The wall in front of Perama, the city built on the remnants of the broken bridge, was not impressive. It was twenty feet tall, surrounding a gate made of solid wood with a portcullis that could be dropped at night, but the stone used to build the wall looked like it had been looted from a hundred different buildings and thrown together by a child playing in a sandbox.
Despite that, it was clear that the wall worked. It was approaching noon when I finally arrived; I’d had to camp out in a more distant building than I had originally planned because few near the enclave seemed secure enough. When I arrived, men and women were still out looting monsters’ bodies that had piled up beneath the enclave’s walls during the night. Only a few guards walked the wall, keeping an eye on the surrounding city to protect the workers below them. The wooden gate was opened several feet, and a group of five guards stood nearby, also watching the workers as they harvested the monsters in front of the wall.
The people harvesting the monsters had set up a number of butchering stations where a select few worked over the corpses with knives in hand. They cut off body parts here and there, filled vials with blood or milked various glands from the monsters, and did other, more obscure things to the monsters’ bodies. The rest of the men and women were busy dragging the corpses to and from the butchers as they worked. It was a methodical and efficient system, clearly long-established.
I watched for a moment more, noting some of the different kinds of monsters that were being butchered. I noticed that several were disturbingly human, but with corrupted skin or monster appendages of some kind. A human with horns, or a tentacled woman, were just some of the bodies I saw being harvested without any hesitation. Others were mythical beasts, like stories from my world come to life. I saw winged monsters, monsters that looked like warped or twisted versions of normal animals, and even stranger things that appeared to be made of metal or beings of pure shadow. The variety was as impressive as it was concerning.
“Scavenger returning?” one of the guards said to me as I approached the gate, eyeing my cloak.
I hesitated for a second, unsure if I should lie or try to explain my situation, but before I could decide, the man gestured for me to enter the gate behind him without waiting for my reply. The guards seemed unconcerned, since I was wearing the gray cloak of a scavenger. They ignored me, returning to watching the workers to make sure they stayed safe from any daytime monsters.
Taking him up on his offer, I walked past the guards and entered the city.
The gate turned into a short tunnel that ran the width of the wall, which was about ten feet thick. Murder holes lined the sides and top of the tunnel, and I could see several more guards watching me through the holes as I walked through the tunnel, but nobody stopped me or asked me any questions.
On the other side of the tunnel, I expected the sunlight to return, but that never happened. The other side of the tunnel was just as dark as the tunnel had been, maybe even darker without the faint light spilling from the murder holes. I looked around, seeing that this side of the tunnel was shaded by makeshift houses, buildings, and other ramshackle constructions that loomed over me, blocking the entire sky above. I eyed the buildings around me warily, concerned that they all looked like they could fall at any moment. At this end of the bridge, the buildings were built right against the wall, using it to give some stability to the shaky structures above and beside me. The street under me was cobblestoned, like the rest of the city, but rapidly began to arch upward with the curve of the bridge. The buildings continued up the bridge, rising higher and higher above the wall. It made for an extremely worrying, claustrophobic street, as if I was walking through a dark sewer. The narrow path forward was barely illuminated by the occasional blue light spilling from a few shops or homes facing the street.
The narrow tunnel that ran up the bridge was packed with people jostling each other as they moved. Many people joined or exited the main street from narrow alleys that ran between the ramshackle buildings, and many other people were climbing up and down the buildings, using them as a vertical street to reach the buildings higher up. The buildings that blocked the light above seemed marginally more reinforced on each side, something that wasn’t that reassuring, given they arched over the street and seemed to be made of nothing but salvaged wood.
I stepped forward, moving out of the tunnel that ran under the wall, trying to figure out what to do now that I was here. I had no idea where to go or how to stay safe in such a messy, claustrophobic place. The smell of so many close-packed people, combined with the weathered buildings and a pervading smell of rotten fish, made the whole area stink like a disturbed graveyard full of fresh corpses.
