As I looked towards the sky, all I could feel was the pain. The pain of anguish upon realizing that my brother, my twin, had abandoned me, forsaking me to being nothing more than a worthless husk that would only ever weigh everyone else down around me. Then there was the pain of what was supposed to be my awakening. This pain hurt me physically more than the injury I had received on my head from my fall.
I could feel it, the shifting and the snapping as my bones changed, my muscles tore, and everything felt like it was a blaze. Eventually the pain resided, but I felt different, better, and more complete, but also darker somehow, almost repulsed to my surroundings. I liked this feeling, this new feeling of strength and familiarity that coursed through my veins, though for my repulsion, I could bear through it. I wondered if this was what those who successfully awakened felt when they had completed the process, of course since they were successful it must have been at least ten times better than what I was feeling.
After all, I'm classless; one without a future, without a hope. As my gaze refocused on the dark early morning, I noticed a glowing set of words before my sight. [Awakening Completed, Initiate procedure by thinking about your status.]
Excitement coursed through my blood as I took in a sharp breath and thought 'Status'. Once the thought had finished forming, a translucent screen appeared in front of my eyes.
<[ Eric]>
<[ Necromancer - Level 1 ]>
<[Exp: 0/100]>
Health: 45/45
Stamina: 20/20
Mana: 15/15
<[ Statistics ]>
Strength: 12
Agility: 7
Intellect: 10
Vitality: 13
Energy: 25
Extra Stat points: 0
<[ Skills ]>
Raise Feeble Bone Creature [Level 1] 0/1
Raise Feeble Corpse Crawler[Level 1] 0/1
Summon Feeble Spirit [Level 1] 0/1
Extra Skill Points: 0
My eyes widened in shock as I looked at my status window. Joy flooded my systems as I realized that I wasn't classless, and that I could become an adventurer, not being stuck in the hamlet that I called home. But as several minutes passed, and my euphoria washed away, I once more looked at my status and everything began to sink into me.
My class… was wrong, very very wrong. I had awakened a monster class, one that deals with the undead. This, this was supposed to be impossible. Everyone knew what a necromancer was, after all they were quite common in undead dungeons and as children we would hear stories about the different monsters heroes fought during the few festivals Hothal Aldu would hold every year.
If anyone learned what my class was, I would be hunted down and either killed immediately or burned at the stake if it was done by the members of the inquisition. Drawing a scowl across my face, I thought to myself, not even that bastard can find out about this. I guess it was a good thing Benedict had left me behind, had I awakened this class while at the class stone, they would've immediately been able to get a hold of and deal with me.
Eventually as I consciously thought to close my status window, I quickly noticed that I was no longer in the ravine that I had fallen into. Shocked, I also noticed that the back of my head was no longer pounding and that I had been deposited on a bed inside a room with multiple beds.
I could've sworn that I had only just opened my status window while back in the ravine. Looking around myself, I saw a twig like old man hunched over a desk as the scratching of his feathered pen against parchment resounded within the room. The bed groaned beneath me as I began to sit up, alerting the old man to my awakeness.
Hequickly turned around and rushed over to me as he began to speak. "Slow down there Eric. You took quite a nasty tumble last night, and it would be best if you moved slowly."
Putting his hands gently on my chest in an attempt to softly push me back onto the bed, I looked at the man confusedly as my parched mouth began making several attempts at words. With a grandfatherly smile, the old man patted my chest before he continued. "My name is Otto, I'm the healer here in Hothal Adul. Here, I bet your tongue feels as stiff as a wooden board. This will definitely help moisten your lips."
I gladly took the cup of fruity smelling liquid that Otto handed me and began chugging the entirety of the cup's contents down my throat. My face scrounged in response to the heavy bitterness that cascaded across my tongue, and the old man let out a long guffaw as he watched my reaction.
"How was your first taste of ale boy?" His eyes chuckled in merriment as he watched me.
"Definitely was not expecting that Mr. Otto. Thought for a second that you had given me some sort of medicine that smelt fruity." I responded, before a loud belch came up from my gut.
"Haha! I'm glad that you liked it, though that is quite an ingenious idea." As his laughter died down, and his processing thoughts continued forward, Otto grabbed his scraggly chin as he went deep into thought.
After a short while Otto appeared to have remembered something and quickly regained his focus as he looked back towards me. "Your brother is in a meeting with the guild master right now. Once he's done, he'll definitely come back here for you. He was quite worried when we couldn't get a response from you earlier."
'He was worried about me? As if. That bastard left me the entire night to suffer, not giving a damn if I would end up classless. All he cared about was making sure he wouldn't miss his chance. Jokes on him though, I got a class for myself, and I'll definitely use it to make a name for myself, once I'm strong enough of course.' I rolled my eyes in response to Otto's comment before I gave a dejected whisper. "As if he was worried about me."
Otto heard my response but appeared to have chosen to ignore it, and I couldn't blame him. The old guy thought I was classless, and if I was in his shoes, I too wouldn't know how to comfort someone who literally missed their big day. As the room turned towards silence, and I returned to my thoughts, I began to think of what it would be like now that I can summon the undead.
I mean, it's definitely cool being able to summon an entire legion that was entirely loyal to you, but how would the undead act, let alone smell. I grimaced as I thought about the fact that I may be stuck having to smell rotting corpses for the rest of my life. I also understood that there was little to no chance of me ever having a happy life, let alone having a family, which I did feel let down by but figured that having a monster class was still better than being classless because in either case, I would still have zero wives.
Otto had returned to his desk and continued scratching away at his paper and whatever he was working on. As I watched him, I had an epiphany moment. Otto had said he was the healer here, though that was a special class, however some of the skills for instance herbology, could be taught to others. Add in the fact that if he did accept teaching me, I would have an easy excuse as to why I was coming to the guild, and learning several of the guild's mechanics, the perfect cover to learn the locations of the surrounding dungeons.
"Mister Otto?" I called out hesitantly as I waited for him to turn around. "I understand that I don't have the class to be your student, but I was wondering if it would be possible for me to become your student and learn whatever skills I can. I promise you that I'm hard working and will do any task you ask of me! Please Mr. Otto, I'm begging you!" I struggled to get out of the bed as I attempted to curry favor with the old man, and as I looked him in the eye, I could see a flickering of some emotions, though he did not immediately respond to my request.
Rushing over, he stopped me from climbing out of the bed before he spoke to me. "Rest boy, I'll need some time to think about it, after all, your request may change once your brother returns from his meeting."
Confused, I looked up at the old man after lying back down. "What do you mean Master Otto?"
"It isn't just your brother and the guild master in that meeting. Baron Hackthorn's daughter is also in that meeting, and they are discussing whether your family should move to the barony or not."
Hearing this, all I could let out was a soft "oh". So not only did my brother receive a class, but it was such a good glass that he had immediately drawn the attention of a nobleman's daughter. What shit luck was this?