by Kaden Reed
“How many Khanri does it take to come up with the obvious solution?” he paused like he was waiting for my response. After realizing I wouldn’t play into his game he continued in a somewhat superior tone, “five. Based on empirical data.”
“Has he said anything yet,” Marty interjected eagerly.
Frowning I said, “nothing I would call important.”
“You aren’t any fun,” sighing Akashi continued, “okay kiddo, a Harbinger is a mix of the Arcane, Guardian and Berserker classes. As you might imagine, you are a melee fighter.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an Arcane before, but the rest are common enough. How about you actually give me some information that I can pass around?” I rolled my eyes in exasperation.
“I was getting to it. You are effectively immortal now, so quit being so damn pushy,” I could almost feel him trying to placate me, “to answer your unasked question, an Arcane specializes in the manipulation of mana. With the mixed classes you should excel at getting in close with an opponent and sometimes getting out too,” I felt a mental shrug, “but we will see if you are capable at excelling at anything. Anyways, back to the good stuff, despite what many so-called Khanri scholars think, when I combine the classes it isn’t an even balance between them. Like Marty’s class, Thaumaturge for instance. Instead of the Mesmer and Mender portions being equal, it is actually more like seventy percent Mender with the remaining Mesmer.”
I relayed the information to Thorn and everyone else.
“Of course! That answers so many questions I have pondered for years,” Thorn got to her feet and started pacing around the room thinking to herself out loud, “why couldn’t every class combination that includes Shade disappear in the shadows? It has to be the ratio. The stronger you are of one class probably means the more of the class specific abilities you get.”
“Got it in one. Damn, I wish I could change someone’s class after they have one,” I felt like he was trying to nudge me mentally, “she is a lot smarter than you.”
I refused to get defensive over someone that had four centuries of experience over me figuring something out that I didn’t even know was a question, “just give us the details.”
“Hey, do you know what it is like to live with a group of people for this long and rarely being able to say a word to them which they actually understood?” Akashi sounded a little hurt, “you have no idea how great this feels, to have a real conversation.”
Talking to Akashi was like having a conversation in multiple dimensions at the same time. I could hear the words that provided the details but then under it was a torrent of sensations. I felt the frustration and agony that he must have went through over the years, “hey, it’s okay man. I’m-”
“Having to rely on the intelligence of mortals is so frustrating. You all are dumb. And I mean, really, really dumb.” I opened and closed my mouth several times, stunned by the abrupt change in the direction I thought the conversation was going, “I’m talking epically dumb. You know how many times what I was saying was even heard? Almost never. And don’t even get me started on the few times someone did hear me.” He paused and hummed to himself under his breath like he was deep in thought before continuing in a tone like he was trying to describe something to an unruly child, “the variations on what was understood were astounding. It was like rolling a million-sided die with all of the possible interpretations and whatever it landed on, that’s what you all would do.” He sighed, “eventually I realized that it didn’t matter what I said. You mortals would hear something and puzzle over the ‘deeper meaning’ for ages. Then inevitably get it wrong.”
********
I was suddenly bombarded with a vision of a dwarf I didn’t recognize running out of a restroom with his pants still around his ankles yelling, “I heard Akashi! He spoke to me!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just a fart?” The woman sitting at a table reading a book didn’t even look up at the shouting dwarf, “you have been in there a while.”
He slowed to stop in the middle of the room with a confused expression on his face, “umm…”
She glanced up, “pull up your damn pants.”
********
The vision changed to a couple of humans huddled in conversation, “I’m pretty sure Akashi didn’t mean that we need to kill our entire Fist,”
His friend was frowning in thought, “well what I heard sounded like amputation. I don’t know what else that could mean.”
The first guy sighed and then nodded, “I guess Akashi must have his reasons. At least they are sleeping, so it will be over quickly and if we do it right, they won’t realize it was us,” he rested his head in his hands for a moment, “let’s just get this over with,” he started to get up and walk towards a closed door before his friend grabbed his arm.
“It would have to be the entire Fist,” he waited for any sign of understanding on the other’s face before slowly continuing, “that means us too.”
“Well shit Eli,” he ran his hand through his hair, “fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
********
My mind reeled when the familiar surroundings of Thorn’s apartment returned to me, “you see what I mean now?”
“Okay, let’s establish a rule, you never do that to me again without warning me first,” rubbing my bleary eyes, “and was that actually Eli?”
“Oh, I have a lot of stories about Eli,” Akashi sounded like he was very fond of the subject, “I suppose I’m not supposed to have favorites, but Eli is definitely one of my favorite Khanri that has graced me with their service over the centuries.”
“What about Eli?” Thorn interjected questioningly.
“Akashi just showed me a couple of visions. One had Eli. Him and his friend were about to murder his entire Fist.”
Oh, yeah,” Thorn smiled at the memory, “that was a long time ago.” She shook herself, “so what did you find about your class?”
Sighing, “nothing beyond its melee.”
“That’s it?” Thorn sounded disappointed.