Several of the nearby buildings had no front, sitting open-faced to the street that ran up the bridge. Each one cast a pocket of light over the bridge, allowing people to see better but only serving to make the darkened corridor seem even more ominous. I could see people bargaining, yelling, chatting, and working at the open-faced buildings, indicating they were likely shops of some kind.
Several people were running the goods being harvested outside the walls to the nearby shops, and I could hear a blacksmith and other crafters working in some of them. I walked to the side of the narrow street and tried to look inside several of the nearby open-faced shops. I saw one that was using vials of blood or other fluids that were being harvested to brew what looked like potions, while another nearby was cooking the meat taken from the monsters. They were doing good business selling the freshly grilled meat, and nobody seemed to object to the source of the food. I noticed the flames that illuminated the bridge were all blue, like the lights that surrounded the palace and the military’s walls outside. The light from the store that was cooking the meat was also blue. It must be a magical flame of some kind that generated heat without burning the insanely packed bridge to the ground. I understood immediately why normal flame was outlawed here, given how quickly the entire place could go up if a fire was started.
“Hey,” I heard a voice say to my right. “You lost or need directions?”
I glanced over toward the voice. I had been frozen in place for almost a minute, overwhelmed by the chaos and sights in front of me and someone had clearly noticed. I shook myself gently, refocusing on the people around me and keeping myself safe. Several people had been forced to maneuver around me where I had frozen and were giving me irritated looks. Next to them was a small teenager, around twelve or thirteen years old at most, although they could be older, given the look of deprivation on the child’s face and body. I couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl; their nondescript clothing, their mangled hair, and the layers of dirt on their face made it impossible to tell.
“You need a guide?” the teenager asked, stepping closer to me. “Best guide in Perama, I am. You look new here. If you don’t hire a guide, I guarantee you will end up lost and dead within an hour, mister.”
I looked over the small person in front of me. They were dirty and I imagined they smelled, but I couldn’t quite tell over the enclave itself. Their hair was a tangled mess, clearly shorn off by a semi-sharp object by some friend—or possibly an enemy, judging by how bad it looked. The little clothing they wore was a size or two too big for their skinny frame and was mended in several places, indicating it had been salvaged or was a hand-me-down from their family. The child had no shoes and no visible weapons of any kind.
I hesitated before replying. I couldn’t tell if this was a genuine service that they were offering or just a rather obvious attempt to take advantage of someone that looked lost. I looked them over again, but I had trouble telling if they were being deceptive or honest. I glanced back down the crowded street and decided the child was probably right that I would end up lost if I didn’t have a guide. If they turned out to be leading me into a robbery, hopefully I could escape or defend myself with my new weapon.
“What’s the cost?” I asked, eyeing the child skeptically. “And how do I know I can trust you to take me where I want to go?”
“Constans is my name,” the young teenager said, looking me up and down with a surprisingly adult look as if they were evaluating me from top to bottom, “and I’m the best guide in the city. I know everyone worth talking to and everywhere you could want to go. I can’t guarantee your safety. I ain’t strong enough to protect you or nothin’, but I have a good reputation around here. Ask around if you want. I have led people from all the different enclaves when they come to visit us. Price is five nummi for the day. Plus, you have to buy me lunch.”
I looked around the bridge once again. Nobody else was stepping forward to help me, and it was clear there were no guards or officials to ask for help. As Asylaion had said, this place was barely organized chaos.
I sighed, looking back at the teenager. “Alright, Constans,” I told them. “I’ll give you three nummi now and three more when I make it out of the city safely. And I’ll get you lunch, but nothing extravagant. Deal?”
“Deal, mister!” they replied, with a grin showing several missing teeth. The teenager stuck out their hand, palm up, and I pulled out three nummi and paid them. They snatched them hastily when I put them in their palm, checking the copper carefully before tucking it somewhere in their clothing that I avoided looking too closely at.
“Alright then,” they said, “where you wanna go first?”
I had planned out what I wanted to find in the city, and having a guide would hopefully make it easier. “I’m looking to talk to someone that sells classes first,” I told the child.
