Annie watched as Sarah and her family practiced in by the side of the caravans. At the boy's side there was flashes of fire and gusts of winds, Annie noticed that the boys could use every element without trouble, although some elements gave off a stronger aura than most it seemed that they had affinity with every element.
At Mary's side you could see her shooting arrows with her bow. Annie finally saw where her arrows came from, out of thin air! They seemed to appear anytime she needed them. She had set a target on a tree far away, and her aim and speed seemed to be getting better as time went by.
But they all pale in comparison to Sarah, literally. She sat cross-legged on the ground with her eyes closed, her magical power surrounded her with a golden light, making the surroundings glow, and with it she formed different shapes. One time it was a spoon, then it was a chair, then a tree, then a panther that prowled around her.
Their powers where all unique and weird, Annie couldn't understand how they got them. According to them, they lived in a village in the forest, where could they have found someone to teach them? Their battle with the goblins was still fresh in her mind, they were too powerful to come from an unknown village.
Were they lying? Or did they find a master who was passing by? She decided to find the answer by asking.
She walked up to Sarah who was petting the inanimate tiger and waved her hands, which Sarah responded to with a smile.
"Nice panther. "Annie said.
"Thanks! I used the Green-Striped Panther I once killed as an example."
"…" Oh.
"I've been meaning to ask you, who trained you guys?"
Sarah looked up in confusion, "No one trained us."
"But that's not possible!" Annie stomped her feet, "No one just gets as powerful as you without training."
"But we practice." Sarah gestured at the golden panther.
Annie pinched the middle of her brows, "Okay, when did you guys start training?"
"Well, we got our powers at least one month ago…"
One month?! "How did you get so powerful so fast?!"
"Because of our god."
"Oh, not this again." Annie rolled her eyes. For the past to days Sarah and her family had attributed everything they had to their god, even their clothes, "If you don't want to tell me just say so, and I won't pry anymore."
"But it's the truth, I could explain everything in detail but you wouldn't understand them, not really, until you have faith in my god."
Annie sighed and sat beside Sarah, "We are free merchants, we don't believe in any god."
"I said have faith, not belief."
"What's the difference," Annie asked, "Faith is belief in a god."
"But you don't always place your faith in a deity, sometimes you put your faith in people. If you throw a stone, you'll have faith that it would hit what you aim at. When you cook, you'll have faith that all the spices will come together to form a familiar taste. When you train, you have faith that you would one day get stronger," Sarah looked straight into Annie's eyes, "why can't you have faith in you'll get stronger with his power? And, even if it isn't true, you have nothing to lose. Just have faith, its free anyways."
She's right, I don't have anything to lose. "Who is your god?" she spoke firmly.
"The God of Origins. When you call out to him say this prayer; In the name of the Lord of Origins, I pray for new hope!"
Annie closed her eyes and said the words in her heart, and in that moment, she had faith. Faith in herself, and faith in the God of Origins! Then in her vision, a page appeared, with it came a rush of information. She looked at Sarah in astonishment.
"You see it." Sarah smiled knowingly.
Annie nodded absent-mindedly as she focused on the words in her vision. With the help of the information, she now had she had to first pick a character, so she chose The Warrior. After that her status page appeared.
[Name: Annie]
[Class: Warrior]
[Level: 0]
[HP: 20/20]
[MP: 10/10]
[PRF: 0/100]
[EXP: 0/10]
[STATS: Strength (2), Agility (2), Perception (1), Intelligence (2)]
[Skill Points: 0]
[Status Points: 0]
When she focused on her class, she saw miniature weapons in glass balls. There was an axe, a club, a sword, a spear, even a fist. As a swordswoman she immediately chose the sword. The other options vanished, then a variety of swords appeared, Annie didn't know that there were so many types of swords. There was the Gladius which looked heavy and durable, there was the Katana, which looked slick and fast. Her eyes widen when she saw the Claymore, her face scrunched when she saw the Cutlass. Then they were Daggers, Scimitar and even a Machete. There were so many swords she could choose from, thankfully she had basic information about them all.
Then she saw one that caught her eye; the Rapier. It was a weapon that focused on speed and thrusting. Since she mostly focused on her speed when she practiced, the Rapier was perfect for her, so she chose it. When all the other options disappeared, she could finally see the skill tree.
But that wasn't important now, she focused on the miniature rapier and summoned a real on in her hand. She stood up and too a few steps back, she began swinging her sword with the information she had on rapiers. She was moving slow at first, but her movement soon accelerated. After a while she stopped and noticed Sarah staring at her.
