“If these are Advanced Classes, what other classes are there?” I prod at Ali, still hesitating. This seems like a big choice.
“Basic, Advance, Master, Grandmaster, Heroic, Legendary,” lists Ali and he shrugs. “I could get you a Master class with your perk, but you’d be locked out of your class skills forever. You’d also take forever to level because of the higher minimum experience level gains. Instead, I’ve got you a rare Advanced Class - it’ll give you a better base stat gain per level and you won’t have to wait forever to gain access to your class skills. Getting a basic Class, even a rarer Basic class would be a waste of the Greater Perk. So what’s it going to be?”
As cool as punching a dragon in the face would be, I know which way I’m going the moment he called it up. I mentally select the Guard and light fills me. At first, it just forces me to squint but it begins to dig in, pushing into my body and mind, sending electric, hot claws into my cells. The pain is worse than anything I’ve felt and I’ve broken bones, shattered ribs and even managed to electrocute myself before. I know I’m screaming but the pain keeps coming, swarming over me and tearing at my mind, my control. Luckily, darkness claims me before my mind shatters.
Chapter 2
“You could have told me that was going to happen!” I shout at Ali who is hovering over my right shoulder as I rush the packing of my tent and gear.
“How was I supposed to know you’d bitch out and faint like a Goblin on his first date?” Ali smirks, contentedly floating alongside me and watching my back.
“You, I could, aaarrgggh!!!” I want to scream but I have to keep it contained as I keep packing. I have to push away that emotion and the fear that grips my guts, wanting to take over my control and force me to do nothing. We’ve lost over 2 hours already to my Class change and the System is up and running. The fact was that the System was now in place and had saturated the Park with mana, so much that spontaneous mutations were already cropping up all over the area according to Ali. I needed to get out of here, preferably quietly and fast. On top of it all, the smoke trail down the mountain where the parking lot was located just said a lot of bad things about what happened to my car. All in all, screaming was the least helpful reaction I could have at this point in time. Well, outside of sitting around like a blithering idiot. “You could help you know.”
“I am,” Ali sighs and waves his hand outwards. “I’m watching your back.”
I’d argue but at this point, the bag is packed and it’s time to go. I rip open another of my chocolate bars, chewing down on it as I slide the bag on and cinch up.
I spend a moment to look around the clearing again, a part of me registering the gorgeous view. Kathleen Lake sits in its glacial glory, waters rippling and throwing up waves as the wind howls around the snow-capped mountains that surround it. Pristine wilderness that could have been put on a postcard now shouts danger to me, forests hiding who knows what new monsters. I take a moment to check there isn’t anything else that I can do in my campsite and find nothing. The alpine underbrush around here is sparse, the trees small and stunted from having only a short summer to grow in, so I decide to bushwhack my way down the mountain rather than use the trail. Better to go slow and quietly than head down a trail straight into the waiting arms of whatever creature that decides to stake it out in this new world.
30 minutes in, I get a notification that I’ve received a skill called “Stealth”. I can’t say I’m surprised, sneaking was part of the plan Ali and I had come up with. Between my medium perk and being seriously under-leveled in a high mana environment, the System is automatically generating additional bonuses to learning rates to help balance the risk/reward ratio. The moment the notification happens, I can a slight tingle go through my body and I feel the knowledge shift the way I move, think and just analyse the surroundings.
The first sign of trouble that I encounter is the chittering. It’s way too loud. I spot it next, a black shadow the size of a Doberman moving along the ground on six legs with antennae. Ants should not be that big. I freeze, then begin to back up slowly. Thank the gods it hasn’t seen me.
“Oy, you big black beauty. Over here! Tasty morsel for your Queen. Yoo hooo!” a manically grinning Ali shouts above me, waving his arms to get attention.
“What the fuck!” I don’t have time to do anything beyond begin berating him since the ant, drawn to the little bugger’s antics, turns to me and after a brief moment’s hesitation charges directly at me. I bring my walking stick up and lunge forwards, hoping to spear it.
Yeah, not a fencer. Also, not a sword. The point skitters off harmlessly and the ant is on me, bowling me over and attempting to behead me with its mandibles.
I heave, bucking around before managing to throw it off me. Thank god my backpack helps a little with that, the entire angle all kinds of wrong for lying flat. I even manage to get the ant to flip over underneath me when I throw it off. On top of the ant, I splay my body outwards to help hold it in place before laying the walking pole across its neck, holding it in place with one arm while I desperately hunt for my survival knife. It takes a moment to find on my belt and then it’s just a few minutes of desperate stabbing before the creature stills.
I’m dirty, smelly and covered in ant guts. I don’t give a shit about all of that as I stand up, absolutely furious. “What in the hundred hells was that?”
“Training.” Ali shrugs unconcerned, “You needed to level up. That was a Level 1 Ant. No way you’d be able to find easier prey. Now you grabbing your loot?”
“You, you, you…” I splutter to a stop, turning to the ant instead and kicking it a few times to take out the accumulated frustration and fear. Adrenaline spent, I slump down beside the ant’s body before I finally register what he said. “Loot?”
“Place your hand on the body and either think or say Loot.”
I comply and blink at the pop-up that appears. I reach out, grabbing the loot that is displayed before grimacing. A hunk of ant meat.
“Put in your inventory stupid.”
I’ve given up even questioning the insane things that are happening by now, forcing myself to just accept. When I think inventory, a grid 5 by 5 appears. Putting my hand into a grid has the meat appear in it, filling a space. I wonder if its stackable?
“Nice,” I start reaching to undo my bag when I get called up short.
“Don’t bother, only System generated items can go into the inventory,” Ali comments as he continues to spin around me.
“Ugh. What a damn scam,” I grumble, keeping my bag on as I stare at the rest of the ant body. I guess this new world doesn’t have a dissolving corpse gimmick.
Level Up!
You have reached Level 2 as an Erethran Honor Guard. Stat Points automatically distributed. You have 3 Free Attributes to distribute. Class skills locked.
Strange that the notification pops up only now. Then I pause, glancing to Ali who gives me a thumbs up. Ah, he’s suppressing them till it makes sense to view them. I had been rather disappointed when I first woke up that the saved experience I had earlier hadn’t leveled me up, even to Level 2 but Ali did explain that Advanced Classes had higher experience requirements. One look at my free stat points and I dump them all into Luck. Yeah, I know there might be smarter things to do with the points, things like maximising my Agility or perhaps my Strength to become all powerful.
Anyone who thinks that though hasn’t lived my life. If my Luck stat really is that low, it’d explain a hell of a lot of things about my past. I wouldn’t even be in the Yukon if my apartment hadn’t burnt down a week after I lost my job as a programmer which led to me coming up here with my then girlfriend. What a shitshow that had become with her too, once we got up here. The damn insurance company wouldn’t even accept my claims, which left me with nothing to my name beyond some meager savings. Rather than going home in shame to my father, I picked up and moved to a new Territory. I’d rather die than see my father like this. Now that I’ve got a chance to redirect some bad Karma or fate, I’m taking it.