They didn’t hesitate in replying, stepping forward to lead me deeper into the city. “Easy!” They turned and smiled at me. “Momma Lena is the only spot in the city for that anyway. Follow me!”
The child turned back around and began to walk swiftly down the street leading deeper into the city. I followed cautiously, watching the humans bargaining, eating, and crafting in the open storefronts around me as I passed. It was clearly a thriving enclave, although it was poor and looked like it could collapse at any moment. Nobody wore nice clothes, and not many appeared to have cleaned themselves in a long time, but everyone was working or moving with a purpose. Nobody appeared to be visibly starving, although Constans was definitely suffering from malnutrition, which made me suspect that others might not be doing as well as the people I could see in the street near me.
Several shopkeepers called out to me as I passed, trying to entice me to shop with them.
“Scavenger, you have need of some food?”
“We got the best potions in Perama right here! Check us out, scavenger. Trade us some orbs!”
I also heard a number of people discussing me as I passed, even over the din of the crowded street. My enhanced hearing let me pick up some of the conversations that occurred in my wake.
“Never seen that scavenger before. He looks like he is from the palace. Some Varangian brat, you think?”
“Don’t go poking into anything,” I heard someone respond. “Best to leave those born to the purple to themselves.”
“He doesn’t look that dangerous . . .”
The voices faded as Constans led me up the bridge. I followed behind until they stopped and pointed toward a tiny opening that led to our right. I stopped next to them and eyed the opening.
“I’m not sure I can actually fit in there,” I told Constans.
“Yeah,” they replied. “You are a big one. Just bend down and squeeze. You’ll make it. This is the safest way to Momma Lena’s place.” Constans easily maneuvered themselves into the narrow alley, not waiting for me to respond again. I crouched down and turned my body sideways. I barely fit but pushed myself into the narrow alley, determined not to lose my supposed guide. I kept brushing against the buildings as we passed, dirt and grit coating my cloak. The buildings weren’t uniform either. They often had sections that protruded outward or inward. This caused the alley to meander back and forth, widening and narrowing without rhyme or reason. I would have been concerned about being ambushed, but I honestly wasn’t sure that anyone else could fit in here to attack me right now.
After a few minutes of following Constans, I saw the end of the alley begin to brighten significantly. It was actual sunlight spilling down the narrow alley in front of us. I continued forward, wedging myself around a protrusion from the building to my left that almost blocked the entire alley.
At the end of the alley, I had to blink several times as my eyes adjusted to the bright light of day. I had only been inside the heart of the enclave for a few minutes, but it had been hard to remember it was the middle of the day as I navigated the shadowy city. As I followed Constans out of the alley, I saw that we had reached the end of the bridge on this side. Only a foot or two at most separated us from the edge of the bridge itself. This side of the bridge looked east across the water, toward the part of the city that had been overtaken by the undead, according to Asylaion. There was a second, makeshift street here. It ran at the very edge of the bridge between the buildings and the two-to-three-foot-tall stone parapet that tried to stop people from falling off the edge of the bridge. It didn’t seem nearly tall enough to protect the many people that were crammed onto the street and moved haphazardly past each other at the edge of the bridge.
Similar to the other street, this one was packed full of people jostling each other, talking and arguing as they moved. I glanced upward and saw that people were also climbing up the buildings here at the edge, using makeshift ladders to climb up and down. A second street, made from rickety-looking wooden boards, ran above the street we were on, except it had no guardrail to prevent people from falling off. It was also packed with people walking in each direction on the street. I couldn’t imagine how the bridge stayed up; the supports were roughly nailed to the various buildings above me.
“C’mon!” Constans yelled at me, gesturing for me to follow them out along the narrow street. I wanted to rub my head, the insanity of the city giving me my first headache, but instead I stepped out carefully and followed them.
I dodged several people who didn’t bother to slow down and allow me to enter the flow of the street, narrowly avoiding being shoved against the parapet to my right. I swallowed nervously, looking over the edge. The water below was beautiful, at least, and the smell of the sea and the sun dispelled the gloom and stench of the inner pathways behind us.
