Chapter 30

Sub-Skill selected…

Processing…

[Sword Mastery] description has been updated

He quickly opened his skill page and selected [Sword Mastery]:

[Sword Mastery]: A Skill for those who walk the road of blades.

Lore: Swords are both effective murder tools, and a device for protecting those important to you. Decide which your blade is.

Bonus: Increases damage dealt with a sword by 1% every level.

Sub-Skills: {Style Creator}: Create and Refine your own personal fighting style.

Lore: Make sure you open a dojo or become a sage hermit after you master you own fighting style.

Bonus: 1.5x experience learning techniques from others, 2x experience for developing your own moves and incorporating techniques you’ve learned from others into your fighting style. 3x speed in creating new techniques.

- - - - -

The next morning Crimson stood in front of Mars’ desk in the office where they had first met, one week prior. Four other people stood on one side of the room: three guys and one girl. They were out fitted in simple standard issue uniforms the same as him, and they didn’t look or feel as strong as Mars or Rhinese felt.

He turned his attention back to Mars as he cleared his throat with a deep rumble, “One week has passed recruit. It’s time for you to pick your Class.”

“Yes sir.”

“Open up your status and say ‘select Primary Class’.”

Name: Crimson Hokori

Titles: Delving Guard, Lena’s Master, Blessed Luck

Class: WorldWanderer

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Health Points (HP): 100/100 r/s 1.0 

Magic Points (MP): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Stamina (STA): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGI): 10

Constitution (CON): 10

Vitality (VIT): 10

Intelligence (INT): 10

Wisdom (WIS): 10

Perception (PER): 10

Willpower (WIL): 10

Charisma (CHA): 10

Luck (LUC): 90

“Select Primary Class”

Class Selection: Primary

|Scout|

|Tamer|

|Scholar|

|Runic Scholar|

|Cartographer|

|Swordsman|

|Nimble Swordsman|

|Resilient Swordsman|

|Duelist|

To anyone else who looked at the options available in this world they would be tempted by the [Nimble Swordsman] or [Resilient Swordsman] Classes. They give the best initial bonuses after all. If he had to guess [Nimble Swordsman] would give a bonus to his speed, while [Resilient Swordsman] would give a boost to constitution.

He was curious how he got the [Tamer] and [Scholar] Classes, but it wasn’t too important: he’d never pick them.

There really wan’t a point at looking at the list so closely, but he wanted to be thorough even if he’d already made his choice. After not seeing anything concerning, and being slightly curious about the [Duelist] Class, he glanced at Lena sitting on the desk by Mars’ pens-and selected [Swordsman].

Class Selection: Primary

|Scout|

|Tamer|

|Scholar|

|Runic Scholar|

|Cartographer|

>>|Swordsman|

|Nimble Swordsman|

|Resilient Swordsman|

|Duelist|

Processing…

Applying Class…

Applying Bonuses from [WorldWanderer]…

Primary Class set as [Swordsman]

He pulled up his main Status page again.

Name: Crimson Hokori

Titles: Delving Guard, Lena’s Master, Blessed Luck

Class: [Swordsman] 1/25

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Health Points (HP): 100/100 r/s 1.0 

Magic Points (MP): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Stamina (STA): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGI): 10

Constitution (CON): 10

Vitality (VIT): 10

Intelligence (INT): 10

Wisdom (WIS): 10

Perception (PER): 10

Willpower (WIL): 10

Charisma (CHA): 10

Luck (LUC): 90

And pulled up his Class information.

Swordsman Class:

Description: A class for those who tread upon the path of true Sword Mastery. 

Gives: 200HP, 2 STR, 2 AGI, 1 CON per level. 

[WorldWanderer] Bonus: 1 VIT, 1 INT, 1 WIS, 1 PER, 1 WIL, 1 CHA per level.

Stages: ?

Mars looked at him over steepled fingers as he grinned at his Status. 

“Are you finished selecting your Class?”

“Yes sir.”

“I need to know which Class you pick for our records, and your teammates for the day,” he gestured at the woman and the three men with her, “need to know how you’ll fight.”

“Yes sir,” he saluted Mars and bowed to his ‘teammates’, “I selected the [Swordsman] Class.”

Mars nodded and wrote that information down on a piece of paper on his desk.

“Cherish, take you new teammate to get outfitted and introduce him to your men. You’re taking the newbie here to [Goblin’s Retreat] for the day.”

She also saluted Mars, “Yes sir.”

She then beckoned to Crimson and led him and the three men out of Mars’ office.

Once outside Cherish introduced Crimson to her men and vise versa.

“Men, this is Crimson. He’s a new guy as you’ve seen and it’s our job to show him the ropes. Crimson, this guy here with the goofy expression is Dale, he’s our [Druid] and he’ll be keeping you alive in the dungeon.” He had sandy brown hair, droopy eyes, and a constant slight smile plastered on his face. He was also extremely tan. 

“Next up is Drake. He’s a [Pyromancer]. Finally is David. He’s our group’s [Guardian].”

Crimson noticed an interesting little detail when he got a look at the groups final two members: they looked almost exactly like Dale. The only difference between them was the expression they had on their faces. 

Cherish, fortunately, didn’t look like the three men. She was a Great Dane Dog-Kin and stood almost two feet taller than Crimson’s 5 foot 8 inches. Her hair and eyes were both brown and the fur on her tail and ears were brown too.

