Chapter Five

The Basics

Everyone split up, heading to their respective buildings. Kate and Fred walked towards a barn in the distance with very few trees around it. There weren’t very many others that had been directed to this area.

“Alright, only Mages, Summoners and Invokers should be over here.”

A spindly looking bald man dressed in emerald covered robes said, pausing as he saw Fred. Fred once again felt like he was being scanned by an MRI.

“Ahh, they failed to mention that {Directors} are supposed to meet up with Karl then go to their respective class areas. KARL, Get your {Director}s, you lazy arse!”

The mage boomed in a thunderous voice that Fred was sure the entire town had heard. Karl appeared a few moments later and beckoned Fred over to him.

“Sorry about that, something came up this morning during your briefing and I lost track of time.”

Karl explained away as he got the other {Director}s attention and they all met back in the inn about half an hour later. Fred had thought he imagined Karl’s limping the entire time, but as Karl sat in a chair, he saw a nasty gash across the leg just below the knee.

“You’re supposed to meet with me then your class instructors. As {Director}s, there’s a few things you need to know in addition to your class and I usually hand out a spell or similar to help you survive, since you will be the primary target in group fights.”

Karl brought out a bag and started pulling out scrolls, looking pointedly at a small group of people.

“Know that the scrolls I give you will allow you to make barriers of sound to help defend you, but it’s just sound and cannot stop projectiles completely until higher tiers. I won’t explain tiers, that’s for your class instructors.”

There were ten Summoners, four Invokers and two Bards listening to Karl’s lecture. Karl shook his head and Fred heard him mutter softly;

“High risk is not high rewards in this world…bards…”

Karl pulled out three {Minor Fire Wall} spell scrolls, two {Minor Water Dome} spell scrolls, four {Minor Air Dome} spell scrolls, two {Minor Sound Barrier} scrolls and five {Minor Earth Shield} spell scrolls. He distributed them to the people with the correct affinities.

“These will help keep you safe during group fights, but don’t just stand in the open like a fool. Now, I’ll explain how your {Director} sub-specialty can be used to help your group. You sacrifice an attribute temporarily during the fight to give your group a boost that helps them proportionally. The boost will never equal what you sacrifice, be warned. For example, you have sacrificed twenty percent agility and buffed your three melee fighters; you have given them each five percent increased agility. If one of them has Air attribute, that becomes seven point five percent.”

“Remember that these are what you are recommended to sacrifice and boost; Stamina Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, Movement Speed, Spirit and Agility. Nothing else will work; and never let your spirit run low or you will be virtually useless in helping turn the tide of battle. A certain class always does this, and those groups nearly always wipe out as a result.” Karl looked pointedly at the Bards again.

“Now, you could empower just one person in your group but it has a significant risk. Too much agility all at once can cause the person’s muscles to tear or stamina poisoning from a too large a boost of stamina regeneration, and these would be unable to heal for at least a couple days each. Before anyone asks, there is one simple reason why you should not share HP or HP Regeneration; each boost has an associated HP cost you and the boosted must pay.”

Dead silence followed as the group took in what he was saying, and the side conversations ceased. Someone raised their hand slowly.

“Go ahead.”

“What would the cost be? For us to do these boosts for our group? And individually?”

“Typically, it would be the percent of the stat that your boosted teammate receives. However, if an Air attribute melee fighter’s agility is increased by seven-point five percent, that means he would only lose five percent health since that was the original boost he would have received from his {Director}. In turn, the {Director} pays a two-point five percent hp loss for the boost he granted. For individual boosts, it is two times the percent boost, attribute bonuses not included. So, a forty percent current hp loss for the fighter and ten percent for the {Director} for a twenty percent maximum hp boost, before any bonus, if you were to boost HP.”

The group got the meaning right away. An individual boost like that was only to happen if the need was absolutely dire and there was no other way to avoid death. Fred resolved to not do such a boost unless the situation absolutely called for it, and to learn as many defensive and offensive spells as possible.

“Thankfully, you don’t especially need Mana Regeneration often as {Director}s since there is no mana cost. As for Spirit, it’s fighting morale basically. Your levels of spirit influence your team, so don’t let it drop. That’s all, get back to your class instructors and make sure to use those spell scrolls soon.”

Karl whirled around and walked off quickly upstairs, his limp becoming much more noticeable. Fred saw Jack standing off to the side, a worried look on his face. He saw Fred looking at him and waved him off, indicating he needed to get going. Fred returned to the area near the barn to find the bald mage waiting for him.

“Ah there you are, normally that doesn’t happen. We weren’t even introduced yet! I am Edwin.”

“Fred.”

“Alright, you’re an invoker and I believe you haven’t used your contract yet? We’ll do that first and I’ll teach you the spells {Minor Fire Ball} and {Fire Bolt}. Do you know the tiers of spells yet?”

Fred shook his head and Edwin started explaining;

“Very well, here are the tiers of spells:

Minor, denoted by minor in the name of a spell or item.

Average, denoted by lack of anything before the spell or item name, such as {Fire Bolt}.