As I followed Constans down the narrow street, I saw that many of the buildings here had an open wall similar to the main street through the center of the bridge. These were nicer, the natural light and fresh air making them more pleasant. It was clear these were the more successful shops. The merchants inside looked more comfortable and did not need to call out for business; they were already busy haggling with customers or working patiently at tables as I passed.
After several minutes of careful walking, with me trying my best to not knock anyone off or be knocked off myself, Constans stopped again and gestured to their left. When I caught up with them, I saw a small but comfortable-looking shop with an open wall like many of the others we had passed. Inside was a large wooden desk that wrapped around the back side of the shop. Books, ink, and bottles of various ingredients covered the large desk, and a number of shelves built around the room displayed leather-bound books.
Seated at the desk was a hunched-over older woman, an open book in front of her and a quill in hand. She had long, dark hair with streaks of white here and there. She wore nicer clothing than Constans, including shoes and a warm-looking sweater to combat the slight chill of the sea air blowing through the shop. She was very focused on her work and didn’t seem to have noticed that we had stopped outside her shop.
“You just have to wait for her to take a break,” Constans whispered to me as we stepped slightly into the shop together.
“Should we just stand here, then?” I asked Constans, speaking quietly as well.
“Yeah,” they replied. “We are mostly out of the way. Shouldn’t be more than a half hour before she takes a break to restore her mana.”
Constans unashamedly sat down in the middle of the stone floor and turned to watch the people passing by the shop. I decided to sit as well. I turned and sat down next to my little guide, happy that they hadn’t tried to have me ambushed. They turned and gave me a surprised look, raising one eyebrow as I sat down with them.
After a moment, they turned back to watching the people of this strange city, and I joined them. A constant flow of people going in both directions passed the shop. It made me wonder what everyone was so busy doing and how many people truly lived on the bridge. Just from the numbers I had seen so far, it must be thousands.
“What’s it like growing up around here?” I finally asked Constans, figuring enough time had passed that they might be open to conversation.
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They turned and gave me a skeptical look but eventually replied, “Eh, could be worse. Could be anywhere else in the city. Probably be dead already or stuck being a snob or soldier.”
“Ah,” I said, unsure of how to respond. I had spoken to many people in my past life, but talking as a fellow human was still new to me, and I struggled to come up with an immediate response. Making small talk, as people called it, wasn’t an easy skill to acquire, I was learning.
“You one of them guards for the Emperor, then?” Constans asked after I failed to reply any further.
“Why do you say that?” I asked them, grateful that they kept the conversation going.
“We get them from time to time,” Constans replied. “They look kinda like you. Big and pale. But they have beards down to here”—they gestured halfway down their chest—“and normally have heavy armor and big weapons. And they travel in packs when they come here, afraid we might do something to them.”
I shook my head after they finished speaking. “No, I’m not one of them, although we may share similar traits. I’m not really from around here originally.”
“Hmm,” Constans said, unashamedly looking me up and down, clearly trying to see if I was a liar or not.
I laughed at their frank look. “Honest, I’m not a Varangian.”
“Okay, mister,” they replied, still clearly unconvinced. “If you say so.”
We talked a bit more about the enclave as we waited for Momma Lena to take a break, the two of us watching the people pass by as we chatted. It was refreshing to speak to someone as a person. When I asked, Constans didn’t want to talk about their family, making me think they were an orphan or very protective of whatever family they might have. I also learned that Constans was a girl and claimed to be fourteen years old, which could be true, given the signs of malnourishment. I also learned that the locals called the city Nova Roma, which meant “New Rome” and was one of the original names for the city that became known as Constantinople. Later in the Middle Ages, calling it Nova Roma was a way to lay claim to the heritage of Rome, even though the empire based in Constantinople was quite different from the empire originally ruled by the city’s founder, Constantine.
She tried asking me about where I was from, but I told her I couldn’t go into the details. That very obviously made her more convinced I was a Varangian, despite my protests to the contrary. I was enjoying our conversation, a faint smile on my face as we people-watched together, when I heard a chair scrape behind us.
