Chapter

Forty-Two

Brin ended up waking up after all. He sort of expected to be in his room. He wasn’t. He was in his bed, and that was his wardrobe with his clothes, but the room was different. Looking down, he was naked under the blanket, unless you counted bandages. If you counted bandages, he was fully clothed. He sneered at them. Who needed bandages when you had scars? They were all completely white without a speck of seepage, and he could feel [Mana Scars] still burning his magic, keeping everything where it was supposed to be. He was surprised he still had Mana, honestly. How long had it been?

He checked his status first, and grinned at all the high numbers. How long ago had it been that he was so proud of twenty-six Strength? Now he was at nearly a hundred and fifty.

That should’ve been the best part, but it wasn’t. He had an achievement waiting for him.

Alert!

You have upgraded an Achievement.

Warbound (Epic) becomes Warbound (Legendary)

Warfare was his birthright, he craved the clash of steel,

He sang a song of bloodshed that the dead could hear and feel,

The terror of the battlefield, a cursed child was found.

Warbound.

+20% Strength, +20% Vitality, +20% Will, +10% Dexterity

becomes

+20% to all attributes.

You have been granted a new Skill:

Battle Sense

You have an innate sense about the position of your allies and enemies in conflict. You have an innate sense of how to direct your allies to greatest effectiveness during conflict.

What he’d done felt legendary. He couldn’t believe his memories, the things he’d done. He’d fought those undead like he was immortal; he’d run right through wounds like he couldn’t feel them. He’d out-zombied the zombies.

His [Scarred] Title was different.

Heavily Scarred

You have been scarred. You have upgraded this title twice. Your scars are regenerative.

Healing rate increases based on upgrades and the number of fully healed scars.

Your wounds heal 60% faster.

Would that one increase after all these injuries were healed? That was a happy thought. Almost as an afterthought, there was one last notification.

Alert!

Through training you have increased the following attribute.

Magic +5

Apparently his Magic had been working overtime while he slept.

He sat up, moving slowly, and his body exploded with warmth and energy. He knew enough of his Class by now to know that that wasn’t a good sign. That was pain, transformed into something more useful. Only, in this scenario it was the opposite of useful because it made him want to jump into action, but what he should be doing right now was holding still so his body could mend.

The movement made something stir at his side. A coil of snake was lying on his lap, all shiny, shimmering colors. Looking at Marksi, Brin felt something like... fond irritation. All his emotions were probably tinged with anger now, a side effect he’d been expecting after meeting the [Scarred One] in his Class Selection, but it was good to know he wouldn’t be overcome with hatred. He still liked Marksi.

He put old-Brin’s voice on and said, “Marksi! Good to see you, buddy! I was worried about you!”

Marksi uncoiled and stretched, letting out a big yawn. He crawled into Brin’s arms, and it was only then that he noticed.

He was crawling. The four nubs on Marksi’s sides had sprouted, and he had arms and legs now. Little arms that ended in three-fingered hands with pads like a gecko. The limbs were too short, but maybe they’d grow? He didn’t know. Apparently he didn’t know much about his little friend.

He looked up to see Hogg enter the doorway.

“Marksi has legs now? What happened?” asked Brin.

“He’s a little young for it, but not surprising, considering that beast core you fed him. He slept through the whole fight, and then two days after that,” said Hogg.

“Two days... How long was I asleep?” asked Brin.

“Four days,” said Hogg. “It was a close thing for the first couple hours. We had to force-feed you Mana potions nonstop to keep your body together until your internal scarring Skill could close all the wounds to your innards. You’re allergic to Mana potions now, by the way. Happens sometimes. Should clear up in a month or two. Just got the results back.”

“Four days… Then the army⁠—”

“It didn’t kill us all, obviously. Haven’t really seen a sign of them since we escaped the forest. They’re out there, though. Six of our [Hunters] disappeared. The forest isn’t safe anymore,” said Hogg. “I even had to buy a house in the town. That’s where we are now.”

“But help is on the way, right? You got a message out?”

“I got some letters out before I had to switch my Skill. Not as much as I’d have liked. But that’s its own thing; I can’t do illusions anymore,” said Hogg. Then he brightened. “I’m a [Conjurer of Hard Light] now. And if I ever get the hang of it, [Mage of Hard Light] isn’t too far away.”

