Heavy (The Weight Of It All): A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

by J. J. Thorn

"Thank you so much, Zane! I promise I wasn't trying to be rude. Please forget I ever asked, I honestly didn't know!"

  "Don't worry about it, Terrence. I consider us friends now, and I'll try to help you when I can."

  "Friends? What, why?! I feel like I've only said rude things to you since we started talking."

  Friends?! Did I make a friend already?

  "Who better to have as a friend than someone who knows nothing about my family and is willing to talk to me as an equal? As I said, I'm a people person, and I can tell you and I will be great friends."

  Damnit, there's that smile again. Honestly though, why wouldn't I be his friend? He seems like a happy guy and I'd love to get some of his confidence.

  "Yes, I agree. Friends it is."

  "Great news! Well as your friend, I'll give you one more piece of knowledge. Everyone here is Rank 1 since we only got our affinity a month ago. Each affinity is different, of course, but your percentage early on is supposed to be an indication of your talent for the future. Some affinities are harder to raise because of their non-tangible nature, like elemental affinities, while others are easier to progress to the second rank like tool-based affinities that are usually dependent on how much you use your Skill or affinity. Something like a SWORD affinity falls into this category, and in fact, most affinities follow a similar model. Generally, the person's affinity continues to increase as they make use of their tool. As they use it more and more, they eventually reach the next Rank."

  "That seems really repetitive, but I can understand a lot of that based on my own experience..."

  "That's not the knowledge I wanted to give you. That's basically general knowledge that everyone knows."

  'Everyone' is a pretty broad statement because I had to figure a lot of that out on my own. I've really got to keep this kid around, he's like a walking fountain of knowledge.

  "The interesting knowledge is this: most kids at our point won't have their percentage past 30% by now, and even that is relatively high. For some nobles, whose parents can afford good tutors or have specific ways to increase your affinity early on, it could reach 50%, maybe 60%. Even then, you're getting into the territory of people extraordinary. Geniuses and talented people."

  Geniuses? Talented?!

  What is he saying?!

  Is this meant to be some joke at my expense?

  This makes no sense at all!

  Current Progress.

  Affinity : Weight

  Rank 1 – View Weight – 68%

  What the f...?!

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  While the children spoke in the back of the wagon, Adam, Graham and a sleeping Claire slept in the front.

  They had been riding for 5 hours, and there had yet to be any issues. Adam had seen a couple of monsters in the thick of the forest, but nothing that would cause any issues. Most beasts this close to the road knew to stay clear. It was only if you delved much deeper into the forest that you would encounter strong monsters.

  Adam activated his Skill 'Keen Eye' as he started to look into the forest for another moment.

  His primary role on this mission was to keep a watch of the surroundings and report any abnormalities.

  So far, he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

  His Keen Eye's main focus was to enhance his vision. For an archer, this meant being able to see what he was aiming at, which was invaluable. Over the years, Adam had learned to extend this even further. His abilities had increased in a way that he was now able to see very small changes and details that others with the same skill might miss.

  Adam had taken this mission because he was once one of the kids in the wagon. The extra money it provided didn't hurt either.

  He hadn't been lying, this trip was usually a breeze.

  While scanning the forest for the thousandth time, he noticed a slight abnormality in some of the foliage a few yards ahead.

  He could see some tracks in the grass that weren't from monsters or regular animals. Instead, they looked to be footprints - several of them.

  The path was heavily traveled, but most people wouldn't leave the relative safety of the path - especially 5 hours away from the nearest town or settlement.

  Adam's instincts were on high alert as he started to shake Claire to wake up.

  "Sorry Professor, I think you should be awake for the next little bit."

  Claire, a Tenured Professor at Prep School and teacher of General Magical Studies, stirred as her student continued to rouse her awake.

  "Professor, please wake up, we might have an issue."

  "Ok, I'm up, calm yourself, Adam. Did you see a monster you couldn't handle yourself? I would think everything would be well within your capabilities. Have you been neglecting your practice now that you've left my classroom and are now taking bounties instead?"

  "Do I need to stop the wagon?! You all said my horses wouldn't be affected, that's the only reason I agreed to go first!" Graham became agitated as his worries became known.

  "Oh shush, Graham. You and your horses will be fine. I swear you care more about the horses than even the rest of your family."

  "Damn right I do, they're the reason I can make a living. My family is a bunch of lazy slobs. Betty and the rest of the gals bring me life." Graham thought very highly of his horses, Betty and the rest.

  "Yes, well continue to drive while Adam explains what he saw."

  "Well Professor, I was looking ahead and I noticed some abnormal tracks along the sides of the path. It looks like someone drove their wagon out here, but then stopped and pulled it into the forest. It could be nothing, but the tracks look fairly new."

  "Hmmm, ok, well keep an eye out for something."

  As they got closer to the tracks, the road started to bend and Adam started to see even more abnormalities.

  Adam could now see a band of men waiting to the side of the road in the distance. Most of them had weapons on their side, with dirt all over their bodies and ripped clothing.

