"Hey, I know you don't want to take a break but can we?" Landin asked, shivering slightly.
Drake looked over his shoulder seeing the teens looking fed up already.
"Well, it's only been a few hours, but I guess if you aren't used to seeing this kind of stuff… No, sorry I forget that you're still kids and I'm jaded to this after the tutorial. Yeah take whatever time you need, I'll set up a tent with some food alright?" Drake offered pulling another tent from his inventory and throwing some amenities out with it.
"Ah! Finally! My hand was getting stiff…" Charlotte complained rubbing her hands.
"He's like our old gym coach…" Brodie whispered.
"Oh you mean Mister Radcliff? Huh, yeah he actually reminds me of him now that you say that," Charlotte agreed.
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Drake scoffed, warming some water in the air with his magic.
"Depends," Charlotte smiled, "He was always pushing us really hard even in gym PE… Some people really hated it, saying he didn't know when to give breaks."
"Oh so it is an insult, guess I'll drink this hot chocolate by myself then," Drake chuckled pulling the pouch of chocolate goodness from his inventory.
"W-wahhh…? You act like a kid!"
"I am a kid," Drake smiled sticking out his tongue, "A big kid."
The three looked at Drake like that was obvious.
"Fine, here. Big babies… Can't take a joke. Sarah, do you want some too?" Drake asked.
"What is hot chocolate?" she asked curiously looking over at the cup in Drake's hand, giving it a sniff, "Smells like Plain Boar dung…" she winced.
"That's…. Interesting…." Drake laughed, offering her a cup, "Hopefully it doesn't taste like it."
The three kids each took a cup, their faces melting from the scowls they were frozen as into joyous smiles, as they each took a sip from the almost ambrosia liquid.
"Ah! I'm alive again!" Landin cheered, "If only you had some energy drinks…"
"It's been a while since I had anything this sweet," Charlotte commented, "Is it good Brodie?"
Brodie nodded, "It reminds me of Christmas…" he mumbled.
"Christmas huh," Drake mused, "I'll keep that in the back of my mind for now," he muttered then turned to the large man walking warily next to the Elemental he had sent out, "Oh Rvul, good you're here."
"Y-yes Patriarch.. Was not sure, elemental does not speak.." Rvul said.
Drake scratched his cheek embarrassedly, "Oh yeah, I forgot to give him a note or something. Anyway, since your daughter is being difficult, would you be so kind as to gather up any children around the 15-season mark that seem exceptional? I would like to begin training them. Also all of the non-combat classes you have currently in the tribe. I need to know where we stand on manpower."
Rvul nodded and went to leave quickly, only glancing at his daughter with a half smile.
"Oh, and take the elemental with you, we might be moving around based on the monsters that try to attack. It will know where I am when you're ready."
For a few minutes, all was quiet as everyone drank the hot cocoa. Drake spread his senses out for the new monsters when they came. But the teens couldn't hold the silence for too long as Charlotte spoke up with questions she had been wondering for a long time.
"So how was the tutorial? You said you would explain it to us eventually but…" she asked trailing off slightly.
Landin only sipped his hot cocoa, averting his eyes as if saying 'You really shouldn't have asked that…'
Drake turned his head, sitting up on the wall, "How was it? Ever played a Battle Royal game? Or read a book like The Hunger Games?"
Charlotte shook her head, already regretting her decision to ask.
Drake motioned to Sah Ul'.
"What was your tutorial, Sarah?"
Sah Ul' lowered her own cup, licking her lips seemingly enjoying the sweet drink then tilted her head at the question.
"Normal life. Wake, fight, hunt. There was no change for Rahk Tribe. Before gods took us, every day was fight for survival. Fought many different people," she answered.
"I see," Drake nodded, "For me, I was never a person in the military or anything like that. I was thrown into the tutorial with five thousand other people from all over the planet. And my introduction was anything but helpful. What you kids need to realize is that you've only seen the PvE."
"PvE?" Charlotte asked.
"Player versus Environment," Landin explained.
Drake nodded, "Landin has seen it first hand. People change after they accept the system. And my tutorial was no different. Hell, I'm no different, but I digress. Within the first week that five thousand was reduced to four. And soon down to three. The monsters in my tutorial were special as well," Drake explained, remembering the Goblin King and the Ant Prince, "Thanks to a particular sadistic sponsor."
The air turned uncomfortable for a moment until one of the teens spoke up trying to change the subject.
"The tutorials had sponsors?" Landin asked putting his cup down.
"Yup. Races that had already been in the system could apparently sponsor new world introduction tutorials and mine was a Primordial. The Dragons."
"Dragons? Sounds cool though?" Landin said, confused.
"Yeah well, this one was a piece of shit through and through. All the bad stuff you hear in fantasy is true. Greedy, sadistic, egotistical," Drake said shivering as he almost felt the bitch's hand enter his back again.
"So a Primordial is what? A super strong race? Where do humans rank?" Brodie asked surprisingly speaking up.
"A Primordial is a race that is pure, unblemished by mixing with others. And unfortunately, Humans rank pretty low on the totem pole," Drake said, "But lucky for you guys there's at least one Primordial on Earth."
"There's one here?" Landin asked raising his brows.
"Yup, right here. Me, I'm the Primordial," Drake smiled.
Landin and Charlotte exchanged a glance.
"What? I'm not lying. Have I not mentioned before that Skill Stones can change your race?"
"Wait, does that mean that you have a really rare class then?" Landin asked expectantly.
"No, well, yes? It's a Unique class but it's a roll of the dice if it's good or bad, literally."
"Sah Ul' thought Patriarch was a Legendary Class?" Sah Ul' asked.
"Technically no, but I do have quite a lot of legendary stones. Either way, I'm an Asuran, not a human anymore, not that it was my choice, but hey can't really go back now," Drake explained with a shrug.