“That’s awesome! But that means we’re penned in? Can Gustaff send another message?”

“Gustaff’s range doesn’t even get to the next Bog. But if the letters don’t make it, Lumina will start asking questions when I don’t make it to the next scheduled appointment. I never miss an appointment.”

Brin wanted to ask more, but he was interrupted by a growling stomach.

“Stay right there, I’ll get you some soup.”

Brin swung his feet to the side and sat up.

“You lay back down right now, or I swear to Nedramus I will put you down. You’re being held together with shoe glue and fishing line at this point.”

“I’m being held together with magic,” grumbled Brin, but he lay back down anyway.

Hogg returned with the soup, and as soon as the smell of it hit Brin’s nose, he realized he’d never wanted anything so much in his entire life. He gulped it down and asked for more, then asked if Hogg had anything more solid. Bread, anything.

“Let’s see if you keep that down, first.”

Brin scowled. “Of course I’m going to keep it down.”

But he still waited like a good little boy. To his surprise, he already felt full. Bloated, even, like his body wasn’t used to food. Looking at his forearm, his muscles didn’t seem any smaller, but his skin looked like it was shrink-wrapped to his body.

That made him curious, so he started to untie the bandage around his fingers, the ones that had been cut off. Even that movement made them burst out with energy.

“Don’t,” said Hogg.

Brin scowled at him and removed the bandage. The fingers were scabbed over on the outside, and he immediately felt the overwhelming urge to start picking at them.

He glared at Hogg again and put the bandage back on.

“They aren’t there to hold you together. They’re there to… remove temptation,” said Hogg.

“I get it,” snapped Brin.

“So listen,” Hogg started delicately, which immediately made Brin suspicious. “The Prefit needs to talk to you. It’s sort of urgent.”

“About what?”

“I’m not supposed to say,” said Hogg.

Brin frowned. It was probably to pin some stupid punishment on him. He’d technically broken the rules when he left town to hunt in the forest without an adult. If that was all it was, he would be lucky. No doubt Tawna had used the past few days to whisper treachery into everyone’s ears. At least no one but Hogg knew his Class. He’d taken [Hide Status] as one of his first general Skills.

“Send him in,” said Brin.

Fifteen minutes later, the Prefit arrived, as well-dressed and dignified as ever. If Brin was expecting to see stubble on the chin or rings under the eyes of the Prefit while the town was virtually under siege, he was disappointed. He looked like he never lost a day of sleep in his life.

“You’ll understand if I don’t get up,” Brin said, trying and failing to keep an acerbic tone out of his voice.

“No need,” said the Prefit. Then to his surprise, he found a footstool and sat down by the side of the bed. “How are you feeling, son?”

Brin bit back an insulting response to the over-familiar tone. Instead he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt worse.”

He wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not. True, he’d never been in this much pain before, but the pain felt very nice.

“Good, good. I have a few questions, and then I’ll let you get back to your rest,” said the Prefit.

“Alright.”

“Hogg filled me in on the entirety of the events in the forest that night, but I’d like to confirm some details with you. First, you should know that I know you’re a [Scarred One].”

Brin growled. “Hogg told you? He didn’t have the right!”

“The [Pharmacist] and [Midwife] needed to know in order to render proper treatment. I was told as a matter of course. No one else was informed, although people will no doubt... speculate. That’s what brings me here today. I need to confirm some details with you.”

Brin fidgeted uneasily. Hogg was in the other room, and he’d proven that he could be trusted. There was nothing the Prefit could do, he told himself.

“What do you want to know?”

“First, can you confirm that Tawna told you in person that she intended for you to pick an evil Class?”

“Yeah, she said that.” Brin was a little confused.

“Do you believe her actions that day and in the preceding weeks or months led you towards an evil Class?”

“Yes, they did,” said Brin.

“I see.” There was an expression of sorrow on Elmon’s face, but also determination.

“No way,” said Brin. “Tawna? She’s the one in trouble?”