I turned and saw Momma Lena watching me and Constans where we sat on her floor, making small talk and watching the passersby.
“Well,” Momma Lena said after a moment of staring at the two of us, “this is rather unusual. I recognize most people that come to my shop these days. Who are you and what can I do for you?”
I stood up awkwardly as she stared at me, a closed look on her face.
“Uh,” I said. As I stood, I realized that I now towered over the smaller woman. I flushed slightly, realizing I should have remained seated if I wanted to appear less intimidating. “Right, sorry, my name is Alexander. I’m looking to get some information from you about getting a class. I was told you are the person to talk to.”
Momma Lena looked over at Constans, who was in the process of standing up next to me. “You staying safe and fed, Constans?”
“Doing my best, Momma Lena,” Constans replied, looking down at her feet and avoiding Momma Lena’s penetrating gaze.
“Good girl,” she replied. “Here’s something for your trouble.”
Momma Lena handed Constans what looked like a stick of dried jerky she pulled from a drawer in her desk. Constans took it gratefully and turned toward the street to eat it, giving us the illusion of privacy.
“So what class are you interested in, Alexander?”
“Well, I was thinking maybe the Archer class,” I replied. “Although I confess, I do not know the cost or procedure for buying a class. I may not be able to afford one right now, but if not, I will come back when I can.”
“Hmm,” she said, looking me up and down. “Archer is a fine class, but I don’t see a bow on you. And Archer is one of the most expensive classes I have because it’s in very high demand for protecting the walls of our enclaves. May I ask, what is your current class list? Maybe something else will serve you better.”
I debated declining to answer or lying but decided it wouldn’t hurt to be honest with her. Even though I had just met her, she seemed trustworthy. It was clear she ran a successful business here, and I didn’t sense any deception in her. And if I was more honest with her, she might be able to tell me more than if she didn’t know my situation.
“I do not currently have a class,” I told her after a slight hesitation.
“Really?” she said, a look of surprise coming over her face. I noticed Constans also turning to look back at me as well.
“Is that so surprising?” I asked, feeling my cheeks blush again slightly. I cursed my body for revealing my mental state so easily as I tried to control the heat filling my cheeks.
“Well,” she said, “it wouldn’t be, normally, but from what I gathered listening to you and Constans talk, you aren’t from around here. Maybe not even from the city at all, would you say?”
After a moment, I nodded.
“Well,” she continued, “it is just very surprising that you could survive to get here without at least one class, if not two or more. And most people have leveled them a fair amount before they can travel any real distance during even the day, let alone survive the night like you would have to do to get here. Plus, you wear a scavenger cloak, which not just anyone can wear unless you stole it, but even stealing from a scavenger would likely require a Rogue class at least.”
“I understand,” I said. “I prefer not to discuss where I am from, but I have learned to defend myself without a class. It has let me survive, but my lack of a class is why I have come to you. I’m hoping to fix that situation.”
“Hmm,” she replied, staring me in the eyes as if she could read the truth in them. “Interesting.” After a moment, she turned and reached into a nearby drawer in her desk. “Would you allow me to test you to see what your current physical and magical attributes are? It would help me to figure out what class would be of the most benefit to you. It may be that a cheaper option like Warrior or Scholar would benefit you now by enhancing some of your weak points if you have already learned to survive without a class. You may also consider a non-combat class, which is often cheaper if you can find an apprenticeship. Those would allow you to spend some time leveling in relative safety to gain some attributes that would help you scavenge enough to afford the Archer class. Some people follow that option, starting as an apprentice until they can save up for a combat class.”
I looked at the device in her hand, but it appeared to be nothing more than a bracelet. I wasn’t sure what it would reveal about me, but I was curious about the results myself, so I agreed.
“Great,” Momma Lena said, holding the bracelet out for me to put on. “Wear this and I will assess your current scores and your base potential.”
