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

by J. J. Thorn

  The only sentient monster I knew about were dragons, and I didn't want to pick something so basic.

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  After another 2 hours of searching for a sentient monster, I finally gave up. I went back to the librarian and asked for some suggestions.

  At this point, I wasn't even that picky, but I now had to read through the full description of every monster to gain an idea of their sentience.

  And several times, I'd thought they were sentient, but the librarian had corrected me.

  In fact, there was no specific way to find out if a monster was sentient.

  This made the process VERY difficult.

  I would need to ask the Professor next class because I couldn't think of why they would leave out such a useful piece of information.

  "Hi again, I'm sorry to come ask you, but do you have any suggestions for sentient monsters. I've read several hundred monster descriptions, but can't tell which ones are sentient." I asked the librarian.

  "Ya, the encyclopedia doesn't do a good job of specifying that. Go to 'S' in non-fiction and look for books that start with 'Sentient'."

  I could die right now.

  I had been so engulfed in the Guide that I never even thought to check other books FIRST.

  I thanked her as I made my way to the described location.

  After some searching, I found a book that just had the title 'Sentience'.

  I grabbed it and returned to my table.

  The book started with a preamble talking about the idea of sentience, but I just skipped over it.

  I had been in the library for at least 4 hours and was ready to choose any monster.

  The book eventually started talking quite a bit about a monster called an Azara. As soon as I found the name, I went to look in the Guide to see how I might have missed it.

  The monster was listed, and in fact, had a lot of information, but nowhere did it mention sentience. I'd skipped past it earlier because there was no indication that they had a civilization anywhere. The monster was a lizard based creature that could walk on both 2 legs and 4, but only the 4 legged variety was shown in the Guide. It was listed with several potential ranks, from F to B. The book went on to describe their features and some known locations.

  Before going back to the librarian, I decided to look for any books that started with 'Azara'. I was thrilled to find several. Apparently, the Azara's had participated in many wars, but I didn't spend too much time looking into the different conflicts. Their defining feature was their ability to use tattoos to enhance themselves and others. This made them fearsome and resilient warriors. Based on a book I was currently reading, some believed that their tattoo abilities were based on an affinity of their own!

  I'd grabbed a couple books and they were incredibly detailed in their descriptions. Several battles had been fought against the Azara's, but they were scattered across the continent now, usually staying close to bodies of water.

  Throughout all of this, the Guide still mentioned nothing about their sentience.

  Either way, I was happy to find my three monsters: The Aphris, Dewdrops, and Azara's.

  I decided to put back one of the 'Dungeon' books, keeping 'Dungeon Explorer' only, and the book on 'Sentience'.

  I also put back the monster guide for now. It had been fascinating going through the different monsters, but I was glad to be done for now.

  I was left with my Dungeon book and an additional book on each of my chosen monsters.

  I knew I still needed to prepare a bit further for each, but I was incredibly hungry at this point and needed to rest my brain.

  The librarian documented each of the books I was taking but warned me to be especially wary. Her warnings had been amplified for the Dungeon Explorer book, based on its age and current wear.

  After reassuring her that I would be careful, I left the library and headed back towards the dorms. I didn't want to be walking around with such valuable, and heavy, books.

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  After dropping off the books, I went to the Dining hall to grab some much-needed food.

  The room was more full than this morning, but I was pleased to see that both Trevor and Noah were seated at a table already.

  I grabbed my food and joined them. They currently sat down with another boy. The boy had black hair, slightly tan skin, and a lanky frame.

  "Hey guys, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, even though it's only been a few days. How have you been?!"

  I said to the twins as I reached their table.

  "Holy shit, Terrence. I know man, it's been crazy. We're good though. By the way, this is our buddy, Ron. I met him in blacksmithing, and we've got on ever since." Trevor responded first.

  "What about you Terrence, how have you been? Can you take on a Dungeon yet?" Noah joked.

  "Haha, no. I think I feel less prepared now than I did when I first got here, but in a good way. I've learned a lot about Dungeons and monsters. It's made me realize I need this year to at least prepare me. And hi Ron, nice to meet you."

  I greeted their friend, Ron.

  "Ya, you too. I have some friends taking your path and they said the same. A lot of them are probably just going to join the army or the guard. More stability that way." Ron said.

  "It's not too late Terrence, you can always join our crafting classes next semester. A lot safer, plus we're learning a lot of really cool things." Noah added in.

  "No thanks. I'm pretty dead-set on the adventure and Dungeoneering path. The prospect doesn't scare me, it actually excites me. I just have a lot to learn. How are crafting classes going anyways?"

  "Great, actually" Noah started. "We've done general crafting already, and I had alchemy this morning. There are so many cool potions and tonics that you can make, it's unbelievable. And it turns out, the temperature of the flame has an impact on which things can be made! It's a small part of it, but alchemy already seems like a great choice for me. I have cooking tomorrow, so I'll see." Noah gushed as he talked about his alchemy class.

