Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

425 Years after Elaine became a professor at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft

Thinking, thinking, always thinking. The blasted Heal rune was hard, no wonder one didn’t exist yet. Two steps forward, one step back, and when a single underpinning was improperly done, it meant everything that built on top of it also had to be redone. I had added tens, possibly over a hundred million fundamental runic building blocks to it already, and I wasn’t even done with the basics, let alone any medicine! The Island was always a nice place to retreat to when we were between projects. Iona had a bunch of friends she liked catching up with, I wanted to see what was new in the library, wins all around.

Auri had a selection of sweets orbiting her and I long ago figured out the pattern. Her selection was almost like a mood ring and I doubted she was aware of it. The moment I told her, it’d be destroyed by her overthinking it and I loved knowing the little details of her like that. She was my best friend, through thick and thin. As best friends were wont to do, I debated if I wanted my fingers pecked as the price of grabbing one. Hmmm… not today.

[*Whoop whoop!* Yo yo yo! What’s up! It’s GENIE here today! I’m here to announce a brand spanking new modification to the System at large! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, monsters of all shapes and sizes! Things are going to be CHANGING! New System, just like the old System, with a little bit more spit and polish! This kid here’s got balls of brass, requesting that I give you all a breakdown instead of having you all figure it out yourself. No fun, I say. I just know the fine folks up at the School are already organizing research teams.]

Damnit, Genie knew us too well. I was already imagining who I wanted investigating and the book I was going to help get written. Either by doing it myself, or paying someone else an outrageous amount to have it happen.

[Are you ready for this? Who am I kidding, you’re not ready for this! Let me hit you with it!

[Identify], [Analyze], [Observe], [Ascertain], and all the other good stuff like that you’re using to peek at each other’s stats? Well, guess what! We’re UPGRADING! No more [Warrior], you’re going to know if you’re looking at a [Soldier], a [Knight], maybe a [Templar], a [Guard], or whatever else they’re doing! [Ranger], move over, you’re out! We’re talking [Druids], [Archers], [Beast Tamers], [Trackers], [Hunters] and more! Mages, I ain’t even going to try with you lot. There’s a lotta -mancer’s out there now, that’s all I’m saying.

[Healers], you’re up next! We’ve got… believe it or not, [Healer]! [Medic]! [Doctor]! [Nurse]! [Pharmacist]! [Potioneer]! [Apothecary]! Some of you more religious types might be a [Cleric]! And all that other good stuff.

[Leaders], you know who you are. That fancy class title is what’s going to show now! From [Team Leader] to [King], [Mayor] to [Governor], even [Princesses] are visible without dragon’s blood! Stop hunting the poor creatures down.] My eye twitched at that and I saw when Auri read it by her flinch. Genie had to throw stones at glass houses, that part of the announcement was going to get people killed.

[Laborers, Artisans, your job is now what you show! Congratulations to half of you, and the other half is about to have revealed how poorly you fit your profession.

By the way, [Thieves], [Spies] and the rest of you sneaky lot - skills didn’t get updated! Better start running.

Good luck, one and all! Enjoy the fallout!

Genie out!]

“Did Genie just skip half the fucking display tags?” I asked in outrage. Not one mention of [Priests]! I was entertained at how [Thieves] had very briefly been completely fucked over… but that also meant all the enchanted jewelry I made to hide our levels was worthless. Well, rederiving all the principles and new enchantments to remake them should be worth a few [Runecrafting] levels. Another project to get started on, but I was in a prime position to get the levels and quality. Could help with my Heal rune project.

So much to do because of just one notification!

“Healer.” Fenrir growled out, and I came to the sudden realization that he was the only one who could tell me my class. [Investigate] was a critical skill for any [Detective]... which he was not. Damnit. Why did I expect anything else, my class was literally called The Healer. Would’ve been nice to have [Doctor] displayed for all the education and work I’d done, ah well. I almost expected the class to display as [Sentinel], but I wasn’t quite sure where the line was. Oh the trips I needed to take, the people I had to interrogate! Well, mostly peek at their displayed thing.

The thought clicked, and I sent a pair of prayers up.

Hi Selene! Hi Lunaris! Iona’s about to get SUPER popular.

I donated a hefty chunk of mana to Ciriel.

Good luck. I drily told the Goddess. I had all sorts of questions! Did her domain just get weaker? It wasn’t one of the major identifiers anymore, did that have an impact? She was probably getting buried under prayers right now, but I had all sorts of things to investigate!

I glanced at my friend, activating my oldest and least-used skill.

“Are you surprised to find out you’re a [Pyromancer] now?” I asked her with a nostalgic twinkle of my eye. I had the actual class[Pyromancer] once.

“Brrpt! Brrrpt?”

“Let’s find out if you can get [Best Pyromancer].” I agreed, plucking one of Auri’s floating treats. A donut was exactly what I needed right now.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

It was an interesting question - were there modifiers? We left the house, and the streets were packed. Nearly everyone had stopped what they were doing and were busy talking and looking at each other. Genie had done good work.

[Cobbler], [Tailor], [Cook] were the first three I saw. [Students] were everywhere, as well as a smattering of [Heir] and [Heiress]. There was one unfortunate [Fisherman] up here, and a distinct lack of fish on the flying island. Maybe he was after cloud fish?

