Afterword: Book 1 - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3: The First Class Up

(original chapter title: Ranthia on the Road)

Fun fact! The levels of the "villagers," as Ranthia refers to them, (...Perinthus was a fairly decent city, you silly child) were originally ludicrously low. The woodsman was level 49, with the tavern wench coming in second at level 41. It was WAY too low in level to the point where it made no sense. I'd wanted to make it clear that they were the dregs of the city that were too lazy and lacked the drive to help rebuild, but I definitely overshot originally.

Also, my grasp of the System was pretty weak back then. That showed up big time in this chapter when Ranthia classed up for the first time. Back in the original draft the class was called [Baby Mage of Growing Chaos] and in my clumsiness I somehow made the class (and remember, Ranthia got it because she failed to qualify for this) significantly better than [Apprentice Mage] would have been. Like stats, skills, all across the board it was just a MUCH better class. [Magissistant] has significantly reduced stats and after a quick talk with Selkie I also removed [Light Conjuration] to better balance it.

Speaking of mistakes, LOTS of cleaning up was required for this chapter (which, once again, has been split into two). Ranthia's initial battle with the snake was written AFTER it happened (same with the rat, why did I hate fun back in January?) and it was almost incoherent in the original draft:

It was only due to her [Combat] and [Knives] skills that Ranthia kept ahold of her weapon. Her nerves were shot, she felt clammy and shell-shocked. The serpent had been nearly invisible on the road, up until the teen boy of the couple stepped on it. It had struck him and then went straight for the 6-year-old girl that always tried to socialize with Ranthia. This time it was lucky for her that she refused to give up on that nonexistent friendship; Ranthia’s own [Boosted Reflexes] and [Combat] gave her an instant response that saved the girl’s life. Ranthia drew her hidden knife and sliced the snake perfectly and then its own momentum allowed the blade to slice the snake halfway down lengthwise before it stopped. By sheer luck, its fangs stopped just short of the girl.

Are you grateful yet that I rewrote my opening? Seriously though, Ranthia deserved a strong opening (which I HOPE I've pulled off, at least to the best of my current ability). Her past is just as important as anything I've written in Book 2 or anything I have planned for Book 3.