Asunder [litRPG] Chapter 3 (Patreon)

“What does that have to do with your class?” the woman asked. Then she blinked. “I’m sorry. I’m being rude. My name is Lacy. Short for Laceration.”

Thane raised an eyebrow. “Thane. That’s an… interesting name.”

She blushed. “I know, I know. My father was a bit too obsessed with all things battle. He didn’t mean any harm by it. I think he just thought that it sounded cool.”

“I’m sure,” Thane said. His stomach rumbled again and he eyed the defeated UniBunny. “Do you happen to know if these creatures are edible?”

“They are, but they don’t taste very good,” Lacy said. “You saved my hide, so how about I buy you lunch at the town? It’s the least I can do.”

“If you’re certain,” Thane said, trying to emulate her language. It wouldn’t do to stand out from the other humans because his speech patterns were so different. “Could I borrow your sword?”

“Sure,” Lacy said, drawing the blade and handing it to him.

Thane took it and walked over to the UniBunny’s corpse. He raised the weapon and brought it down as hard as he could on the creature’s horn. The horn snapped free and fell to the ground. He picked it up and handed the sword back to her.

“UniBunny horns aren’t worth much,” Lacy warned him. “They’re common monsters. You aren’t from around here, are you?”

“I am – ah, I’m not,” Thane said. “And I don’t want to sell the horn. It’s sharp, and I don’t have a weapon.”

“At all?” Lacy asked in disbelief. “How can you wander outside town? Unless… are you a mage, and you’re just messing with me?”

“I’m a Dawn Guard, whatever that is,” Thane said.

“Huh. I haven’t heard of that, but maybe it’s some sort of mage class,” Lacy suggested. “You might be able to find something out with the Waypoint in town.”

“Waypoint?”

“It’s like an advanced terminal to access your stats and abilities. You really are lost, aren’t you? Every town I know has a Waypoint in it. Where are you from?”

“I’m far from home,” Thane admitted, choosing his words carefully. “Maybe I’ll show it to you sometime.”

Lacy raised an eyebrow. Then she shrugged. “We’ll see. Let’s get going.”

She started off towards the buildings at the distance. After a few moments, Thane followed after the young woman.

They didn’t speak much throughout the rest of the short trip. They reached the town in a little less than half an hour.

It had a small stone wall running around the edge that didn’t look big enough to do much more than discourage anything. The buildings behind were made of wood and stone. Each one had a slightly different style, but they looked to be in decent shape.

The entrance to the town was a small gap in the wall watched by a single large man on a stool. He wore ragged metal armor and a leather cap. A shortsword rested against his side, its tip buried in the dirt. He glanced up at Thane and Lacy as they approached.

“How’d the hunt go?” he asked. “And who’s this? A traveler?”

“It could have gone better,” Lacy said. “This is Thane.”

“What brings you to our town, Thane?” the man asked.

“Food, mostly. I also need to figure out my class.”

“You’ve got amnesia or something?”

“Or something,” Thane agreed.

The guard shrugged and sat back down gesturing for them to go past him. “Well, hopefully you find what you’re looking for. There’s a Waypoint in the town square that might help you figure out your class.”

They thanked him and entered the town.

“Where is this Waypoint? I’d like to use it before we eat,” Thane said. He was itching to know what the Father had blessed – or cursed – him with.

“It’s right over there,” Lacy said, nodding at a large obelisk in the middle of a large open area. The dark gray stone pillar was easily several stories high. There were a few people standing around it, but there was still more than enough space for the two of them to walk over and stand beneath it. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen one.”

Thane just grunted. Everyone else had their palm on the rock, so he mimicked them. He felt a thrum of power run from his chest through his arm and out of his hand. A window blinked to life before his eyes.

Thane

Race: Human

Class: Dawn Guard

Level: 5 (13% Progress)

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 10

Endurance: 10 (1 / Minute)

Magical Energy: 28 (2.8 / Minute)

Magical Prowess: 15

Will: 10

Luck: 18

Unassigned Status points: 6

New Skills Available!

Beginning analysis of user class…

Complete.

Class: Dawn Guard

Rarity: S

A Dawn Guard’s purpose is to shield and heal their allies through the use of defensive magic. As the defenders of the late Dawn King, Dawn Guards are also more than capable of protecting themselves. They have access to multiple abilities that debilitate and steal their foes abilities while buffing their allies. A Dawn Guard is a front line magical class, so their most important attributes are Magical Prowess, Magical Energy, and Endurance.

Dawn Guards can take a high amount of damage, but are not proficient in close range combat. They are offered a class rank up quest at Level 50, at which point they can either choose to become a Dawn Warden or a Nightfall Cleric.

It took a few moments for Thane to scan through the lines of text that appeared before the window. Once he’d finished, he waved them away with a sigh. The Father had been serious about avoiding his previous class abilities. He’d never been one to use defensive magic, as killing the enemy tended to be a lot easier than protecting your allies.

Thane shifted his attention to the new skill notification. He tapped it with his finger. Several options popped up in front of him.

Restore (2 Mana / second): Heal a living organism for a small percentage of they have taken. Scales with Magical Prowess.

Soul Link: (5 Mana / second): Bind two living creatures together. A small percentage damage done to one creature is transmitted to the other, and the same percentage healing done to one creature is transmitted to the other. Damage done is still subject to resistances and immunities. Scales with Magical Prowess.

Shield: (10 Mana): Form a shield of magical energy in front of a target to intercept a single attack. Only [1] Shield may be active at a time. Scales with User level.

Thane scanned his options. He had no desire to sit at the back of the fight and heal his allies, so Restore would have to wait. Shield seemed to be useful, but many monsters would be able to attack quickly enough that Shield would become irrelevant at higher levels. Soul Link seemed like the most interesting of the three options, particularly for the future when he got more spells.

After a few more moments of deliberation, Thane selected Soul Link. The window blinked out, leaving only his status screen. After a few moments of thought, Thane put two points into Magical Energy, Magical Prowess, and Endurance before closing the screen and stepping away from the obelisk.