I screamed as my body . Pain. Pain was all I knew and pain was all I was. My sanity stretched as I felt in excruciating detail, all my muscles unraveling and reforging themselves over and over again. I must have screamed for days under that torture, it certainly felt like that. The sun in the sky however cheerfully insisted that it had been only minutes at best. Everything felt brighter, louder and my mana felt too heavy for me, almost suffocating me. I was not sure how long it took but eventually but soon enough, I was back in control. I found myself again from within the mass of quivering whimpering flesh curled up in a fetal position that I had become.
So that's why the five level classes exist. I had realized at some point in my agony. Had to ease someone into getting stats instead of just picking the one with the biggest numbers like a moron.
\\Cold Blooded is now level 5!
I laid there, still recovering and occasionally flexing my hands and marveling at my newfound strength. My body was still mine but it felt stronger, healthier, like I had a superior physical presence and mastery of my own body, like I was deliberately keeping my body the way it was instead of letting gravity do it.I was a woman on a mission and testing the actual range of things that had changed in me was not a priority, just had to test enough to not overshoot everything with my greater strength and celerity. But I did take a moment to wipe away the blood from my face. Foreheads apparently didn't take kindly to people trashing in agony right besides a skeleton monster. Who knew?
\\NO ACTIVE CLASS DETECTED. PLEASE SELECT ONE TO START OR RESUME LEVELING YOURSELF
I hadn't expected to be done with my class so soon but if those bones gave so much experience then I'd be dumb to not abuse them as much as I could. I reopened my class screen and went to the utility magic section. I had seen something there that had stayed in my mind. There it was.
\\BONE AUGUR’S ACOLYTE (0/10)
To glean information one shouldn't know through augury is the path of the Shaman-Prophets of the Northern mountains. It is an inexact science and anything with sufficient power naturally occludes the eyes of lesser scryers. and yet, the Northern tribes endure as they have for centuries through this art.
A BONE AUGUR can eventually learn to bend fate to her will, avoiding misfortune with the grace of the luck gods themselves as her enemies perish from tripping on their own blades before they ever reach her. A true BONE SHAMAN is rumored to be able to know the moves a warrior will make in a fight before it even begins.
MASTERY BONUSES:
+1 to ACUITY, PERCEPTION AND ATTUNEMENT
Fine. It was probably inferior to the [FOREST GUIDE]
\\Class [BONE AUGUR’S ACOLYTE] selected
\\Skill Lesser Bone Augury learned
\\Lesser Bone Augury: 1
You can glean the knowledge of the world from mere bones. No more shall mundane secrets be hidden from you. By carving special runes on the distal phalanges (finger tips) of the left frontmost limb of a creature, you can make bone charms that you can toss in the air while asking a query and they will point you towards your target. Requires at least five charms. Has a chance of failure.
Uses 15 mana per use.
\\Lesser Bone Crafting is now level 25!
\\Lesser Bone Harvesting is now level 26!
\\Knife User is now level 10!
Some skill levels later, I was the proud owner of a set of five finger bone charms with runes carved on them. I couldn't read them but somehow I had known that those were what I had to carve on the bone. The knowledge was not mine but it was still mine, my thoughts spontaneously producing it like it were just an idea I had. I had also made another knife, this one made of bone but even I could tell that it was complete garbage. I was also not gaining as many levels in my skills as before, some of it I could blame the relative size of the bones for but carving those runes was absolutely a much more intricate job than my crutches. Evidently diminishing returns were in play here. Another thing to keep in mind.
I was not going to use them immediately, I had learned my lesson well. I rose and walked a few steps away and laid down on the grass. Nothing around that I could injure myself with in my trashing. No skeletons or tree roots or sharp blades, just soft green grass.
“Where can I find some food and water?” I asked out loud, feeling a bit foolish. The bones were tossed into the air, they spun and moved unnaturally in the air as it shimmered. I could almost imagine seeing visions of cities and castles in the haze and then they landed beside my head.
And there was no meaning in it. They all pointed in random directions. And the lack of any levels just confirmed that it hasn't worked. And yet my mana was consumed. I grumbled to myself and tried again. This time it worked like a charm. A bone charm possibly.
\\Lesser Bone Augury is now level 19!
\\[BONE AUGUR’S ACOLYTE] is now level 10!
\\Class mastered [BONE AUGUR’S ACOLYTE]. +1 to ACUITY, PERCEPTION AND ATTUNEMENT
I was expecting pain like before but all I got was a sharp piercing headache that soon subsided. I was not sure if it was because I was getting used to it or maybe one point gains were just that mild but I was glad. my mana was hovering at 10 now. Not enough for an augury but enough for making something with bone if I wanted. But maybe by the time I picked my fourth class, it would regenerate enough. A girl could hope.
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New class time. I was actually kind of enjoying blazing my classes like this. If the trend for diminishing returns was any indicator then I won't be instantly finishing classes like this for much longer but I could enjoy it while it lasted. What else did I need? I had mobility and navigation sorted out as well as I could reasonably sort them out in my present circumstances. Maybe something offense based?
