Chapter 126: Shared Tale & Status

The first thing Kaius noticed was the thick layer of semi-dried gore that was sticking to his skin and gumming up the fine joints of his scalemail. The second was the smell, the foetid stench of stale battle.

He groaned, eyes opening as he sat up. He was back on the plateau, leaning up on the same stone plinth that he had sat next to before selecting his class.

Porkchop lurched up beside him, whirling towards him to butt him with his head. “Kaius! You’re back!”

“Hey buddy,” he said, ruffling the fur of Porkchop’s head. “How long was I out?”

Porkchop chuffed, leaning into his touch. “An hour, maybe two. Not too long. Now what happened?! Tell me everything!”

Kaius grinned at his bond-brother’s enthusiasm. He understood, after so long of having the mysteries of class selection hidden from him, he would be eager to learn more from someone who had just gone through the experience.

“Well, for one, I found out that there is a great reason why it is only spoken of in generalities. The system prevents discussion of it with those who have not gone through the process.” He held up his hand as Porkchop started to whine, his eyes unconsciously drawn towards the new lines of his glyph peeking around his armour. “I wasn’t finished. Lucky for us, you don’t count due to our soul-bond, for reasons I don’t quite understand.”

Porkchop visibly vibrated for a second, before he seemed to force himself to still and tilted his head. “Well, if you can tell me then tell me!”

Kaius shook his head, a small smile on his face. “Well, it’s supposed to be quite different for everyone, and I’m not sure of the differences for a greater beast since you have a bloodline instead of a class, but it was quite the experience. I was in the Sea, with a guide. It was…very ceremonial. Apparently it brings you to a place you will feel at ease, and your guide is in the form of someone that you would trust and pay attention to.” he finished.

“Okay… that’s not quite what I was expecting. There were no trials, no challenges?”

“No,” Kaius shook his head. “The guide helped me narrow down my class choices, and then led me to a place where I could review them. Once I picked, several of my general skills evolved, and then I got to pick a class skill from a choice of three. After that, due to my class skill choice I got to pick a runic hymn. That was interesting. Once I had chosen the spell, the guide left, but I had to go through a strange training where the system granted me knowledge and had me practise until I could create the hymn without its assistance.” Kaius explained.

“Anything else that you think might help?” Porkchop asked, clearly eager to pry as much information as he could out of him.

Kaius hummed, looking upwards to the cavern ceiling far above, thinking back on his experience. “Not directly, I don’t think. Just trust your guide, and listen to their advice. We did really well.” Something jumped to his mind. “Oh! We were right about the Honours, they get some sort of scaling upgrade when you have a class. I haven’t checked exactly what yet though.”

Porkchop sat up. “Really? That’s fantastic! I was worried that they would only be a small boost. Enough of that though, did you get it? What you wanted?” his bond brother asked.

Kaius’s cheeks ached with the force of his smile. “I did, and so much more.”

“Well, don’t hold me in suspense!”

“Seventeen Heroic class offerings, though I only looked through the glyph-binding ones. One was perfect, nigh the limit of what could be obtained for the first tier. Warforged, Adamant Body, Runic Lexicon, and Mana Manipulation all evolved, going up a tier, and my first class skill was a glyph that grants me two hymns every tier, of the same rarity of the skill – also Heroic.” Kaius rattled off his gains, inwardly deeply satisfied at the way Porkchop went stock still, his ears perking up as he stared at him in shock.

Barely a moment later, Porkchop surged into motion, tackling him to the ground in an excited flurry of blurring swats and affectionate nuzzles. “A Heroic class?! And three more skills? That’s amazing Kaius!”

He laughed, shoving his bond-brother off of him. “I know! I expect you will get much the same.” he said, sitting back to lean against the plinth once more.

“You have to tell me EVERYTHING, every description. Leave nothing out.” Porkchop insisted.

Kaius smiled, and launched into a description of his new changes.

….

Kaius glanced over at the prone form of his brother, sprawled out on the hard stone next to him. He looked to be in a deep sleep, but Kaius knew from what Porkchop had told him that he would be utterly unresponsive until he returned from his selection. His brother had also said that if something weird happens, he shouldn’t be worried. Which was worrying in and of itself. Bloody idiot had refused to explain though, nor why he had insisted on removing his barding, prefering to keep it a ‘surprise’.

Despite having managed to remove the worst of the muck while Kaius was gone, most of Porkchop’s fur was still plastered to his heavily muscled frame. Despite that, he still looked bloody adorable curled up in a ball.

Shaking his head affectionately, Kaius turned back to his task at hand. Working the caked and stiff buckles of his vambraces to bare his arms. After their discussion, Porkchop had dived straight into his selection, and Kaius intended to use the time to familiarise himself with Tonal Weaving and his new method of inscribing his hymns.

He’d had some practice with his new spell in the mental space the system had created to teach it to him, but he knew that until he had put that into practice with his real body, he would continue to feel uncertain about the process.

It was, afterall, ruinously complex. As soon as he had tried to form the hymn for the first time, he had immediately realised how much of a boon Tonal Weaving was going to be. His newest spell… made full use of the medium of his body. Dipping into his flesh and winding itself around his mana flows. It was an order of magnitude more difficult than standard arrays from a practical perspective, let alone the scholastic complexity of developing them wholesale.

If he’d had to use his Jurryrigger’s Inscription Stylus he would have been fucked.

Clawing at the last buckle, he managed to dislodge a dried clump of viscera that had had it stuck fast, and freed his arm. Sighing, he leaned back and worked on the other. Thankfully it was a bit less messy.

As he worked, he pulled up his updated status, marvelling at the changes.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 19

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Race: Human (Dynastic, Greater Beastblooded) – +1 Wil, Str, End, and free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Class: Runeblade Initiate – + 3 Int, + 2 End, + 2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wil per level

Level: 1

Resources:

Health – 930/930 (7.9/min)

Stamina – 810/810 (8.0/min)

Mana – 1060/1060 (10.5/min)

Free Mana – 1006/1006

Reserved Mana – 0

Stats:

Endurance – 33 + 44 + 22% (93)

Vitality – 21 + 44 + 22% (79)

Strength – 23 + 44 + 22% (81)

Dexterity – 22 + 44 + 22% (80)

Intelligence – 23 + 59 + 30% (106)

Willpower: – 22 + 59 + 30% (105)

Stat Points: 1

Aspects:

Pillar Corporus: N/A

Pillar Mentis: N/A