Step one: take inventory.
What did I have at my disposal? Well, in my possession was nothing but the clothes on my back and a half-empty waterskin. In other peoples' possessions, though…
Kneeling on the ground by the bodies of Dorrn and Feiya, I muttered to myself, "I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do," in a mantra as I rummaged through their bodies, fingering through torn and bloody pockets, removing backpacks from flayed skin, and many other disgusting things.
In the end, I didn't have much to show for it. The Demon's claws were apparently razor-sharp, and had destroyed much of what the two of them had in the first place.
Their backpacks were shredded and unusable, Feiya's waterskin had burst, and even the pouch of coins I'd paid Dorrn had been destroyed, most of the silver pieces either slashed up or lost in the mess of a battlefield. No getting those back, it seemed.
There were maybe a single meal's worth of rations between them – the trip wasn't supposed to last more than a morning – and enough water in Dorrn's waterskin to fill mine up. Other than that, there wasn't much of use.
Well, there were certainly lots of things that would have been of use to me had I not been stuck with a Magic-Type Class, such as the gigantic battleaxe I was no longer allowed to wield, but…
Wait.My Class. That was definitely another tool at my disposal. It said I got some Stat Points and a Spell choice, right? And there was that weird Talent and Title…
I hurriedly opened up my Status.
Name:
Arlan Nota
Age:
20
Strength:
10
Class:
Minute Mage
Level:
0
Endurance:
11
Class Type:
Magic
XP:
0/50
Dexterity:
10
Health:
100/110
Health/Minute:
0.045
Conjuration:
2
Stamina:
54/63
Stamina/Minute:
0.384
Mana:
0/20
Mana/Minute:
0.36
Stat Points:
3
Spells:
Talents:
Titles:
[Spell Choice Available]
Time Loop 0
Trailblazer
Well, that was certainly a big change from what I was used to seeing every time I pulled up my Status. Everything in bold was something that had changed since the last time I looked at it, and look at all of that bold text! I finally had a Class – even if it was one I didn't really want – my Endurance went up, which increased my Health, Stamina, Health regeneration, and Stamina regeneration, I had a whole new Stat in the form of Conjuration, I had Stat Points to assign, a Spell to choose, a Talent, and a Title! Most people didn't do anything worthy of a Title in their whole lives, and I got it at Level 0!
I took a breath, trying not to get overwhelmed. First, let's look at that weird Talent.
Time Loop - Rank 0
Type: Activated
Go 1 minute back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other cooldowns – as well as the rest of the world – but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.
This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.
This Talent may only be activated once per day.
I read through the Talent's effect over and over, verifying that what I saw was true. Going back in time? That was such an unheard-of effect that I almost didn't believe it. Messing with time was just… not something the System did.
I immediately started thinking of the various applications this Talent could be used for. The most obvious thing I could do would be redoing a fight, conversation, or anything else that went poorly. A single minute wasn't a long time, so I wouldn't be able to do anything crazy, but this Talent could definitely be used to devastating effect in the right hands.
And it was called "Rank 0," too. Did that mean it would get stronger over time? I'd heard of some Classes that had a Talent that would get stronger alongside them.
My immediate thought with time travel would be going back and helping fix what'd just happened. Dorrn, Feiya – if I could save them, I'd be out of this mess. But the limits of the Talent were too restrictive.
With the ability to only go a single minute back, the opportunity to go back far enough was out of my hands. Hopefully increasing the Talent's Rank would somehow make that effect less restrictive. Though I still had no idea how I would Rank it up.
Still, one of the interesting things it said was that it reset my Health and all that, but preserved the rest of my Status. That meant XP. So, if I killed a monster, went back in time, and killed it again, would that earn me double XP? And I could use this every single day? My mouth almost began watering at the possibilities.
I shook my head. I didn't want to get too distracted before seeing everything. Next, I'd check out the Title, 'Trailblazer.'
Trailblazer
You are the only person in the world with your Class, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.
If you do not already have it, you gain access to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your Class and what might become of it in the future.
Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence.
Well. That was interesting. I still wasn't sure why I was the only person with Minute Mage, or what that Demon was doing out here in the woods, but this Title was certainly interesting.
It made sense; when I was still planning on getting the Swordsman Class, I got a lot of advice from my teacher at the sparring grounds about what Stats to prioritize, what Martial Arts and Talents to choose when given options, and things like that. But if I was the only person out there with my Class, I wouldn't be able to get any sort of help or information.
It looked like the Title didn't do anything for now, but once I started Leveling, I'd get more and more Intelligence. And it seemed like the more Intelligence I had, the more information it would give me? I wasn't sure, but it was something to look forward to, at least.
The Intelligence Stat itself was a bit of a catch-all for Crafting-Type Classes. Blacksmiths had access to it, for example, and it would help them identify metals, imperfections in their items, and things like that. For Enchanter Classes, it would give them access to higher-quality Enchantments.
Since I wasn't any of those, Intelligence likely wouldn't help me with anything on its own – other than give me a bit of extra Mana – and I wouldn't inherently get any from my own Class's progression in my Level-ups – just from the Title. Trailblazer would just give me one extra Intelligence every Level, and then give me information based on how much I had. Who knew how that would work.
I moved on. Now that I knew the effects of everything I already had, it was time to get something new. That "Spell Choice Available" had caught my attention, and I was excited about what my options would be. I hadn't planned on becoming a Magic-Classer, but that didn't mean magic wasn't cool. I just liked sword-fighting more.
I gazed at my own longsword on the ground. I'd never be able to use it again. Minute Mage was at least better than being Unclassed.
To choose a Spell, though, I'd need to meditate. It was easy enough to view a Status, but changing one was a different matter entirely. Whenever making choices – assigning Stat Points, choosing Spells and Talents, or anything else – Classers had to sit down and focus for a few minutes to get into a mental state that would allow them to change things about their Status. But my surroundings. Well, they were less than ideal for that.