  The bandits started to get ready as they waited in their bushes.

  "Ahead and to the right, Professor. 5 men, at least 3 swordsmen, one man who looks to be their leader. At least one Affinity user."

  "Thank you, Adam, very concise. Graham, continue forward but slow down slightly, please. This should not take long."

  The wagon started to slow slightly. The suddenness of it startled some of the students in the back who were now trying to look ahead and see what was happening.

  Professor Claire stood up on her seat as she started to address the men in the woods. She was not a subtle person.

  "Come out assholes, we can see you so there's no point hiding anymore!" She yelled to the forest!

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "Come out assholes, we can see you so there's no point hiding anymore!"

  A woman's voice, Claire's, pierced the night sky. Apparently, the sleeping woman at the front had woken up and was now yelling at... someone?

  A few moments ago, we had all felt the wagon start to slow down.

  The last 5 hours had been relatively peaceful as the rest of us in the back chatted, slept, or looked at the beauty of the forest.

  Some of us stood up to see what was happening but couldn’t see anything at all.

  The two things happening at once couldn't be a coincidence, and I wanted to find out.

  I decided to try augmenting my eyesight using some of my internal energy.

  At first, I couldn't see anything, but as we continued to move forward, I could eventually see some humans that were standing in the middle of the road. They weren't initially clear to see, but after a few minutes, I could see them much better. By that point, several others in the wagon could see them as well and were beginning to look worried.

  "There you are! Finally decided to come out of the bushes!" Claire yelled again.

  "Is there any reason you wanted to ambush a bunch of kid
s? Tired of robbing the rich so you decided that kids were your new thing?"

  The man at the front looked agitated at Claire's words and started to respond back.

  "Shut your mouth wench! I've been told some of the youngins coming through today are the sons of rich folk. You're better off shuttin' your mouth and handin' em over."

  "Sorry asshole, don't think I'll be doing that today. Instead, how about you and your friends go get your wagon, and we'll follow you back to Krader, where we can discuss this with the Headmaster at Prep. I bet they'd love to know you tried to hurt some of their incoming students."

  "I won't tell ya again ya short wench. I'm Rank 3 and there's only 2 of ya that look like they can fight."

  Claire continued to seem very calm through the whole conversation. Adam was pointing an arrow directly at the group of men, but he was young and probably couldn't take them all by himself.

  I looked around at the rest of the students. If we needed to get involved, we would outnumber them. As I scanned the rest of their faces, everyone seemed nervous and on edge - the worry obvious on their faces. Everyone except Zane.

  "Zane, aren't you worried? He said he was Rank 3!"

  "Remember what I told you all before about names, Terrence?"

  "What does that have to do with right now?"

  "Everything, really. You asked me why I'm not worried and that's because I know Claire's full name. Do you want to know what it is?"

  "How is her name going to help us?"

  "Terrence, it's like we talked about. You really do need to start relying on your Skill a bit more. Her name is Claire Valk, but to those who know of her, she is better known as 'White Lightning'. She is one of the strongest professors at Prep right now. Rumour has it she reached Rank 5 a decade ago. Just watch.”

  Claire indicated for Graham to stop and leapt down onto the ground a few meters in front of the bandits.

  Claire could be described as nothing other than old. She stood up straight, but her body was wrinkled, and her hair was stark white.

  "Adam, don't help," Claire yelled back at Adam on the wagon.

  "Don't try any tricks wench, I can do the same thing and you know it! Jumping down from a wagon is nothing to be proud of, even for an old wench like you."

  "I provide you this last and final offer. Come with us as our captives or die." Claire offered firmly.

  "You're the dead one wench!"

  The lead bandit's hands stretched out in front of him as a dark spot began to appear in front of him. After a few seconds, a dark form began to appear. The form looked similar to a wolf, but it had a very little neck and extremely long legs.

  "A projection Skill that allows you to create monsters, that can be very powerful. I'm sorry to see your abilities go to waste." Claire responded to the man's Skill. The wolf started to leap towards Claire as the rest of the bandits ran towards her as well.

  Claire raised her hand into the air and made a fist. After a second of silence, she slammed her fist down towards the group of men.

  At that moment, a bolt of pure white lightning hit the wolf that was closest to reaching her. The wolf vanished completely from my eyes as spots appeared in my vision. It was hard to see after the blinding light.

  I started to add more internal energy to my eyes as I tried to speed up their healing. It didn’t work, but my eyes didn’t take long to regain their sight. When I looked again, Claire started to move her fingers in different directions. As she did so, the lightning followed her directions and each man was speared through their chest with the lightning. The leader was last, but he too fell within moments.

  After killing the bandit leader, the lightning disappeared instantly.

  From the moment the lightning came down to the moment they were all killed, a minute at most had passed.

  I found myself holding my breath throughout the whole ordeal.

  I continued to hold it as Claire turned around and leaped back onto the wagon.

  "Are there any more Adam?"

  "No professor, they've all been killed. I don't see anyone else nearby and no indication of anyone else."

