Soulforge Legacy Series

My training seemed to follow me into my dreams. Only, the elf in my dreams was different. He was more violent and prone to beating my ass, but also more handsy. It didn’t go anywhere, but it did go far enough to confuse me. Not that I would act out on any of what I felt in reality. Especially with someone like Barti. So, as soon as I got up, I took an ice-cold shower.

I don’t mean that figuratively either. Somehow, the shower produced water so cold that small icicles formed on the ledges in the shower. Thankfully, though, none of the ice covered the ground, so there was no possibility that I would slip. Imagine if it had, and I had managed to slip. I would probably have been the first person to have died in the game from slipping in the shower.

As I stepped out, I realized that, while I had a clean pair of pants and a shirt, I only had one piece of underwear. While it hadn't bothered me yesterday, it did so now. I mean, wouldn’t it bother anyone else if they had to wear something full of sweat after you just showered? Though it wasn’t like I had a choice. It just meant that I needed to add yet another item to my ever-growing shopping list. Good thing I was going shopping today.

Dressed, I stepped out of my room and made my way out of the building. This time, while people did shoot me glances, I didn’t get stopped on the way. As I stepped out of the building, I stopped on the stairs overlooking the street and took a deep breath of the crisp air. The winter chill still made itself known, even if it was being beaten back by the approaching spring.

I wasn’t the only one awake and moving around the town. Hell, if I didn’t know better, I would say that I was one of the last people in town to wake up, given how crowded the streets were. The sun was barely peaking over the wall in the distance, yet people were already hawking their wares to passersby as they went about their morning. List to the side of my vision, I got to work.

A couple of hours, and a few kababs, later, I managed to purchase everything on the list. Just in time for my stomach to let out another grumble as the sun reached its zenith, and I reached the guild hall.

Sitting in a group, the three of my trainers sat in the middle of the room. Tindi was the only one covered in sweat. Likely from whatever workout she had been doing. She was the first to see me as the other two were deep in a discussion. I didn’t figure out what they were talking about as a gesture from Tindi caught their attention.

Barti gestured to a seat. “Just in time for lunch.”

The table is silent as I sit down until Mindi finally bursts out with a question. “Ok, I can’t handle this. What class options have you been offered?” I hadn't expected her to be the one to be excited about talking about something with me. While she was more open when it came to magic and training, she had been nearly as reserved as Tindi.

Then again, judging by the group's faces, she wasn’t the only one looking forward to finding out the answer to her question. My stomach twisted into knots as I worried about what I might find. The butterflies that danced between the knots didn’t help either, as a part of me felt excited at the prospect of getting a class.

While I tried to deal with the conflicting emotions, I pulled up my interface and selected the blank class box. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that was where I needed to go. Thankfully, though, a new screen popped up. On it were eleven different options. Each showed only the class's name and nothing else. Though, judging by the colors, I could at least tell what ranking every one of them were.

“Going from top to bottom,” and those ranked as common, “I have been offered Warrior, Swordsman, Enchanter, Mage, Battlemage, Fire Mage, Brawler.” At that one, Tindi laughed but waved me to continue onto the uncommon classes the system offered me. “Emberblood.” Tindi and Mindi looked at each other in confusion while Barti’s brows pinched. “What?”

Barti shook his head and simply said, “Just keep going.”

“Graceful Enchanter, Pyromancer, and.” I had to stop for a second to keep from groaning in annoyance at the system. I didn’t want to say it, but based on their looks, they would not let me get away with not telling them. So, as quietly as I could, I grumbled out the one rare class I was offered, “and Succubus.”

Tindi and Mindi both burst into laughter. Tindi was laughing so hard that she fell out of her chair and hit the ground. Unlike the two of them, Barti simply pinched the bridge of his nose. Before he could say anything, I quickly asked a question that I should never have had to ask, not caring that the people I asked were non-player characters. “This game can’t switch a person's gender, can it?”

Barti, being the only one capable of answering, ignored the fact that I referred to everything as a game as he spoke up. “Though I don’t know if such a thing can happen to you travelers. It is exceedingly rare, but it has happened to a few people. The thing that worries me is the fact that there are demonic classes on the list.” He laughed half-heartedly as he asked, “You aren’t part demon, are you?”

With a shake of my head, I answered, “Not that I know of.” Which was true as the game didn’t give us the option to choose our race or anything else. “Any ideas on what I should choose?”

“Well, most of those are basic classes.” At my confused look, he explained. “Classes like Swordsman, Mage, and Brawler only require a person to use a single method of fighting. Use a sword and you will get offered the class.”

“So not a good choice unless you have no choice,” I stated.

“Well, classes can evolve into stronger versions over time. Sometimes into variants that the system will never offer directly.” He took a breath before continuing. “As for you, I would like you to wait while I go do some research on some of those classes.” I wanted to ask why, but he held up a hand. “While the system might give you information on each class, it will not tell you everything about it.”

Wait, the system would give me more information than just the name? Clicking on Warrior, I was somewhat shocked to see yet another window pop up. This one with quite a bit of information on it. From its rank, though I could have guessed it was common given the gray text, to bonus stats during level up. It even had starting skills. Though, given the additional unlocks and additional costs fields were on the page, if empty, that meant that some classes might do more than just provide a bonus or power boost.