[Conscript] was unfortunate, I didn’t believe the resident terrible musician was a [Bard] until I saw it, the [Barmaid] was committed for life and the [Dancer] had her hobby revealed for all to see. I spotted Iona as a [Paladin], the local priest had turned into a [Monk], and I privately laughed at the ‘clumsy’ student revealed to all as a [Pugilist].

Nobody tripped down that many stairs.

Billy the [Cheesemonger] would probably get a lot more people trying out what he was making, the [Hunter]'s class interests made a little more sense now, a [Mother] had devoted herself to the family and the [Witch] had given no hints at her true class. Iona’s lips were wordlessly moving as she connected all the classes she saw to the new, displayed ones.

“Want to be the author of the most famous book of the century?” I asked her quietly. She had exactly the right skillset at the right time and place.

“My bed would be cold and lonely if I said no.” She teased back. I winked.

“You know it.” I told her.

An [Herbalist] had been famous for his teas before. Quite a few of my fellow teachers were showing as a [Scholar], [Researcher] or [Professor]. The support staff were a mix of [Scribes] and [Accountants], [Assistants] and [Receptionists].

[Cleaner], [Noble], [Knight], [Archer], [Runesmith], [Inventor] and [Artificer]. [Merchant] and [Tradesman].

Genie had exploded the System with infinite possibilities and I smiled at the thought as I bustled along, a thousand things to do. Enjoyable chaos, never a dull moment.

Good. As it should be.

457 Years after Elaine became a professor at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft

There was a knocking at the door. I raised an eyebrow at Iona.

“How did you know?” I asked her, paying up the bet.

“Kid that age?” She snorted as she stood up. “Easy, takes three minutes to calm down, one minute to work up the nerve and then he’d just go for it.”

The kid in question had been dithering outside our door for the last four minutes and eleven seconds. Iona had managed to predict when he’d knock within three seconds. I’d bet a significantly shorter period of time. Mostly due to the rain.

Iona opened the door and let the poor [Farmboy] in. Thank you Genie! He had an oversized sword with him and I was immediately thinking of Nina.

“Come in, come in! The weather’s dreadful.” Iona started to fuss over the boy. Teenager? Man in some cultures? Either way, snot-nosed kid. I dried him with a lazy wave of my hand. We had him disarmed, wrapped in a blanket and drinking tea before he realized it. He blinked owlishly over the tea, before coming back to his senses.

I hid a smile.

Kids. Always great entertainment.

“Are you Dusk and Dawn?” He asked cautiously.

Excellent entertainment, I had no idea how he found us or knew.

“Maybe.” I had a cagey smile over my own tea as I sipped it. “Why do you ask?”

He practically leapt out of his warm blankets, putting his tea down with a clatter.

“Please, you must help me! Gringold the Grim is poised to become the greatest evil the world has ever known! We must stop him before it’s too late!”

I recognized the placid face Iona had, but I wasn’t able to stop myself snorting into my tea. Poor kid looked like I’d just kicked his puppy.

“Never heard of him.” Iona serenely replied.

“He’s a dread [Necromancer]! He’s raising bodies now, but if we give him time, he’ll overrun the world! I’m trying to get a few [Heroes] together to defeat him before he can unlock the secret of undying Immortality! We must…”

Iona and I glanced at each other, then silently agreed to see how long the kid could continue ranting on his favorite topic of choice without us saying a word.

An impressive twenty-three minutes later, he paused.

“Are you listening to me?” He asked suspiciously.

“Oh yes.” I lied.

“You’ll help?” He asked. The eager puppy look was back. I looked to Iona with a pleading look on my face. I couldn’t kick him when he looked like that.

Iona sipped her fourth teacup.

“I believe the challenger should match the challenge.” She said diplomatically. “We are slightly retired. However, if you’re looking for assistance, my old [Squire], Nina, would probably be willing to help. I can write a letter of introduction and point you in her direction.”

A full theater play worth of emotions went over the kid’s face - the [Playwright] had written a tragedy - before he schooled his face. The kid muttered something about ‘he knew it was too easy’ and ‘just another step in the quest’ before slightly bowing. His cheeks were flaming red, like a tomato.

“Thank you. Your assistance will be remembered. I’ll just… go now?” He said.

“Nonsense!” Iona got up. “I insist you stay for a solid dinner and a good night’s rest. It’s the least we can do for a weary traveler.”

I shot Iona a glare, trying to transmit ‘we are not adopting this one’ as strongly as I could. She simply winked.

Crow take the woman, she knew I could interpret that in multiple ways and was just yanking my chain.

Might be worth secretly stalking him though, and watching the epic adventure unfold. It sounded like excellent entertainment and if clues mysteriously happened to be where he looked for them? Well, that was just the nature of grand, heroic quests.

Yes… this sounded like it could be a lot of fun. I was almost 600 years old, I had to stay entertained somehow.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 596]

[Mana: 110,491,000/110,491,000]

[Mana Regeneration: 237,125,865 +(1,933,744,582)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 647,721 (Effectively: 5,181,768)]

[Dexterity: 671,977 (Effectively: 7,155,211)]

[Vitality: 1,887,640 (Effectively: 29,494,375)]

[Speed: 1,874,872 (Effectively: 36,903,106)]

[Mana: 11,049,100]

[Mana Regeneration: 24,369,812 (+ 193,374,458)]

[Magic Power: 13,962,933 (+ 1,494,033,831)]

[Magic Control: 13,961,790 (+ 1,493,911,530)]

[Class 1: [The Elaine- Celestial: Lv 2140]]