Faye slept once again in the tree tops. This night was different from the others in that she was spotted from below. A couple wolves were interested in her, scratching and jumping up toward her perch, but she was too high for them to threaten. After a fair amount of time, the wolves moved on.
Faye had watched them attempting to reach her in silence, though her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She was still injured from her fight before and there were too many for her to fight off.
She tried her best not to move or fall from the tree and was relieved when the wolves finally moved on.
She breathed a sigh of relief and eventually found herself back to sleep.
The next morning came and Faye woke earlier than she had expected. With her heavy injuries from the night before, she'd expected her body to be worn and heavy. She expected to feel the piecing pain of her injuries as she forced herself up and moving.
However....
Faye found herself feeling fine.
She did not feel the pain of her injuries and in fact, felt fully rested.
Faye began to look over herself and was given a fright. Her injuries from the day before....were almost entirely healed. There were faint pink scars marring her flesh, but other than that....nothing.
Faye turned her hands over and over in front of her, dumbfounded.
Finally, a realization hit Faye like a bolt of lightning.
"Did I....gain a class last night?!" She cried out.
There were two types of people in this world. Those with a class and those without a class. Classed people were far fewer in number. In fact, it wouldn't be uncommon for someone to go their entire lives never meeting a classed person. They were exceptionally rare.
Why?
Because gaining a class was very difficult. Some people would try their entire lives and could never gain a class. It took skill, talent and a lot of luck.
One thing that set those with classes apart from those without classes, were their strength and durability. Faye had heard that an adventurer that was classed could be in deaths doorstep, sleep a single night and be healed almost completely by the next morning. Of course there were exceptions to this. One would still be missing a limb if they lost it the day before, the same was true for other pieces of ones body, such as their eye. Or, if they lost their nose, they might have a terrible scar and the flesh that was able to grow back might not have done so fully.
It depended on each case, but for the most part, classed people were hard to kill.
Faye stared at her wounds that were almost entirely healed in awe. Did she gain a class? There were a number of classes, too many for Faye to know them all and the side effects for gaining one.
If she did gain a class, when? Did it come from the goddess of fate? What if she hadn't actually gained one and this was just another side effect of the goddess's revival?
Faye calmed her breathing as she began readying herself to continue forward once again.
There was a way to check if one was classed. If one wanted to check their class status, they could head to an adventuring guild to see if they had gained a class. Some guilds even had the ability to tell what the class was.
Faye felt her excitement grow, but she quickly pressed it down.
It wasn't good to grow excited and expectant. It was best to go forward with no expectations, that way she wouldn't feel let down if she was wrong. Although, even if she hadn't gained a class, the situation still needed explaining. If this was just a side effect from the goddess's revival, how long would it last?
Faye walked for half the day before deciding to take a break. She ate more of the berries she'd picked before as she turned over her thoughts in her head.
The bad thing about traveling alone was that you often found yourself in quiet contemplation for much of the journey. Faye hoped she wasn't far from the edge of the forest and could find her way to Jolis soon. Jolis wasn't the largest city, but it was big enough to have an adventurers guild in it. One that could tell her if she had a class or not. She didn't take long on her break and was soon headed out once again. She tried to keep an eye out around her, but found herself distracted often with thoughts of what to do in the future, once she reached Jolis.
Because of this, Faye did not notice the large form stalking her.
From behind her, Faye heard a faint clicking. Turning, she found herself being ambushed by a large insect-like creature. It's front limbs were bent forward and folded like that of a mantis. It's was leaping towards Faye with four large legs. It's mouth was framed by two large pincers and filled with a number of sharp teeth.
Faye hurriedly rolled to the side, just in time as the creature landed where she once stood. It turned toward her and hissed.
Faye pulled her tattered short sword from its scabbard and faced off against this new foe.
She'd heard of the Divian forest having insect like creatures that often prowled for prey to ambush. Ankhegs was what they were called. They were a formidable foe, but more so because they often lived in groups and swarmed their prey, over powering them with numbers. Faye grit her teeth as she took in the ankheg's condition.
Luckily, it seemed smaller than those she'd heard of before. Also, this one appeared to have already been injured at some point. One of its four legs was torn in half and there was a gash along its back that oozed green. Whether it was green because it was supposed to be or because of infection, Faye wasn't sure.
Either way, Faye kept an eye out for any of this creatures kin that might be waiting to attack her while she was distracted with their friend.
Luckily, though strangely, this creature seemed to be alone.
Faye gripped her sword and let out a battle cry as she leaped forward.