Still, while there was quite a bit of information there, I could see what he meant. There was only information on what you started with, nothing on what the class could do in the future. No paths forward, no unlockable skills, nothing. Given that I would be stuck with the class for a while, I needed to find something that would work, not just now, but in the future. “I need to go do a few things, but I think I don’t want you to be on your own until I get back. I can't have you doing something stupid, like choosing a class, before I get back. So, I want you to train with Mindi and Tindi.” He shot a look at the two girls before he got up and walked off.

As if it had been timed, the server arrived with the group's food. Seeing as Barti was no longer here, I stole his plate. All the while going through each class I had been offered. Some were cool-sounding while others terrified me. The one that seemed to confirm his earlier statement and freaked me out the most was the last one on my list. It also happened to be the strongest and most well-rounded one of the group.

The level up bonuses were double that of every other class and the class gave a decent set of skills while also unlocking an element for free, but the extra costs made the class a no go for me. Not only would I only ever be able to use the fire and dark elements, but my race would be permanently changed. Oh, and my gender would switch. Permanently.

So, while it was a decent class, I would never choose it. Still, it was nice to see that non-combat classes were being offered. Some of them were useful for battle as a support class. Graceful Enchanter was a prime example of this.

The bonuses were not as good as those for Succubus, but it also didn’t have any extra costs associated with it. Still, the description was a bit odd as it was as though the system was watching me as it commented on my skills directly.

You have shown a decent amount of control over your mana. It has been determined that, with a push, you will be able to take a class, such as Enchanter, and, using your looks and movements, increase a spell’s efficacy.

Did I know what the description meant? Nope. But the fact that it started with what sounded like an area heal spell as well as a shielding spell meant that it would be something that would give me quite a bit of freedom on the battlefield. Something that my current skills lacked. Though I was a bit worried that the class would require me to dance to perform spells. Something that I would never be doing.

“All done,” Mindi said as she hopped out of her chair and grabbed my arm. She yanked me out of my chair as she called back to Tindi, who looked to be off on her own planet. “Come join us when you finish.”

The second the training room door snicked closed behind me, she was across the room. A spell she had cast tossed me into the door. It held me there as she tsked. “You had more than enough time and skill to block that hit.” She stated. “In case it hasn’t been obvious, attacks can come from anywhere at any time.”

Her statement, while innocuous sounding, had my full attention. She couldn’t be saying that this game had no true safe zones, could she? “Even here in town? Does the system not prevent such things?”

“No, why would it?” She looked truly confused by my question. As if such a concept of a safe zone was completely foreign. “To do so would be to limit some classes and abilities as well as cost more magic than any god would be willing to spend.” So, no. There were no safe zones. The developer who thought of that was probably just too lazy to create a system for it. I wonder just how many players were cursing the person right this moment. “That’s not to say that there are no protections inside of towns. Magic protections get a boost while in town, especially those on houses and doors.”

Wait, doors, protections. Did she mean that people could pick a lock and enter someone's house? Well, maybe I would be returning to the real world when I needed to sleep. Then again, maybe I could just place something large in front of my door.

A soft smack to my head brought me back to the present. Her spell still held me to the door, leaving me open to any attack she wanted to toss in my direction. With an effort of will, I pulsed my magic out as I filled the space around me enough to see the threads tying her to her spell. A simple application of force was all it took to snap said threads. As they fell away, so did the spell.

I didn’t celebrate getting free or anything, in part because she had practically let me go free based on how hard I had to work to break her spell, but also because I was already moving. Making myself a harder target to hit while I built a series of linked fireballs. They launched at my target the moment I was within arm's reach.

A shimmering shield popped into being between us. It deflected the fireballs in every direction. Not that I expected any different. It would have been weird and stupid if she couldn’t have deflected such a straightforward attack. But, while she was watching my left hand and the spellwork attached to it, my right hand swung in. My Chisa Katana practically hummed as it cut through the air and embedded itself deep into her shield.

From that one cut, a spiderweb of cracks covered the entire shield. Something about how the shield was made allowed it to survive for a few more moments before it finally shattered. The pieces sounded like tinkling glass as they hit the ground before the mana that made them up vanished. As it did so, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Not willing to ignore whatever instinct was telling me that I was in danger, I dropped to the ground and rolled to the left.

As I popped back up, I found that I had managed to escape from an attack that would have hurt. Tindi’s foot was positioned right where the back of my neck had been. While I doubted she would have killed me on purpose, I was fairly sure that attack would have done me in.

Moving fast, I charged the two of them. Using my magic to distract more than attack while I aimed for their legs. Both simply jumped in opposite directions. Their move caused me to hesitate as my mind locked up in indecision. If I attacked one, I would leave myself vulnerable to the other. Something neither of them would let happen without some kind of price. Gritting my teeth, I made a choice. I targeted Tindi while firing a pair of fireballs at Mindi. Hoping that it would keep her distracted for at least a few moments.