  "Ya, and I already told you, but blacksmithing was yesterday. We started learning the process and are supposed to start making our own things by the end of the month. We're even allowed to sell our products. Couldn't be happier."

  Crafting seems like a whole world in itself. I knew I would one day need to buy stuff off crafters, so it might be worthwhile the learn more about what goes into it eventually. For now, I couldn't think about it for long, I already had enough to worry about.

  "That sounds amazing guys. I actually don't know anything about potions at all, why don't you see them everywhere?"

  "Because they're hella expensive, man. A part of all our general course is actually talking about the economics of crafting, and we don't know much yet, but most of this stuff is super expensive. Imagine having a potion that allows you to handle fire better before going into a fire-based Dungeon. That thing would be invaluable." Noah was the first to answer again.

  "Even blacksmithing can lead to some really expensive stuff. You start talking about different metals and monster parts and you're asking for a lot. And this is all without any enchantments, which makes the price rise even more. My affinity is SHIELD, and I'm hoping to be able to add some really cool effects to the shields I make." Ron joined the conversation.

  "Damn, I'm just so happy to have friends who will give their friends a discount."

  We continued to joke around for the next hour or so. I made a mental note to try and see them more often. They were all doing a completely different set of classes to Zane and me, which would be really cool to hear about.

  I considered going to the training grounds, but my arms were still sore and I still hadn't finished preparing for my presentation. Instead, I started the walk back to the dorms.

  Afternoon classes were almost finished at this point, and that meant Zane was probably going to his evening Meditatio
n class soon.

  I reached the dorms and picked up the book on the Azara again...

  And that's how I spent a whole day reading about monsters.

  Chapter 20

  ‘3%’

  I spent my evening reading the books I'd taken from the library. I focused on my monster research first and was feeling pretty ready for my presentation.

  The professor hadn't given many details on how long the presentation would be, but I felt ready to field any questions he might have.

  Zane had come back late as well, supposedly having gone to the library as well. Our conversation was a distant memory as he was once again the happiest person I knew when he came in.

  He was thrilled to talk about his survival and meditation classes, despite being a bit tired from the day.

  Survival, he explained, was a mix between wilderness training and material gathering. He said they would even learn some map skills towards the end, something he was the most excited about.

  I had been confused when he picked the class at the beginning, but I was glad to know someone would be able to help us stay alive if we were ever stuck outside of a town for too long.

  He explained that Dungeoneers would sometimes spend weeks, if not months, out in the wild hunting monsters or within Dungeons.

  To do so, a team would need the necessary skills to make it.

  He'd been given an assignment as well. He was asked to start researching different terrains and start considering the types of equipment or tools he might be able to bring to make it better.

  His talk made me realize I should probably take the course in my second semester as well. Even if I already considered Zane one of the best friends I'd ever had, he wouldn't always be with me. And who knows, maybe we wouldn't even adventure together. I needed to think long-term as well.

  The conversation got onto monsters, where I was able to share some of my knowledge that I'd learned from the class and readings.

  He said the survival class would talk about monsters slightly, but probably for one class only. And even then, it would focus on the types of monsters that could be eaten or good harvesting methods.

  All things you needed to know if you wanted to survive in the wild.

  I told him about my choices and ran through some of my anticipated presentation. He gave me some notes but thought my choices were sound. He hadn't heard about the Aphris, but knew quite a bit about the Dewdrop and Azara. The Dewdrop arrowheads were a hot commodity, and he had seen them sold for gold, not silver, several times growing up.

  Even more than the Dewdrops, he knew A LOT about the Azara. His father had supplied weapons to them for years under the table. He framed them as a ruthless civilization that attacked the Kingdom frequently. Zane went on to mention that his father had traded with many sentient races across the world.

  I wish I'd known that before spending hours looking for one...

  I got over my bitterness pretty quickly as we went back and forth for the rest of the night talking.

  He also mentioned his meditation class, briefly. The class seemed pretty boring. The professor was some pretty relaxed woman who would talk about spirituality and other cosmic stuff. Despite the bluster, Zane said her methods might help with energy recovery and energy management. I'd wait to hear more next week before passing any more judgement.

  We eventually called it a night, having talked into the early hours about what we learned.

  I didn't bring up his mood from the previous evening, since he was back to his normal self.

  Zane was as much of a nerd as I was about all this learning stuff, and I thought it was amazing.

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  Thursday meant I had general energy manipulation later in the day. My class was in the afternoon, while Zane's Body Anatomy was in the morning.

  We both woke up and got breakfast together before he had to leave.

  We practiced our Skills along the way, using our internal energy to augment our eyes beforehand. I was looking forward to finding out more information about the process in today's class. He promised to spend more time with me over the weekend so I could finally start seeing my internal energy. I had considered getting some books to help, but Zane seemed confident enough that we'd be able to do it without.