  "Ok, please go find their wagon so that we might cart it behind us. We don't want to leave their bodies on the ground to attract other predators."

  Adam jumped down from the wagon and came back shortly with a much smaller wagon in tow.

  This wagon had only one horse and would have held far fewer people. I guess this is the wagon they used to get here for the ambush.

  Adam, and Graham with some prodding, spent the next few minutes loading the dead men into the back of the wagon.

  Throughout all of this, we all sat silently in the back of the wagon. I couldn't stop thinking about the dead bodies littered along the ground and how easy she had been able to kill them. I had never seen a dead body before, and the thought made me sick. I likely wasn't alone because a couple of kids had jumped out of the wagon to throw up as well. We all jumped back into the wagon and we started on our way down the path yet again.

  Adam took the lead with Claire on the smaller wagon as Graham drove us behind them.

  In the wagon ahead of us, on bumpy parts of the ride, I could occasionally see the movement of a limb or torso. They had found nothing to cover them, using everything they could to wrap the gaping holes in their bodies as best as they could. Despite their best efforts, I would occasionally see their lifeless eyes looking back at all of us in the second wagon.

  I spent a lot of time considering those eyes and what it meant in the second half of our trip. We had been forced to slow down because of the second wagon but were still making very good time.

  My mind would constantly go back to the leader's eyes, dull, listless, dead.

  Chapter 12

  Expectations

  “Good Evening Students! My name is Erik Braun and I am the current headmaster at Krader’s Prep School. I am the 65th Headmaster to ever hold this mantle and I have done so for 20 years. I do not tell you this to boast. I tell you this because I want you to know you are in capable hands. Krader’s Prep School is one of the oldest in Terna, with a history dating back to the Goddess’ arrival on our great continent.

  Prep Schools, or what some of you might refer to as Prep, are used as a tool to help young newly baptized adults about your eventual powers and gifts. I call it a baptism because to many, including myself, this is where your life starts anew. You have been reborn with talents you did not have before, but with those talents, you are also gaining a level of responsibility unlike any other. You are expected to use this responsibility with humility and respect. Not just while you are within my grounds, but as you venture forth.

  Before I delve too deeply into the topic, let me make myself clear. This is not a school to prepare you for killing or war. Nor is this a school to prepare you for Dungeon diving specifically. Most of you have come here with the expectation that we will teach you to be a better killer. That is not my role, nor is it the role of this school.

  I am the 65th Headmaster, and this school has been around for a thousand years because we offer you a chance to choose. Some of you will choose to take the path of a Dungeoneer, venturing into the unknown in the search of treasure and orbs. This path is your right, and we will help you in that pursuit. Every student will have the opportunity to take classes that further this goal, whether that be monster ethology or fitness classes.

  Beyond that, you will have the opportunity to use your skills AND Skills in classes that hold as great of importance as Dungeon diving itself. Craft skills including blacksmithing, leatherworking, alchemy, and tailoring will all be available. Strategy, economics, enchanting, engineering. These are all classes we aim to provide you as part of your desired paths. The Goddess has provided you with a gift! Do not believe that gift is directed to one focus only. If you take away nothing from this speech, take this with you. You are not your affinity. Your affinity is a tool to be used in your life, however you may choose to do so. Be unique, strive to better our world, and help u
s succeed as a society for another thousand years.

  Your enrollment in Prep is mandatory for at least a year. In that year, you will receive introductions to many of the classes I mentioned today. After your year, most of you will choose to leave but know that you are welcome to remain with us on your desired path thereafter.

  Classes will not take attendance, but please know that we are keeping track of who attends class. You may choose how much you participate, but if we find that you are constantly missing class, you will receive the reciprocating punishment. Do not let this opportunity at Prep go to waste.

  The last announcement I will make will be in regards to the end-of-year tournament. This tournament is conducted every year and is completely voluntary. There are over a thousand students in this year’s class, of which only 32 will make it into the tournament. More details will become apparent at the start of the next semester, but until then, please work hard. We only allow the best to participate, and only 1 will go on to win.

  Once again, I welcome you to Krader’s Prep School. I hope you find success in whatever you do."

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The last day had been a whirlwind of activity. We arrived in Krader later in the evening, without any additional disturbances. By the time we arrived, the wagon after us was close on our heels and arrived shortly afterwards.

  On arrival, it was fairly late in the evening and we were all tired from the day's travel. We spent no time taking a look at Krader and were taken directly to the dormitories on campus.

  Dorms were split up between male and female, with 2 to each room. On arrival, Zane and I decided to stick together and bunk in the same room.

  We had continued talking for a majority of the trip, along with a couple of others who were nearby on the wagon. His knowledge really was amazing. He went on to explain how he had received special tutoring his whole life. That tutoring had provided him with knowledge people like me didn't learn in regular school.

  We had also found out that Amanda, the girl who brought out Zane's secret, was the one who had startled Graham's horses. Apparently, she had an ANIMAL affinity, and she was attempting to use her own Skill on the horses.