"An Asuran? Like old mythical Asuran? Big bad war Gods Asuran?" Landin asked.
"Guess so? I mean I don't have six arms, but I do have the scary face mask and can technically add arms with magic."
"You said that wouldn't happen to us if we didn't want it to, but is it better? It sounds better," Charlotte asked timidly.
"That's hard to answer. Is giving up your humanity worth the strength? I can't tell you that. It came with a whole boatload of problems that I'm still working through, not to mention my class."
"So what is your class then? I just assumed you were a mage, you held that staff around for a while ya know," Landin prodded picking his cup back up.
"As luck or fate would have it, or maybe just some asshole upstairs. I have two classes."
"Two? Isn't that kind of cheating?"
"Well, it does come with some problems. I need twice as many stones to fill my skill slots, and I also need to level up twice as many skills. The other part is I gain experience at least twice as slow, and from what I can guess it's exponential."
"What do you mean? Seems like a good trade-off to me?"
"Well I'm level 27, do you know what level the big bird was?"
Landin shook his head, "No idea."
"It was level 31. It seems like you have some game knowledge so how many levels do you think I gained from kill it?" Drake asked.
"I don't know a few? It's a pretty big difference."
"I gained 1 level. I was level 25 when I defeated the big chicken and the rest of those eagles. The Guardian gave me a level and the flock gave me one more, they were all E-Rank, and I'm F-Rank, which means every one of the monsters I killed was around level 30."
Landin whistled.
"Exactly. The stats you gain from two levels are amazing and scale to the sky, but would you two like to have to fight tooth and nail to get them? Fighting on the edge of a knife, life, and death, every day for weeks, months, and eventually years? I wouldn't change what happened, but I don't think I would have the guts to choose it myself given the chance. Besides what I have planned for you two is much simpler and safer, well relatively…I hope…" Drake mumbled.
"What do you mean…?" Charlotte pressed.
"Well, I know how to get the starter Titles you two will need to get a massive advantage early on. And can minimize the risk of obtaining them. That doesn't mean I'll fully be able to predict what will happen but I do know a few tricks."
Drake saw Rvul in the distance with several people in tow but felt one of his Elementals on the other side of the encampment sputter out.
"Damn, we're moving, keep up and tell Rvul to join us."
Without another word Drake changed hair colors, his light blue hue shimmering to a dazzling yellow as he stepped off the wall shooting past Rvul and his group.
—---------------
Drake arrived at the other end of the wall, his face painted with surprise when he saw what was there.
"That's unexpected. I suppose I did tell them not to harm anyone inside, so I guess you technically count. May I ask why you decided to kill my Elemental?" Drake asked the pair of men at the bottom of the other side of the wall.
[Klinton Hampson Level 12]
[Vick Grodure Level 11]
"Who the fuck are you?" one of the men shouted, pointing a sword at Drake.
"I own this little part of the woods. Who the fuck are you?" Drake answered.
"Looks like we have to kill you then! Lucky! He's only level 10! And if that was his spell he's a mage!" the other shouted gleefully.
Drake sighed, "Can I ask that you two just leave? I've had my share of killing brainless monsters today."
Looking down at the two men Drake was reminded that he adjusted his disguise from his necklace. Bringing it down a few levels to match the average he had seen in the city. He had even made sure his Elementals wouldn't kill any people until he arrived.
I knew lowering it was probably a bad idea, but I'm still not sure of who is out there. I need to keep the information about me as limited as possible still. But having a lower level isn't going to help with intimidating idiots like these two… Drake thought.
"Ain't no way we're leaving! You know how hard it is to come by one of these crystals?!"
Drake pursed his lips.
"How did you even know to come all the way out here? This is a few hours from the city," Drake asked, hopping up to sit on the wall, his legs dangling over them.
One of the men sneered holding up a map that shimmered with a slight blue hue. Drake assumed it was a quest map made from some kind of mana-infused material.
"There's a list! For a few monster cores, you can buy it from the system center. Tells the location and the level of the person who is placing a crystal. You just so happened to be the closest and the lowest level!"
Drake smiled, "Oh and it says level 10?"
The man smirked as if it was obvious.
"Good. Ok boys, last chance. Leave," Drake smiled, snapping his mask back into place, his aura leaking out, "Or die."
The pair shivered, dropping their weapons immediately. But Drake's plan only backfired as they became more emboldened.
Picking back up their weapons they cursed and shouted at him once again.
"You ain't scaring us motherfucker! You're just some lousy weak level 10! We're both level-"
Drake pointed his finger, a spark of lightning piercing the ground between them.
"You are both not worth my time. Leave. I won't say it again."
The pair creaked their heads down to the bullet hole, it smoldering and sizzling. The hole glowing red from the heat.
They turned looking at Drake once more before turning tail and running.
Drake's face switched to one of surprise as he moved his mask back off his face.
"Hey, finally someone listened!"
Turning around Drake heard the group from before finally catching up.
"Took you guys long enough. Now who are these people Rvul?" Drake asked.
The previous Chief huffed out of breath as he took a moment. Sah Ul' arrived a few moments before him, breathing slightly more heavily than normal but not severely. The group behind Rvul arrived in a trickle. The younger kids brought up the rear with Charlotte helping her brother in last place.
"T-these are non-combat classes Patriarch asked for… And this… This is Kalik Tu', the most impressive young hunter in tribe next to Rvul's daughter," Rvul explained.
Drake looked down at the teen orc, his face saying it all.
Kalik's expression showed just how much he disliked Drake already and his stance showed how proud he was or at least arrogant, even in the face of someone he should know is stronger. The boy's chin raised, arms crossed and chest pushed out.
Oh? Do we have our token Bakugou? Drake thought.