I slipped the bracelet over my left wrist. As I did, Momma Lena closed her eyes and began to concentrate. I felt the bracelet become warm around my wrist, but after several minutes of silence, nothing else occurred.
“How strange,” she said, her eyes still closed. “I have never seen such an odd combination before.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
“Well,” she said, opening her eyes. “You are truly the oddest thing I have seen in a long time. I can say that for sure.”
Constans had turned around and was watching us as Momma Lena finished concentrating on the bracelet. “What are his scores, Momma Lena?” she asked.
“Hush, child.” Momma Lena closed her eyes, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Alexander,” she said after a moment, opening her eyes and staring into mine. “Are you aware that you have no mana?”
“No mana?” I asked, confused.
She raised an eyebrow at my reaction. “You seem surprised by that. But surely someone would have told you? Or you would have found out before now?”
“I haven’t been evaluated like that before,” I told her, playing with the bracelet, which was still on my wrist, out of nervousness.
“Alexander,” she said seriously. “It isn’t just that which is unusual. Your physical attributes are like a child’s. All of them are a mere one. And yet your underlying base potential is off the charts. You are like an extremely strong child, born into a body too strong for this world. The base physical abilities of your body are the equal of a regular person who has several classes leveled to five or higher. At the same time, your base magical abilities are absolutely zero. Even with an attribute score of one, your actual magical ability is zero, because one times zero is still zero. I have never seen anything like it.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, thoroughly puzzled by what she was describing. I wasn’t surprised by my base physical body being the equivalent of someone with multiple classes, but I didn’t understand what she meant by attribute scores and having no magical potential.
“Well,” Momma Lena said, looking between me and Constans. “This is basic stuff, but I will try to explain, since it seems to be news to you. Will you two sit again? It will be easier to explain.”
I nodded, sitting down in front of her like a schoolboy. Constans joined me, and Momma Lena returned to her seat. She gestured for the bracelet I was wearing as she sat, and I leaned forward, slipping it off my wrist and giving it to her.
“Everyone has mana, Alexander,” she began, putting the bracelet away. “Even little Constans here has a core of mana inside her, and as she continues to grow, it will become bigger and fuller of mana, which, if she ever levels a magical class or magical skills, will be what she uses to power those skills. Everyone’s core of magic is different. Some people are born with more base mana or a higher mana recharge rate, similar to how a person is born with better hand-eye coordination or more muscles. But it’s not that you merely have a small core of mana, which is actually very common for many people without classes. You have no core at all. No mana. No potential to magic, ever.”
My mind spun at what she was saying. Not merely about what she was telling me, but what she revealed about the people of this world. If it was true that everyone here was born with a core of magic inside of them, then it must be some kind of evolution that occurred in this dimension, allowing humans to interact with the energy I had termed “magic” that permeated this universe. It was similar to how humans on my Earth had evolved to be able to breathe a very specific mixture of nitrogen and oxygen because the atmosphere of Earth had those elements in that exact amount. It would make sense that the people of this world had similarly adapted to the energy of this dimension in the same way, evolving a core that allowed them to access the magic of this world.
“So what does that mean for a class for me?” I asked.
“Well,” Momma Lena replied, “it means that you should not waste your time trying to acquire a Mage or Scholar class, because you won’t be able to use any of their skills, and their attribute enhancements will give you no benefit at all. Same with magic-based skills. You will only ever be able to use physical skills. At the same time, with your powerful physical body, any enhancements you get through a physical class will be an extreme improvement for you.”
“Can you explain that more?” I asked, looking down at my body. I knew I was significantly stronger and faster than most people here, but I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant. “How would a physical class give me an extreme improvement?”
“Well,” she said, obviously puzzled that I displayed such ignorance about topics she must have thought were common sense. “Attribute enhancements that you get for leveling a class build off your existing body. So someone that is in good physical shape and then gains a level in Warrior will get +1 to their strength at level 2, but that will actually benefit them more because they are already strong naturally. A +1 to an attribute is approximately a twenty percent increase scaling off your actual body, so that twenty percent becomes a higher actual enhancement if your natural strength is higher than someone that is weak. In the same way, if you got an enhancement to your magic power, it would give you no benefit at all because a twenty percent increase of zero is still zero. You can never enhance your magic.”