She blushed a little bit, "Now I know why you often stare at nothing for a period of time."
Sarah chuckled, "How is it?"
"Its… amazing."
"Isn't it. I'd like for us to practice together, I want to learn a bit of swordsmanship from you, but I'm at level five already. So first, let's raise your level."
With her father's permission – and with the accompaniment of a few guards – Annie followed Sarah to look for an animal to fight, and since they were in a forest, it didn't take long for them to find one. There was a Broze-tusked boar eating some fallen fruits, when it saw them, it immediately charged forward, Sarah quickly incapacitated then Annie stabbed it to death.
Annie felt a warm current flowing through her body and she knew she had leveled up. She quickly put the stat point in strength and used the skill point to unlock the first skill.
They spent a few minutes away from the caravans, when they came back Annie had already reached level two.
Then they found a space where they began sparring.
Sarah decided to use [Valkyrie Dress] on the get go, because she didn't know any combat skills, with it, Annie could attack her without hurting her. She also used a sword made out of divine energy instead of the [Dagger of Purity] so she won't spoil Annie's weapon.
Sarah lunged at Annie and tried to cut her with the golden sword, Annie easily dodged this attack and, with a flick of her wrist, hit Sarah in three places instantly. Those hits which looked light were actually pretty strong as they pushed Sarah back a few steps. Sarah spun around and cut at Annie's head, Annie dropped low, waited for the sword to whizz past her, then thrusted her sword forward with a fast speed. The rapier tip hit Sarah on the chest, blasting her backwards.
Sarah tried to stable herself with her golden wings, then threw the sword at Annie, which she deflected the side. The sword vanished before it hit the ground. Annie was about to rush at Sarah when she raised up her arm.
"Wait!" Sarah said before focusing on something unseen, which Annie now knew was the status page. Then she stood up, and ten swords materialized around her.
"Woah, what happened?" Annie asked.
"You didn't get a notification?" Sarah asked, somewhat surprised.
"No, What do you mean?"
"Although there are already set skills, we are also able to create our own skills, and they totally random, you don't know when it's going to happen. When we name our skills, everyone with a system should be able to see it. Maybe it's because I'm… Never mind, let's just continue."
Annie noticed that there was something Sarah didn't want to talk about, but she still needed to know something, "What skill did you create?"
Sarah pointed at the floating swords, "I named it [Sword of Light]. Just a simple name." Then with a snap of her finger, she sent the swords hurling towards Annie.
Annie didn't move to dodge though, she decided to try a skill instead. She used [Multiple Thrust] just when the swords where about to hit her. Her body seemed to blur because of how quick she moved. In a second, she had thrust her rapier ten times and deflected all the swords. Since the swords didn't disappear Sarah controlled them to attack her once more, this time in different positions. Annie dodged and deflected the swords skillfully, then she used [Multiple Thrust] again, this time she added more Warrior energy in her attacks and shattered the swords. That wasn't how far [Multiple Thrust] can go though, as she gets more proficient, she can thrust more than ten times, and if she adds enough energy, she could attack from a distance.
"Hey Annie, let's use big attacks to end this spar!" Sarah said.
"I couldn't agree more!" Annie stood straight and raised her rapier straight up; this was the starting pose of the skill [Full Rapier Thrust]. Then she gathered Warrior energy and thrusted forwards with great strength, then a phantom of a giant rapier appeared in front of her and rushed towards Sarah with great speed. Sarah's attack was also ready, she had detached the [Valkyrie Dress] loaded it with divine energy and threw it at Annie. When their attacks reached each other, they caused an explosion, the shockwave knocked both of them backwards and raised a bunch of dust.
Annie coughed out the dust that was invading her lungs as she struggled to her feet. She heard footsteps and looked up to see Sarah stretching her hand towards her. Annie accepted it and pulled herself up. She knew that Sarah had won their spar, she was in level five so she would have more mp and skills than her. But still the excitement in her eyes didn't diminish. She couldn't wait to see just how much stronger she could get.
Praise be the God of Origins! She thought subconsciously.
"Annie?" She heard a voice behind her and turned to find her father looking at her with awe. "How… when… what..." He couldn't figure out the words to use.
"Dad!" Annie ran to her father and explained everything that happened with excitement. She even urged him to try and believe in the God of Origins.
"But we are free merchants… "
"So, you won't lose anything if you try. Just try it," She winked at Sarah, "It's free anyways."
Sarah smiled and winked back.