  I had spent the whole day in the library, so I decided today would be a good chance to train my body. My arms were still a bit sore from Tuesday's sword training, but only barely.

  For the rest of the morning, I went through the same training Gaunt had taken us through during General Fitness.

  This time I remembered to bathe before eating some lunch.

  Zane was already there talking with all four girls, even Trish, who we hadn't seen in a bit.

  I joined them, where we had fun talking about all of their different classes. Even though most of them were planning to be Dungeoneers, I hadn't seen any of them in my classes at all.

  Britta was in Zane's Survival class, while Cassie was in his Body Anatomy class. Other than that, Jen was taking weapons training, a different general training time slot, and a class on projections. That one seemed incredibly interesting, but I didn't feel like wasting my time on something like that right now. As far as I knew, I would never get any Skill that allowed me to project my affinity. Could you project weight?

  Cassie was taking a bunch of classes on healing, like General Healing, and body anatomy.

  Britta had a different monster behaviour class and was also taking a class called Mythical creatures.

  After talking with her, I considered taking it next semester since it was so cool.

  There were just so many cool classes to take.

  Trish took a bunch of history and research classes and seemed the busiest out of all of us. History of Dungeons, history or affinities, and the theory of orbs. She found it all very interesting, and if I didn't want to spend my time fighting, I might have done the same thing.

  I made plans with Jen after class to do some more sword training before leaving for class.

  Most of them remained, not having an afternoon class.

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  General Energy Manipulation was in the same building as Monster Behaviour. The class looked the same and when I arrived very few people were there. I had shown up early, hoping to get a seat closer to the front.

  I had to admit, this was the class I was most excited about. I had been augmenting my vision for weeks now but felt like I was making very little progress. Each attempt to do so while using my Skill would always deplete my reserves entirely.

  After 10 minutes, most of the class had arrived and the professor was standing at the front of the classroom.

  The classroom was nowhere near full, probably only holding about 30 students. A few more were trickling in as class was set to start soon, but I was surprised to see how few people had shown up. I knew they said Rank 1 people wouldn't be able to use their energy much, but that didn't mean we couldn't use it at all. Did people not want to learn how to do it?

  As I considered my potential classmates, a man with long hair sat beside me.

  He stood out because he didn't look 16 like all the other kids who were at the school.

  In fact, despite wearing casual clothing, it was easy to tell that he was well built and wore some expensive pieces.

  I had gotten used to watching some of the nobles that walked around campus. You could tell by their clothing, and despite having nice clothes he was not a noble.

  He must have noticed me looking because he looked in my direction. When we made eye contact, I decided to at least try saying hello.

  "Hi, I'm Terrence."

  He seemed a bit taken aback by my initiative, and to be fair, so was I. I just didn't think it made sense to stare at someone then just turn away. I had been caught and needed to own up to it.

  "Haha, hi Terrence, I'm Chet. You're pretty bold for a first-year, I like t
hat. Hahaha"

  "Ya, sorry. You stood out a bit, and I felt bad about staring so it just blurted out."

  "Haha, I get it. It's not a problem. I just remember how I was when I started at Prep a couple of years ago. I would never have had the guts to talk to anyone. Especially this early on."

  "Ya, I don't do it often... ever, really. But a couple years ago? So I was right, you aren't a first-year?"

  "Hahaha, no. I graduated 2 years ago. I live in Krader and paid to start coming back to school this year. It's expensive, so I needed a good reason to start coming to classes again. Now that I think about it, why are you even here?"

  I'm the first year, why would he be confused at me being here?

  "What do you mean? I have to take classes this year, we get to come for free."

  He laughed again. His laugh was hearty and didn't make me feel like he was laughing at me in any way. Chet seemed like a cool guy.

  "Ya Terr, I get that. I mean this class. If you look around, the class is pretty empty. That's because most kids don't even start thinking about energy until the second semester. For me, it didn't happen until I'd gotten my second Rank, and that wasn't until school was almost over."

  He didn't get his second Rank until towards the end of school? Is he some slacker or something?

  Oh, I get it. Maybe he didn't know what he wanted to do when he came here. Maybe he only realized it AFTER coming to Prep.

  "Call me Ren. But then what did you do at Prep?"

  "Ok, Ren. I think I confused you. What I mean to say is that most Rank 1 people barely have any access to their internal energy, beyond their Rank 1 skill. By the second semester, there'll be a lot more kids in here, but even then, most won't be able to use anything they learn here for a long time.

  Look at me, I finished Prep 2 years ago, and even then I only started making good use of my internal energy last year."

  Maybe I'm missing something, but didn't that just mean Chet wasn't very special?

  "Oh, ok. Well, I'm sorry it took so long, but I thought this class would be a great way to improve. I can't do much, but I can already use my internal energy a bit."