had already reached level 3.
He had focused on Thomas and learned that, though the boy wasn’t good with daggers, when a short sword was put into his hands, his attacks remarkably improved. The same was true of a spear, too. Other weapons weren’t suitable for the kid, though. Glaives and halberds were too robust for him to use accurately, and Derek could swear that the boy wouldn’t be able to hit a house with an arrow from two feet away.
Unfortunately, Thomas kept insisting on using daggers throughout the entire training process. Derek later found out from Richard that Thomas’s father had used daggers and guessed that this was the reason for the kid’s stubbornness. Derek just hoped that when it came time to choose a class, the system would offer Thomas a decent class for swords or a spear, and the boy would have no choice but to change his mind.
Finally, that day came after Thomas killed a creature that Derek found in the forest. Derek was excited to see what options the system gave Thomas. This wasn’t only because he wanted the boy to get a good class, but he also wanted to see how their actions had affected the potential outcomes.
“Okay, you’re level 10. It’s time to choose a class. Make sure you pick the best one. It’s always a good idea to look into the higher rarity or growth classes. If you need help, ask me,” Derek explained to Thomas. “Got it?” he added.
“Got it,” Thomas replied, then closed his eyes.
Derek stared as he watched Thomas’s face go through a range of emotions. He remembered what it was like when he first had to choose a class. He had accrued quite a few titles before he had to make his decision, which led to him having to sift through multiple bad classes just to get to some that he felt had worth.
Then, he had to do the same thing upon arriving in this new world. Luckily, he had a few epic classes available that made his decision much easier. As he watched Thomas, he hoped that the system would give him an excellent class, preferably one that used short swords or spears.
Finally, after a few minutes, Thomas opened his eyes. He had an excited look on his face. “Well, what did you get?” Derek asked.
“I was able to pick the Rogue class! It’s uncommon, and the same class as my father.” Thomas seemed very excited, but Derek could only sigh in disappointment.
“So, a Rogue class. Then I can assume that you didn’t have any higher rarity classes? Or any growth-type classes?” Derek asked.
Thomas looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact with Derek. “Don’t tell me you could have chosen a rare class, but instead, you chose an uncommon dagger-wielding class.” If this was true, then Derek would have to rethink his opinion of the kid. He had thought the boy was very mature for his age, but if he chose a much lesser class just because ‘my dad had this class,’ then Derek had been wrong about him.
After that, Thomas finally broke. “I didn’t have any rare classes, but I had an uncommon growth-type class. But it used a spear, and I don’t enjoy using spears. Besides, I have Light Weapons Mastery. If I had chosen a spear, it would have meant a wasted skill point.”
Derek nearly facepalmed. “I could get you extra skill points.” He couldn’t believe Thomas was being this hard-headed. “And from what I know, an uncommon growth-type class is probably better than a rare class. I mean, you would’ve had the possibility of ending up with an epic class or even legendary. What were you thinking?”
“I-I remembered how cool I thought my dad was. He loved his daggers. I wanted to be like—”
Derek cut Thomas off before he could continue. “Your dad is dead. His class is probably the reason he died.” With that, he saw Thomas flinch like he had just been punched in the face. “A Rogue class in a forest or dungeon is almost worthless. Are you going to steal from a squirrel? Assassinate a tree?” Derek stopped for a second. “Does the class at least have any bow skills?” he asked, hopeful. At least archery would be useful out here.
Thomas had tears rolling down his cheeks, but Derek was not sorry in the least. “N-no, it doesn’t. I have Sneak and an out of combat movement passive.”
Derek sighed and shook his head. I should’ve had him tell me his choices. I just didn’t think that I would have to hold his hand throughout the entire process. “I honestly don’t know if I should still take you with me. I’ve been treating you like an adult. I guess I forgot you were just a boy.”
“N-no! Please, you have to take me. I need to become strong. I have to protect people,” Thomas pleaded.
“With what you did just now, I don’t even know if I can trust you to keep any of my secrets. Secrets you will learn while traveling with me.” Derek said, still deep in thought. Maybe I’ll just travel around with Silvi. Her class is probably better than Rogue.
“Please!” Thomas fell to his knees. “I-I… I swear on the Great System that I will keep your secrets and tell no one about them.”
A notification flashed in front of Derek’s eyes. He viewed it.
An oath to the Great System has been made by Thomas Stewart. This oath is binding until death. If broken, Thomas Stewart will lose all classes and skills obtained from the Great System, labeled Oathbreaker, and he will never have access again. Stats will remain as is at the time of breaking the oath.
Woah, this is like the Contract skill from my previous system. Though this is much harsher. I guess you aren’t able to set conditions, and it doesn’t seem like I’m able to alter or cancel the oath. Derek stared at Thomas. “Why would you ever do that? Are you really that desperate?”