“That’s for me and the council of elders to decide,” said Elmon. “But driving a child to an evil Class is a terrible crime. It isn’t illegal to be mean to a child or even to say cruel things about them. But if that cruelty drives the child in question to pick an evil Class, then that’s a different matter entirely. This alone would be enough, but she also manipulated you into going into the forest alone, and gave you information designed to put you in even greater danger. And now her actions have borne poisonous fruit. Another question. When I moved System Day up by a week, did that make picking an evil Class more or less likely?”

“More, but only because I needed it to save my life. I was going to pick… something else,” said Brin. “The logic goes in circles. If you hadn’t moved up System Day, I wouldn’t have survived getting stabbed. But would I still have gotten stabbed if we hadn’t been waiting right there?”

“According to Hogg, the only reason the ambush was so sloppy was because you weren’t where they expected you to be. He claims that if you’d kept moving at the previous pace, you both would have died. Tawna… claims the same. She told me that her reading of fate made it certain that if I didn’t do it, both you and Hogg would have died, though she didn’t know the cause at the time.”

“If Hogg said that then it’s true,” said Brin. “But she should still be punished for what she did.”

“Yes.” The Prefit nodded solemnly. “And if her punishment were up to you, what would you choose?”

Looking back at it, the fact that he hadn’t gotten Magic to the first threshold before System Day was the thing that bothered him the most. He’d been so close. He wasn’t even sure if it was totally her fault, but… who was he kidding? It was completely her fault.

Brin had no end of imagining horrible things for Tawna, but he kept himself to choosing the best thing he thought he could get Elmon to agree to. He wanted her to be embarrassed, for everyone in town to see her being punished, see that she was the one at fault. “Pillory. For at least a day. Do what she tried to do to me.”

The Prefit gave an appreciative nod. “Son, the normal punishment for driving a child to an evil Class is exile or death. Your sufferance will be noted, however.”

Brin nearly screamed. The pillory was less than the Prefit had in mind? Because he agreed. She should be flogged! She should have her hair cut off and be hung in a gibbet and stabbed with spears! But he’d just look stupid saying that now.

He gave a terse nod.

The Prefit left, and Hogg came back into the room.

“I can’t believe I screwed that up so badly,” said Brin.

“You did good,” said Hogg. “He probably would’ve been more lenient if you’d screamed for blood and torture. Now his conscience is going to eat at him.”

“Ha! A conscience. What a stupid weakness to have,” said Brin.

“Yeah. Almost got you killed,” said Hogg. “You should’ve drunk the damn potion.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hogg frowned. “Don’t… make me watch you die, alright? I’m starting to get used to ya.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” said Brin.

Zilly and Davi visited him that afternoon. They entered cautiously, footsteps quiet, as if sudden movements or too much noise would be enough to reopen all his injuries.

Zilly stopped in the doorway to his room and gasped, although there wasn’t much to see. All his scars were covered with bandages except for the ones on his face that had already completely healed, and he’d even put on some clothes, though they made everything itch.

Davi didn’t make any visible reaction to Brin’s injuries, though he couldn’t help but notice the way Davi’s eyes quickly slid away from him to a spot on the wall right next to his head.

“What’s the matter? I’m even more handsome than you remember? I get that a lot,” said Brin.

Davi snorted. “You look like crap.”

Brin laughed, and the spike of hot energy from his broken ribs made him want to laugh louder, but he forced himself to stop.

Zilly gave an uncertain smile. “You look like actual garbage.”

“But in a cool way, right?”

“You look like a pulled pork sandwich covered in mallow sweets,” said Davi.

“Thanks, Davi,” Brin said, feeling a strange mixture of amusement and anger. “So what’s going on out there? Is it true Tawna’s in trouble?”

Zilly nodded eagerly. “Oh, yeah, everyone is furious. Obviously almost getting you killed is bad or whatever, but moving up System Day? That’s too far. They’re out for blood. It’s actually a little scary. I feel bad for Myra, she can’t even go outside.”

That tracked. To them, System Day was like your wedding day and university graduation all rolled into one, and apparently Tawna had given them the equivalent of a shotgun wedding in the middle of the night.

“You know Madely? She wasn’t even in her bed when it hit. She was on the street, no doubt sneaking back from Rodrige Moda’s house,” said Zilly.

“Wait, the [Woodworker] kid?” asked Brin.

“Yeah, the [Car—the carpenter,” said Zilly, but he’d noticed the slip. She’d said his Class name.