There was no [BONEMAGE] [BONECRAFTER][BONE AUGURY]
So that left me with a few options. Of course there was the [BLOODMAGE][BONECRAFTER][BLOODMAGE]
The defensive options were all things like aura barriers or giant shields, I didn't have the mana to spare for the former and even if I made a bone shield, it would not work with my crutches. And even if I was sure that it would give me great experience, my mana was not up to the task. It was with great regret that I realized that I couldn't do anything more with my kill unless I planned to return in the future. And assuming nothing got to the bones in the meantime and assuming I even remembered the place. That was a lot of assumptions to make for someone in my abysmal situation.
Finally I found an option that I didn't but seemed like the best choice for me.
\\MUGGER (0/5)
The world is a dark place and you will make it just a shade darker. You are the one who lurks in dark alleyways and leaves bodies behind. Let the heroes go on their grand adventures, let the dragons hoard their mountains of wealth. The city is your lover and my seedy streets and pubs my bosom. The evil lich can be vanquished but the cockroaches always survive.
As a MUGGER, you have three friends. Stealth, fear and the belief that the only honor that exists is in survival. You know how to leave no witnesses behind, be it through the shadows or through blood.
MASTERY BONUSES:
+1 to CELERITY
I didn't get why the class description sounded so fanatical. It was like something the leader of an assassin sect would say and not someone who pointed sharp objects at people and demanded their purses.
\\Class [MUGGER] selected
\\Skill Minor Stealth learned
\\Dirty Fighter is now level 4!
And with that, my active slots were full. What could I ditch? Intimidation
“Where can I find a safe space to shelter and rest?” I muttered to no response. Not even the shimmering visions I had seen before. Oh right, I was still out of mana.
I leaned against a tree with blood red bark and sank into the soil with a sigh, slowly letting go of my crutches. I had enough mana for one augury now. Fishing out some oversized finger bones, I whispered while silently praying to the Dead God Quiraion.
“Where can I find a safe space to rest?” It worked on the first try. And the bones pointed in one direction. The direction from which I came, the clearing.
\\Lesser Bone Augury is now level 22!
I almost screamed again in frustration.
I briefly cursed Quiraion again as I finally discovered what my bone charms had deemed an acceptable source of food and water. It was a campfire in the middle of the forest with a single horse drawn carriage beside it. There were no horses. I was sure that there was water and food inside the carriage. But there was a problem. The owner of the tent lay dead outside it. A body, pale in death and blue from poison. And a creature the size of a small dog that looked like an unholy fusion of a spider and a scorpion was gorging itself on it. It happily tore off chunks of flesh and swallowed them whole without chewing, occasionally regurgitating the flesh back on the ground and slicing it into more manageable pieces with its fangs.
Cold Bloodedslowly backed away from the giant flesh eating arachnoid, taking care to make no sudden movements or sounds. I was not scared of spiders but I was scared of giant venomous man eating monsters with thick exoskeletons that looked like they could have me for dinner and still be hungry..
\\Minor Stealth is now level 2!
\\[MUGGER] is now level 2!
‘Where's the nearest human settlement?’ I asked a few hours later.
\\Lesser Bone Augury is now level 25!
‘Okay so if my left is yes and right is no. Is it within a reasonable walking distance?’ This time every bone fell in a circle and all of them faced inwards. Message received. Don't try to cheat the magic bone charms.
I hadn't encountered any wildlife beyond the man eating arachnoid so far but I was hungry and thirsty and aching all over. my arms were stiff from supporting the crutches for so long. The sun was soon going to set and I was sure that it was night when the really dangerous critters came out to play. my time was limited and running out. I was becoming desperate, and desperate people made stupid decisions.
I was sure it was a bad idea as I stared at the Arachnoid that was still eating its victim. Unfortunately bad ideas are sometimes better than no ideas at all and so, I found myself in my current predicament. I snuck closer, unsteady because of my new weapon.
\\Minor Stealth is now level 3!
The creature was covered in black chitin and looked like an abnormally large spider with extra bits attached. Twelve hairy limbs and ten bulbous red eyes on an engorged hirsute head and a tail stinger like a scorpion’s but much longer, even in relation to the rest of its body. The front most limbs ended in narrow pincers like daggers and the rest were all legs. Its body pulsated with each chunk of meat that it consumed and I was almost sure that it had grown just a bit larger. A segment of its exoskeleton sloughed off as the creature froze and began twitching and I could see a new plate forming. It was pinkish and soft looking but it was darkening before my eyes. The creature resumed its meal. I lost 5 points of mana.
\\Find Weakness is now level 3!
I was about 90% sure I'd die even if the knife tied to the end of one of my crutches found the next regrowing plate. I doubted it would die immediately and I didn't think I could fend it off or run with one crutch faster than its most likely venomous tail reached me, or I fell and the mouth that I hadn't seen up close but could tear off flesh so easily ate me. And if I went into actual knife range then I was as good as dead.
I looked at the thing that was growing larger and stronger every minute, I stared at the pathetic little approximation of a spear I'd made that I didn't know how to use. It wasn't like I hadn't ran away without even trying to fight from it before, it was just sensible.
And I hobbled away once again. Turns out, I was not that desperate actually.