“Hey in my defense, it’s not like you understand any of it anyways.”
“Akashi keeps on getting distracted.”
“This is going to be a very long eternity with only the ‘fun police’ to talk too.”
I rubbed my forehead, “focus Akashi, I need to know about my class.”
“Fine,” I’m not sure how, but he managed to give me the clear impression that he was rolling his eyes at me, “the blend of your three classes allows you to interact with your own mana in a limited capacity. In addition, you can see another’s mana which should make it very difficult for any mana-construct, like Khanri or Dungeon monsters, from being able to be invisible to you since they are all made of mana.”
So, I get to see people’s mana. Although not being able to be ambushed will be nice, it still sounded kind of lame. I grew up watching Khanri fight in the arena and any time I fantasized about being a Khanri I always pictured myself with epic combat skills, “that’s cool and everything, but what about fighting abilities?”
“I literally just told you what really makes your class stand-out from the rest, the only class that has ever been able to do anything directly with mana, and you discard it like a flippant child,” he declared in disbelief, “yeah okay, fine. You get to punch things and it hurts stuff. Happy?”
Chastened, I said contritely, “sorry. You are right, keep going.”
Sounding somewhat mollified, “your ability to affect foreign mana will always be limited. However, as you grow in power your ability to manipulate your own mana will grow with you. You will be able to augment your own attacks with mana directly and can even use mana directly as a weapon the same way someone uses a sword. You see, every other class has to consume or expend mana it to cast a spell or use an ability, you can mold and shape it how you will. Or at least that is what you will be able to do in a few centuries. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk.”
“I think yo
u meant walk before you can run.”
Akashi burst out laughing, “you think you can walk. Kiddo, you are flopping around like a fish on a boat right now. Hoping that somehow your uncontrolled spasms will get you back into the water. The only progress you make is by accident.”
Frowning, I was about to retort when Thorn came to my rescue by distracting me.
“What is he saying?” Even though it was a one-sided conversation from her point of view, Thorn sounded undeniably eager.
I reiterated all the information Akashi gave me, minus the insults.
“Now that is interesting,” she continued, “I have never seen an Arcane class and here it sounds like the class is probably your primary. She paused in thought before continuing, “the Berserker should give you melee combat expertise, but I don’t know how the Guardian class fits into that mix. Although Guardians are melee classes out of necessity, they specialize in runes, which doesn’t provide me with a clear understanding with how that fits into the framework Akashi intends for your class.”
“Oh right, I forgot about that,” Akashi paused briefly, “would you rather be able to move faster, hit harder or be more durable?”
“Huh?” I was very confused by the change in topic.
“I think my question speaks for itself,” Akashi sighed, “if you need an explanation for what those mean, then I definitely chose the wrong person.”
“I know what they mean!” I declared indignantly, “I just don’t know why you are asking me that.”
“Choose.”
The fact that he used durable, instead of something more appropriate for a flesh and blood person, gave me the impression that Akashi thinks of us as only semi-intelligent weapons. Although it probably wasn’t safe to assume anything with Akashi, but I took the question to mean be more agile, strong or more resistant to damage. I could see benefits in all of those things.
Strength is pretty obvious. As a fighter, being able to hit something harder with each blow would make each attack that much more effective. And if I was honest, I’ve been dreaming about being the strongest man alive since I was a kid. This choice definitely had some appeal to me.
On the other hand, as someone that has experienced death twice in the last day, being able to not die as often sounded amazing. I don’t ever want to experience that nightmare again. The momentary panic that came over me when Shino’s eyes flashed into my mind almost had me blurting out my choice right then. But when I calmed down and thought about it for a minute, it dawned on me that if Akashi thinks of us as weapons, what would being more durable look like? I barely knew the guy, but I could see him encasing me in scales or turning my skin to stone or bark - yeah, no. As much as I hate dying, I just don’t trust Akashi enough with this one.
With more agility, I would be able to avoid attacks and probably be able to get in a few more of my own. It seemed to be a balance of offense and defense. I don’t really understand what the mana manipulation portion of my class is about, but Akashi did say I get to punch things. Although he was being touchy when he brought that up, so who really knows if he actually meant that literally.
It also sounded like it was just a general increase in ability too, so I’m sure I could find several different applications for all three choices. I ran my hands through my hair as I deliberated over the possibilities. I wish I had some reference before I was asked to make a choice like this. I sighed, “I suppose I would choose more agility.”
“Fair choice. It is probably the best of the three for your class,” he sounded speculatively optimistic.
I waited for something to happen, “okay, so what now? How does this work?”
“You know how Guardians use runes on their equipment and it gives them extra tools and abilities right?” he continued after I nodded, “you will have runes melded directly into your body. They will be more general when compared to the specialized utility runes Guardians use, but they will always be active.”
Confused at his words, I blinked several times before I could bring myself to tell the group that was eagerly looking at me, what Akashi said.
“That is awesome man!” Marty reached over and slapped me on my back.
“Quite an impressive ability,” Thorn added and Jax even nodded speculatively at her words.