“Ah,” I said, understanding now. Since I hadn’t designed this body to have the same evolutionary biology as the humans of this planet, I had absolutely no ability to use magic. That made sense. I immediately started brainstorming ways I could try to fix that flaw, but I put them to the back of my mind for now. That was a problem for later. “So if someone was to work out and exercise, the benefits they gain from the class enhancements are magnified.”
“Exactly,” Mamma Lena said, smiling at me. “That’s why we encourage our children to still exercise and stretch their minds. It might seem useless to engage in strenuous exercise if you can just go get a +1 to your strength and become stronger in a second, but if someone lets their physical body deteriorate, their attributes actually become almost useless.”
“So how strong is his actual body, then, huh?” Constans interjected. “He says he can survive without a class. Is he really that strong?”
“Well,” Momma Lena said, looking to me for permission. I nodded at her to go ahead. “His base attributes are all still one, obviously.” She closed her eyes to recall what her bracelet had told her. “It’s true that he doesn’t appear to have a class, but his body itself has the equivalent strength of a person with a strength of thirteen. He has the coordination of someone with a score of sixteen, with an endurance of about twenty-one. Most surprising of all, he has a memory score of thirty, which is, frankly, absurd. And of course, a magic power and magic capacity of zero.” She opened her eyes, looking at me again. “Of course, that is based on the average person, but that those are your base attributes is so unbelievable I almost don’t trust my own device.”
“A memory of thirty!” Constans said, shocked.
“Yep, thirty,” Momma Lena agreed, shaking her head. “And yet no magic power or magical capacity. While you are clearly a healthy member of the male sex, your body does not appear nearly strong enough to be as strong as this is telling me you are. I would expect someone with your base attributes to be rippling with muscle and be even taller and wider than you already are. I’d almost expect some monster from across the wall, not a human at all, with those scores. Do you know why my readings are saying all this?”
I didn’t answer right away, doing the math to figure out how the attribute system worked with my modified body. Assuming each person would start at a score of one and every additional attribute after that was approximately twenty percent higher than the average human, then every five attribute points was doubling the strength or coordination of the average human. If my body had a base strength of thirteen, according to Momma Lena’s system, that meant that my body was about three times stronger than a base human’s. That seemed accurate to me.
My coordination was higher because I had extremely fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination. And my endurance was even higher because my body was very resistant to damage, including my modified organs, which somehow her bracelet must be able to work into their calculations. And I could self-repair, although I wasn’t sure that was factored in. My high memory score was accurate, maybe even underestimated, given my perfect memory and the biomechanical brain I had downloaded myself into.
When I considered everything, it seemed to be a surprisingly accurate representation of how enhanced my body was compared to a normal human’s. Whatever magic the bracelet contained, it was good at what it did.
The most interesting information was the way that the attribute enhancements from leveling a class scaled off of my actual body. The quicker that I got a class, the better, because a percentage-based increase that scaled off my body would be very powerful for me.
Every point I gained would actually give me a significantly greater boost because my body was multiplying an already more enhanced body. It was a system designed to reward a standard human who didn’t just rely on their class but instead kept themselves in top physical condition. If their actual body was strong or fast, the resulting attribute bonuses from a class would be significantly increased. It just so happened that I had built myself a body so physically enhanced that I could benefit significantly more from the system than anyone else; my body would also be stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human’s. Of course, the downside was that I would never have access to mana.
“Thank you for that information,” I said, avoiding her question for now. “How does that change your recommendations for classes for me?”
“Hmm,” she replied, clearly wanting more answers but not willing to push me at this time. “You need to have a class that grants you physical enhancements as it levels, of course, but more importantly, you want to make sure the class will have skills that are physical skills and not magical skills so that you can use them. You see, some skills require mana, while others only require your physical body. You don’t have access to mana, so if you chose a skill that required mana, it would be useless for you.
