Chapter 19 - Class trial part 1
It was the sixth day after the arrival of the quest. Out of a certain small cave, a figure emerged. A sturdy breastplate encased its upper body, leather and bone synergizing perfectly with each other. Greaves and vambraces encased the limbs, while a pair of boots, naturally made from leather as well, protected the feet. Only the torn trousers and the lack of a shirt broke the air of an otherwise strong appearance.
Cantorn had worked his ass off during the last few days, and the results spoke for themselves. His 'Avankh leather boots' turned out to be uncommon, with his 'Bone plated breastplate' achieving the same rank. Both greaves and vambraces, their names consisting only of their respective equipment title with 'Sturdy leather ...' added in front, attained the 'Common' rating. This, however, didn't take away from their usefulness. One had to think of the fact, that they did not only grant stats but provided actual protection as well.
In total, he had attained 38 status points from this newly crafted equipment. This fact alone caused him to be a lot more confident. They were split rather well over his mainly used stats, with perception and dexterity being the only ones left out. Intelligence obviously didn't get any points either, but that was only understandable, as none of the monsters he fought were particularly magical. The rest of the stats were distributed as follows: 9 to strength, with the same amount going into resistance as well, vitality increased by 8, agility by 7, and the least amount went to stamina, a mere 5 points.
All of his equipment had either been crafted by the leftover Avankh leather, the boots being even made from the skin of the Alpha, while the rest, namely his breastplate and greaves, had been crafted with the spoils of his most recent fight with the Plated Bison. If one added in the stats from his dagger as well, Cantorn had gained a number of status points that were equal to almost ten levels. Fighting enemies above his level should not be a problem anymore and he still had something left.
Right now, the dark elf still had 16 status points in reserve. Since he didn't know what kinds of restrictions he would face during the class trial, he decided to use them now. Most of them would go to perception, just to level it with his other stats, but he had decided to increase his intelligence a little as well. Infused dash was a skill that used mana, and he even had Basic mana manipulation sitting on his skill list. Who knew how long the class challenge would last and how much he might progress. If he were to gain an intelligence-based skill during it but wasn't allowed to increase his stats, it would be a real bummer. Just to be safe he'd also put something into vitality as well, though he felt that by now it was just a stupid habit.
In the end, Cantorn's status looked pretty good. He had decided to make his stats added through equipment show as well, just to keep a better overview over his power level.
| General Information | |||
| Name: | Cantorn | Level: | 11 |
| Age: | 19 | Height: | 163 cm |
| Race: |
Half Dark Elf (-2 to STR, +1 to AGI, -1 to VIT, -2 to RES, +1 to STA, +1 to DEX, +2 to PER) |
||
| Class: | None | ||
| Status | |||
| STR: | 13.2 + 19 (32.2) | AGI: | 18.7 + 17 (35.7) |
| VIT: | 22 + 8 (30) | INT: | 15 |
| RES: | 12 + 9 (21) | STA: | 15 + 5 (20) |
| DEX: | 18 | PER: | 28 |
| Free Points: | 0 | ||
Before he forgot, he had gained a whole point in vitality just from eating the Plated bison. While it had taken the whole six days to eat it, Cantorn was sure that as soon as he got a skill that made eating, or consuming his enemies in another way, easier, he would see some large increases to his stats, just from his parasitic ability.
With his preparations now completed, including a stash of Healroot that he took with him for safety purposes, the half-dark elf steadied himself for the unknown that was to come. This trial would grant him his very first class, and he would not fail. Determined to succeed, Cantorn willed the challenge to start.
At first, he felt a weird tugging at his stomach, which quickly turned into excruciating pain. Then his limbs began hurting as well, the pain from his stomach seemingly radiating outwards. His vision turned blurry, even as he tried his best to focus. Drowsiness overcame him, canceling out the pain he felt. He felt himself lose consciousness. Then it became dark.
*******
He could smell it. Nearby. Prey. It was a weird smell. Not like himself. Not stinky. Smelled like weakness.
Everything was weak. Only he was not. Maybe chieftain was strong as well. But he would be stronger. Waaaay stronger.
Didn't take long to find prey. He hid himself a bit. Prey looked weird as well. Was tall and had pointy ears. Skin also wasn't like his own. Was dark, not green. He didn't like prey. But he like equipment. Prey had shiny daggers and good armor. He snickered. Soon it would be his.
He waited patiently. He was good at killing. Knew that being rash was stupid. He wasn't stupid. Not like the others. Then prey moved. He moved as well. When prey stopped, he stopped. When prey moved, he moved.
Prey moved slow. Was always looking around. But prey moved towards village. Maybe it was dangerous. He would kill prey soon.
Then prey got to end of forest. One could see village by now. Prey seemed to have noticed village. It smiled weirdly. He would kill prey now.
He readied himself. His dagger was in his hand. Smelled a little like blood. He had hunted a lot of prey. He was Gobra, the great assassin. Then he attacked.
Weird. Why was he flying through air? And why was there other goblin body? Had no head, so maybe prey had killed it and he didn't notice? Gobra couldn't move. Weird feeling. Where were legs? He got a little sleepy. Maybe he should just sleep. Even great assassin needs sleep.
*******
[You have killed a 'Goblin [Assassin]' (Level 11).]
[You have earned a small number of trial points.]
Based on what Cantorn had understood, he would encounter those a lot. This one died pretty easily, but he guessed that it was simply because it was so stupid. He had noticed it trailing him almost an hour ago. Still, he was very invested in this whole class challenge thing. Apparently, he had to gather information about the ruler of this goblin kingdom that he got transported into and then kill him. This was the stage that the system had set for him.
Interestingly enough, this was the first time he encountered a humanoid enemy and an assassin at that. He guessed that this trial was not somewhere in the real world, but more akin to a dungeon. A system-generated world, not influenced by the workings of the real world and therefore it was without consequence what he did here. Except dying of course.
This theory of his was further supported by the fact that he did not gain any experience when slaying the goblin right now. Instead, he was awarded trial points, a currency of sorts that would probably determine the reward he would get at the end of this challenge. He found this to be quite intriguing, as it would force him to only fight with the stats he had right now. However, he had yet to notice any restrictions to skill advancements, meaning that there hopefully still was a way to progress in this trial.
Anyways, this was bound to be an interesting experience. First, he would start with investigating the village in front of his eyes. There was no way that it was there without purpose.
First. Thanks for the chapter.