“I’m not really sure what it means though,” I was uncomfortable with the enthusiasm I was faced with, “how powerful can they actually be?”
“Who cares?” Marty interrupted Thorn as she was about to answer me, “that is so cool. Just think, if the runes augment your baseline body then the more you get, the stronger you will be. You will always have an edge over your similarly experienced enemies. And if you are able to have multiple runes, at the same time - wow. Talk about a force multiplier.”
“Hmmm…maybe I should have chosen the gnome,” Akashi sounded amused, “he seems to be smarter than you.”
Alright, I had to admit the way Marty put it sounded pretty cool, “how often will I get new runes?”
“It depends on how effective you are in killing the invaders,” Akashi replied matter-of-factly, “the majority of the power of every invader that is killed is absorbed by the Dungeon it originated from. I keep most of the remaining power for myself and a small amount is siphoned off to the create the chargestones. I also give a portion to the Khanri that killed it and any that assisted. That way they are able to grow along with me. I’ll tell you now that it will take you a while to accumulate enough for me to award you with another rune. To directly augment someone like this takes a huge investment. So, in short, you better be the employee of the month at my murder factory for a long time.”
Now that I had a goal, I smiled eagerly at all of the possibilities. I casually wondered if I would always get a choice of what runes I would get, “I suppose I should probably get started on that. Which way to the factory floor?”
Laughing Akashi said, “first you should go with Jax and learn how to kill something, unless you want to die repetitively, trying to figure it out.”
“Good point,” I thought about something then, “is there a way for me to tell how far I have to go to get to the next power rank?”
Akashi was silent for a long moment as he pondered my question. I was starting to wonder if he even heard me at all when he finally responded, “no, I’ve never considered giving anyone some sort of ability to gauge their progress to the next rank, but I think it might be a good idea. It will give them a tangible goal to get stronger, they may even fight harder if they saw reliable progress to their next rank. I’ve decided that I am going to do a test run with you. When I upgrade you, I will give you the ability to check on your own progress.”
I smiled at having made a suggestion to Akashi that might be beneficial. I looked to Jax and Thorn and reiterated the information that Akashi gave me about how to get stronger and the suggested changes.
“An ability that lets us see when we will get our next rank,” Thorn was nodding, “now that sounds like could be a great idea.” She clapped her hands abruptly which woke Glazmir from his nap on her couch, “okay, Jax I don’t think I have much more to add. Keep me informed on any new developments and tell me about any information Akashi shares with you. This is all truly fascinating.”
Jax nodded at her words, “alright Kits, playtime is over. Get up and let’s get to the training grounds.”
At Jax’s words, Glazmir jumped to his feet and was the first to the door. Staring at it in confusion he called to the group, “so how do these doors work?”
“Just touch them and will it to open,” after Glaz did so and the door opened, she continued, “and do the same for it to close or lock.”
Nodding at Thorn, I started to join Jax in following Glazmir out into the hallway.
“Not so fast,” Akashi sounded eager, “you are forgetting an important bit.”
I stopped just inside the door and looked around in confusion, ‘what am I forgetting?”
Somehow sounding even more eager, “the part about the r
une being applied to your body.”
Apprehensive at his tone, “okay, so what do I have to do?”
“Not a thing. Just hold on a minute,” Akashi hummed to himself while I was waiting, “are you ready?”
“Is this going to hurt?” I asked, afraid of his answer.
“Is this going to hurt he says,” Akashi laughed, “counting down from three…” he paused while I braced myself against the wall, “two…oh and to answer your question, it’s going to be excruciating…”
“Wait, wha-,” I frantically called.
“One.”
I screamed in agony as the changes overcame me. It felt like every nerve in my body suddenly caught fire and were being slowly flayed alive. After what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly stopped like someone had turned off a faucet, leaving me panting in a huddle on the ground.
Looking up I saw Marty and Thorn next to me, looking at me with concerned expressions. I signaled to them I was okay and in a gravelly voice that sounded like it hadn’t had a drink in years, “Akashi just gave me my first rune and the ability to gauge my progress.”
Marty winced, “hey Akashi, leave me out of this. I want nothing to do with the ability to see my progress. I am perfectly fine never knowing.”
“I don’t blame you,” I grabbed my friend’s offered hand and got back on my feet, “I wouldn’t have made a choice if I knew I was going to be set on fire.”
“Oh, quit whining. It wasn’t that bad,” Akashi interjected, “it was over and done within a couple of minutes.”
I wondered at what other surprises my new life had in store for me. Then seeing as how every surprise that I have had recently has brought a measure of pain that exceeded all expectations, I promptly wished them on my worst enemy.
“Search in your core to be able to measure your progress,” Akashi instructed, “since you can see and manipulate mana, I integrated it directly with your core. If this works well, I will have to figure out how I can push it out to all of the classes.”
I found my core and quickly saw what changes he had made. It somehow felt like it had a little more structure and a little bar flashed into my awareness. It was currently empty, but at the bottom of the bar was a blinking F1 and the top was F2.