“Warrior has all physical skills and physical enhancements, so you would be able to use every skill in that class. Archer is a hybrid class, so some of the skills will be physical and some will be magical. Your options will be more limited with that class. Rogue is primarily physical, with some magic at higher levels. And as I said, Mage and Scholar should be avoided for you.”
“That is very helpful,” I said. “Thank you again. I think I would still like to select Archer.” After everything I had learned, the Archer class was still the best choice for me, I knew, since I was primarily using ranged attacks for now. “Can you let me know how much that would cost? If it’s too much, I will come back and get it as soon as I can.”
Momma Lena wheeled around in her chair and pulled out a ledger from her desk. “Well,” she said, reviewing the ledger, “I have orders for seven Archer books right now. So you would need to wait until I had an opening to fit you in. I have a few Mage books on order right now as well, and a couple of Warrior books, too. So either way, your wait time is about two to three weeks right now. On top of that, an Archer class runs you two hundred blues, or twenty gold orbs, right now. I don’t take silver, only orbs.”
“Two hundred?” I said in surprise.
“Yep,” she said, not looking up from her ledger. “Like I said, that is one of the most desirable classes right now. An Archer can stand on the walls to defend their enclave and doesn’t require a high magic score like a Mage or Scholar does.”
“Wow,” I said. “I guess I just haven’t got a sense of the economy here. I thought blue orbs were rare.”
“Oh, they are. They are extremely rare. But I get orders from the army, from Sycae, and even from the Emperor these days. There are others like me in each enclave, but we are rare and there is always demand for new classes. We are kept very busy trying to help people stay alive.”
I had hunted daytime monsters for a week and collected only sixteen blue orbs, minus the ones I used to make bullets. If the wait was a couple of weeks, at the rate I was going, I would only have around a quarter of the orbs I needed.
“Is there another way to learn a class?” I asked.
“Well, if you are rich or lucky enough,” Momma Lena said, “you can learn an evolved class from someone that has one, but those are extremely rare. Rarer still is someone will to teach it to you, although the process is fairly easy if they are willing. These days, people hoard their evolved classes like they can take them with them to the afterlife though, so good luck finding someone to teach you one.”
“But I can't learn a basic class that way?”
“Unfortunately, not,” Momma Lena said, “you can only learn them from a class book or unlock them yourself, which only happens if you are extremely lucky and spend months or years training and fighting in a specific way. It used to happen more, but since the world is so dangerous now people that try to learn a class that way end up dead before they get one.”
I thought carefully over what she was saying, deciding that I did want to buy a class from her once I could afford one.
“Can I ask you another question?” I said.
“Of course,” Momma Lena replied, turning to me with a smile. “I’m here to help.”
“I’m familiar with the blue orbs,” I told her, “but how does one get the gold orbs?”
“Gold orbs are from more powerful monsters,” she told me. “Blue orbs are from sub-bosses. Gold orbs are from bosses, which typically hide in dungeons or come out at night. You can also get orbs of various colors from completing a dungeon, but nobody but the army has managed that in years, and even they are taking a risk clearing them.
“There are also purple orbs, which are from elite bosses. I haven’t seen one of those in twenty years. And then finally there are platinum orbs, which are from war bosses. We, thankfully, haven’t faced a war boss since the fall of our city.
“My suggestion,” she continued, “is that without a class, even with your physical attributes, you should avoid any golden bosses you see. And if you see a purple elite boss, run the other way. If you ever see a platinum boss, you tell everyone immediately because we will need to start evacuating what is left of our city. You understand?”
I nodded. “Thank you for all that information. Can you put me down for one Archer class? I will be back with the orbs when it’s ready.”
“Sure,” she said, writing something on her ledger. “That will be two hundred blue orbs or twenty gold orbs, or some mix of the two. Say three weeks, to be safe. Payment on delivery. If you don’t return, I will wait two weeks and then sell it to the next person on my list. Deal?”
We shook on the deal.
“Deal,” I said.
I would need to work hard, but I was confident I could make it happen.