“Yes!” Thomas urgently nodded his head. “I want to follow you. I have to.”
Derek sighed again, for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Fine, but you already have one strike. I won’t hesitate to bring you back home in the future. And don’t expect me to create some oath about making you powerful. I don’t believe in that kind of shit.”
Thomas let out a deep breath. Then he wiped the tears away with the arm of his tunic. “What now?”
“Well, I think I’ve spent too much time in this village as it is. Though I do enjoy the crappy ale, I think it’s time we headed out. Let’s go see Brandi and find out what kind of armor she has for you,” Derek said as they walked back to the village.
He was happy with his progress in training up his Magic Resistance over the last week. It had actually reached level five already, giving him a 7.5% natural magic resistance. He even increased his Rejuvenation by a level, making it level 7 and increasing its healing to 35%. Not bad at all, Derek thought.
Rayna had done very well, too. He was not sure how much she had improved, but he knew she had made significant progress in Meditation, and her Wind Blade was hitting him harder and faster than before. They hadn’t trained today, so she was still in the village doing her chiefly duties.
Soon, the pair arrived at the village gates. It was common to see the two coming and going, so the guards opened the gates for them with no hassle. Once inside, they headed towards Malorie’s residence to talk with Brandi.
Once there, they found Malorie hanging some clothes to dry, and Brandi was working on her Leatherworking like always. “Hey, Mal, how’s it going today?” Derek asked.
“Oh, it’s the same as always. Just been washing clothes and helping around the village. Rayna still hasn’t been able to find all of us refugees something to do.” Then the woman motioned to Brandi. “I’m having a harder and harder time getting this one to stop for a meal. All she does is work, work, work.” She smiled at the end.
Derek, not wanting to interrupt Brandi, continued conversing with Malorie. “Yeah, that’s why we’re here. She’s been making Thomas some armor, and we’re here to see if it’s ready. It’s about time for us to leave.”
“Oh? I still can’t believe Delilah was okay with Thomas going with you,” Mal said.
Derek looked at the boy. “He can be very… stubborn, and I think she knew that.”
About that time, Derek heard Brandi shout, “You’re leaving already?” as she ran over.
Derek put his hand on her still-buzzed head. “Yup, can’t stay here forever. Gotta get stronger, make enemies and such. Besides, we won’t be gone too long this time, and I’ll have more hides for you to destr… work with. You just need to focus on getting your skill to level 10. Then, if I’m around, I’ll help you get your class.”
“Thank you,” Brandi said. “I’m finished with his armor, too. I had to make it out of one of the weaker materials since I’m not strong enough to truly craft with the higher-level stuff yet. But it should still be good for level 20 or so.” Brandi ran over to the bench and picked up the armor. “It’s rawhide. There hasn’t been enough time to tan anything yet. Besides, rawhide is stronger, it just isn’t as flexible.” Brandi moved to Thomas and handed him the armor.
Seeing Thomas receive the armor, Derek said, “Go on, put it on. I want to leave before it gets dark.”
Thomas nodded and hurriedly equipped the armor. Overall, it was a good fit, but it was a little loose on him. It would allow him to grow a little before it needed to be replaced. It definitely wasn’t the best-looking or the best defensive armor Derek had ever seen. But that was to be expected by armor created by someone who only had the skill and didn’t yet have a class.
“Good. Now go tell your grandma goodbye. I’m going to head to the chief’s place before we leave,” Derek said. Thomas assented and ran towards his grandma’s place after giving everyone a quick goodbye.
Derek looked at Malorie. “Mal, thanks for the dinners and all the washes. It’s been nice having something to eat that isn’t roasted on a spit.”
Malorie smiled. “You are always welcome here. I hope you have a good trip.”
Derek turned to Brandi. “You focus on getting your skill to level 10 before I get back.”
“I will,” she replied.
Derek turned and left for Rayna’s place. Soon, he was there, and surprisingly, the chief was waiting outside. “You leaving?” she asked.
“Yup, I have a sort of plan. Probably going to get the kid to his second class, especially after what he chose today,” he said.
“Oh, poor decision?”
“Yeah, he had a chance at an excellent class, but he chose Rogue because it reminded him of his dad. I thought he was more mature than that.” Derek shook his head.
“He may act smart and mature for his age, but he’s just a kid,” she replied.
“Well, when I’m done with him, he’ll either be back here and I’ll be traveling alone, or he’ll be smart enough not to do dumb shit like that.”
“Good luck with that,” said Rayna.
“Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’re leaving. Our training sessions will have to be put on hold. They helped me a bit, so thank you,” Derek said.
“Yeah, and they helped me a lot, so thank you,” she countered. “You plan on coming back?”
“Yeah, probably within the month. I have a few plans, but they shouldn’t take long.”
At that time, Thomas came running over.
“You ready, kid?” Derek asked, and Thomas nodded. “Let’s go.”