“Don’t leave me hanging! What did you two get?”

“We can’t,” said Davi. “We’re still going to do the ceremony like normal. No one is allowed to tell anyone what Class they have until then.”

Brin could just use [Inspect], but he decided not to. If it was that important to them, he’d wait.

“Well at least you’re here to keep me company. I’m going to go crazy from boredom here,” said Brin.

“We can’t stay long. We just wanted to see how you were, and give you this,” said Zilly. She offered him a pretty paper package tied with a bow.

He opened it, and saw it was full of candied grasshoppers. He gagged. Marksi erupted from under the covers to help himself to them.

Zilly laughed and handed Brin another box. This one was full of candied nuts. He could appreciate the prank since they still had brought him a real treat, but he found it disturbingly hard to push down the irritation.

Then Zilly choked. She raised a shaking finger. “L… legs!”

Brin shrugged. “Yeah, he has legs now.”

Marksi didn’t answer at all, just munched happily, his head in the bag of candied grasshoppers.

After a few minutes, Zilly and Davi made their excuses. They were pretty busy getting ready for the celebration. Hammon’s Bog was going to have its party, and no conniving [Weavers] or undead armies were going to stop them.

They left, leaving Brin alone. The next few days were an exercise in boredom. Hogg didn’t let him leave the room, and although he brought him a few books, they were dry histories and he just didn’t seem to have the patience for it.

Brin entertained himself by going through the house and using [Inspect] on every single thing he could find. Apparently, one of the many notifications he’d ignored in the fight was this one:

Alert! [Inspect] leveled up! 1 -> 2

Some Skills could level, and now he was already addicted to it. Inspect rarely gave him more information than he could deduce on his own.

A chair. A bed. The floor. The ceiling. When he used it on his pet, it just said “Marksi.” It called Hogg “A man.” The yellow loveseat that was actually a hidden dimensional storage compartment just came back as “A comfortable and stylish sofa.”

Some things were more interesting though. He used it on the sword he’d stolen from the undead archer. “A masterwork silverite sword. Enchanted for speed and accuracy. Rechargeable.”

Other things were sort of funny. When he used it on Hogg’s silverware, everything came back “Bog Standard fork,” “Bog Standard knife,” and “Bog Standard cup.”

Alert! [Inspect] leveled up! 2 -> 3

It was strange though, because to him, Hogg’s things were quite nice. The cup was wooden, but made from artfully fitted pieces in an interesting pattern, and he just knew somehow that no glue was involved; the pieces just fit together that well. The silverware was also very nice, but apparently that was totally normal.

Eventually he asked Hogg about it.

“Oh, noticed that, did you? Good call on taking Inspect. Yeah, it’s another town Skill. When a craftsman gets to a certain level of proficiency, the town will recognize their work and let them attach the town’s title. It’s our own little private joke, see? And a demonstration of our pride. Somewhere else, this cup would be showing ‘masterwork quality,’ but to us it’s ‘Bog Standard.’” Hogg smiled, obvious joy in his eyes.

“That’s dumb,” said Brin. “That’s way too much effort to put into selling a pun.”

Hogg scowled. “Well, we like it.”

Over the next two days, Brin tried to keep himself busy. He played way too many games of Jogosa with Hogg, until the man started avoiding the house to get away from him. He played the lute until the strings broke, then fixed it, and broke them again. His new Strength was difficult to get used to with fine-control things like that.

He played with Marksi a little, but Marksi liked to do more active things like chasing or fetching, and Brin knew he shouldn’t move too much with his injuries. Just leaving his room was pushing it.

The hours dripped down like mud from a rain gutter, and Brin’s wounds healed. When he got up the morning of System Day, [Mana Scars] had finally stopped sucking on his magic.

“That doesn’t mean you’re done healing,” said Hogg. “It just means you’re out of the danger zone. That Skill, [Ugly on the Inside], still might be working. You shouldn’t do anything to your Class until you get checked out by [Midwife] Costanza again. In case you were thinking about… doing something, that is.”

Brin narrowed his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So, about System Day. What are we telling everyone?”

“[Warrior], of course,” said Brin.

Hogg nodded. “[Warrior] it is.”