Uncommon, an item crafted by magic and imbued with an energy. Usually a contract or similar item, including the spell granted by such items.

Junior, usually a slightly strong magical item or ability and may have small synergies with certain attributes or other abilities.

Senior, a strong magical item or abilities and may have average synergies with certain attributes, classes, or abilities.

Major, a powerful magical item that has powerful synergies with at least one attribute, ability or class, or a combination of all three.

Grand, one of the most powerful categories, guaranteed to have synergies with several attributes, abilities, and most classes that it can be used by.

Supreme, a category thought to only be myth, has powerful synergies with all attributes, all abilities and all classes, can only ever be wielded by a single being until they die a true death. A supreme item is said to be capable of destroying an entire city by accident, think of it like someone sneezing and a city gets flattened.

Transcendent, a category only read about in ancient tomes that were said to exist before the Khazam’s time, believe to be the myth of all myths. These items are said to create worlds, destroy realities and rip apart time and the ether itself simply by existing.”

Fred felt a twinge of horror at the end. He nodded and stayed silent.

“Now, for that Contract. Pull it out and set it on the ground, then put your hands above it and repeat after me. ‘I invoke this contract, grant me a part of your power in exchange for a part of mine.’”

{ALERT} You have gained {Uncommon Invocation: Lightning Drake Whelpling}. Imbue your allies or your self with the power of lightning, granting bonus fire and air damage on hit, while gaining minor resistance to fire and air damage. Three percent chance on casting for these effects to be reversed, decreases as you level up.

Cost: thirty mana.

Cooldown: thirty minutes.

{ALERT} Your stats have been reduced by two percent, in accordance with {Uncommon Contract with Lightning Drake Whelping}.

Fred felt a stinging sensation over his body, which quickly faded after a moment.

“Good, good. No issues, always good. As an Invoker, you don’t need chants or fancy hand gestures to use spells. Just focus your intent on the spell and let it loose. Go ahead and read your {Firebolt}, and {Minor Fireball} scrolls.”

{Minor Fireball} Hurl a small Fireball at an area causing twenty to thirty damage in a one meter radius. Small chance to inflict a Burn that inflicts five fire damage every two seconds for eight seconds.

{Firebolt} throw a bolt of fire that inflicts twenty-five to thirty-five damage to a single target. Moderate chance to inflict a Burn that inflicts ten fire damage every two seconds for eight seconds.

“Now, aim at that pile of hay over to your right and use {Minor Fireball}, then {Firebolt} on the one next to it.”

Fred tried, and after a moment an orange sized ball of flame appeared above his hand. He threw, and missed, the fireball doing nothing to the already scorched grass. Fred tried {Firebolt}, and a small spear like shape appeared at the end of his index finger. He pointed and did a slight flicking motion, the Firebolt speeding off and hitting the pile of hay just slightly above center mass.

“Just practice some more, and don’t forget to learn your {Flame Wall} spell scroll, your group should be back at the inn soon. You may want to confer with your group and learn what they can do currently. It is the responsibility of a {Director} after all.”

Fred looked up. It was already evening. How did that happen? I could’ve sworn Karl wasn’t talking to us for that long…had he?

Fred walked back to the inn and found his group at a corner table again, but was surprised to see that they looked completely wiped out. They looked at him and Tanya and Stan narrowed their eyes.

“You lucky bastard, got to listen to Karl talk all day instead of throwing out spells and mock fighting nonstop.”

Fred was taken aback, confused. Before he could speak, Jack walked up and waved to them.

“We only have you do that for the first day, because for reasons unknown, you can do a lot more the first day here. You can’t normally throw so many fireballs, or similar, in a row without bottoming out your mana. Sometime tonight or tomorrow, it’ll feel like a screen was removed from in front of your face, and you’ll have access to your character screen and can see your HP, mana and Stamina. Today was just for you to get used to it all to a degree, and practice on your aim. Except the {Director}s, thanks to today’s mix-up.”

Jack sighed and shook his head.

“What happened?”

Kate leaned forward, her face curious.

“That will be discussed in the morning, once we have more details. You may want to get as much sleep as possible tonight.”

Jack walked away, obviously lost in thought.

Fred looked to his group.

“So, what did you guys all get stuck with today? Apparently, Karl talked to the {Director}s all day, but it didn’t seem like it.”

“The Mage instructor told me they have a few zones with increased time dilation, so it was more like we spent a week doing stuff nonstop but only a day passed out here. Just throwing spells around, for the Mages and Invokers. You know, to get used to using them and practice.”

“It didn’t even feel like a full day, but I’m completely wiped out.”

Stan groaned, leaning on the table with his arms folded. John and Zach nodded, not looking any better than Stan. Tanya looked absolutely miserable.

“Those bows are hell to pull back, I didn’t realize how bad getting used to it would be. My arms feel dead.”

“I guess this would be a bad time to ask what spells everyone has, for future reference.”

“Let’s do that in the morning, we all need sleep before we spend time on that.”

Kate suggested lightly.

Fred nodded, and everyone ate in silence until they left for bed one by one.