“My name is Cherish. I’m the leader of this team and my Primary Class is [Executioner]. You’ll be helping me with the DPS.”

He really wanted to ask about that [Executioner] Class, but remembered what Mars had told him about asking too much about people’s Statuses: it’s rude. With that in mind he kept himself from asking.

“It is nice to meet you all. My name is Crimson and I’m a [Swordsman]. Please teach me as much as you can.”

“Don’t expect too much from us!” Cherish said with a laugh, “Our team’s average level, before you joined, was 5. We’re only slightly less new than you.”

“Should I be nervous?”

“Nah, we may be new, but they’re good at teaching you to be careful in dungeons.”

He nodded. It still didn’t make him any less nervous that they were only slightly more experienced at dungeon diving than he was.

- - - - - -

Cherish helped Crimson get outfitted in simple leather armor that went over his DG uniform. It had been a reasonably short process, but choosing the right style had been hard. He eventually settled on leather armor that was thicker around the chest, forearms, and shins-with thinner leather on the stomach and thighs to keep it from reducing his mobility too much. Cherish had approved of his choice and the moved to the armory.

The Armory was an interesting room. It was deep in the castle and had actual guards in front of it. The room itself was mostly empty except for six different pedestals. Cherish had guided him to one of them, while Lena sat on his shoulder, and showed him how to use it.

Basically, each pedestal functioned like an inventory-with each one housing weapons for the DGs. The one Cherish led Crimson over to was specifically for DGs with levels that ranged from 1-10, the second ranged from 11-20, so on and so forth.

The weapons were arrange by type-bows, spears, swords, axes, etc.- and sub-types-rapier, great sword, bastard sword, longsword, katana, etc.- from there they were further arranged by level.

According to what Cherish told him most weapons did have restrictions, but it was mostly based on level: having restrictions based off stats or Class was rare.

He cycled through the options and picked a basic level one Katana. It didn’t have any decoration, but it was in good condition. Cherish, once again, approved of his decision and he placed it in his inventory.

“Don’t go wearing a sword in the castle unless you want to get in trouble Crimson. I’ve been told that there are rare special occasions when it’s fine, but I’ve never experienced it.”

He nodded at her and they left the room, bowing to the guards as they left.

Cherish led him outside the castle and into the bright morning sun. The whole process had only taken an hour, fortunately, and it was only 0900. They picked up the triplets-who Crimson was starting to think were mute-and headed out the front gate of the castle.

There was a moat around the castle, glancing into it Crimson could see spikes at the bottom. They were kinda fuzzy and it was hard for him to keep his eyes on them, but they had a slight blue outline. Cherish and the triplets didn’t seem to notice, or care. Maybe they’re just used to seeing them?

They walked into the royal capitol of Falst and it nearly overwhelmed Crimson with all the sights and sound; he had been the indoor type in his previous life so it was quite the culture shock, but he didn’t openly gawk at all the booths and shops that lined the main street. He had heard that people who don’t seem like they know what they’re doing in a big city often become the targets of scams.

He did look around, but it was more subtle; he took note of all the people that passed by him and the wares that were being sold: just in case. 

There was an interesting trend that had appeared as he people watched: there was roughly an even split between humans and non-humans. For every human there seemed to be at least one: Beast-Kin, Elf, or Dwarf. There were some Dark Elves too, but he’d only seen two.

At the end of main street was the gate that lead outside the city. It was a massive thing and had been clearly been reinforced several times by iron bands. It looked like it could last quite a while during a siege.

They were waved through the gate after the guards asked Cherish a few questions; after they left the city Cherish gave the order for the group to jog north east.

After about 10 minutes of jogging, which was more like sprinting for Crimson, they began to go up an inclined slope that was set between two sheer cliff faces.

I’m running in armor up a slope…this is great for leveling my [Running] and [Balance] skills.

After another 20 minutes of ‘jogging’ the group of five reached the top of the incline where a weird fog blocked their path. There was a courtyard before the fog where other teams, DGs, and Adventurers rested from their time in the dungeon, or prepared for their time in the dungeon.

“We’ll rest for 10 minutes! Get your Stamina back up then, we’ll enter The Goblin’s Retreat.”

Crimson plopped down with the rest of his group and began his [Stamina Meditation] while Lena began to wander and explore. It’s interesting how fast people like me, who just got their status, are sent into a dungeon. Isn’t there any concern for death?

Skill: [System Insight X] activates

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen THAT little message, but…huh. Dungeons aren’t lethal? Even if I die in there I won’t stay dead? Cool. There is a debuff, but it’s better than actually dying.

Hmm…I wonder why [System Insight] activated. Lena said it was broken…but why would the Overseer give me a broken skill? I wonder…

He checked his skill notifications to see which, if any, of his skills had leveled up.

Skill: Level Up [Running VII]

Skill: Level Up [Stamina Meditation III]

According to [System Insight] I’m pretty close to leveling my [Balance] skill again. Sweet!

Cherish gave the call for them to get ready to enter the dungeon and Crimson lined up with the, apparently, mute triplets. Lena did her cute little run and scaled up his clothes. It didn’t damage anyone, but it felt weird for him as her claws brushed his skin, but didn’t hurt.

“I’ll give final instructions when we enter, Crimson you stay close to me.”

“Understood.”

They stepped forward and passed through 10 solid feet of fog before stepping out of it. A large mansion in the center of a valley greeted Crimson’s eyes. The very first dungeon he had ever seen: The Goblin’s Retreat.