You don’t get it. William Oh is an expert in guerilla warfare. He’s the best. With slings, with knives, with his bare hands. He’s a man who’s learned to ignore pain. To ignore weather. To live off the land. To eat things that would make a billy goat puke.

-          Jason Salazar

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Please choose your Primary Abilities.

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Please choose your Primary Abilities.

Will’s eyes creaked open, which was, frankly, a surprise.

Please choose your Primary Abilities.

He was still in the white room, but there was A DOOR!

Please choose your Primary Abilities.

Ignoring the voice, Will pushed himself to his feet, hissing in pain as he lightly nudged the scabbing edge of his arm against the floor.

Once he was standing…he went back down. Will had never been faint before, but he’d  also never had this much blood loss, either.

Will turned it into a process.

Raise your head.

Lean against the wall.

Sit up straight.

Get to your knees.

Wait.

Once he was confident he wouldn’t falter again, Will pushed himself to his feet.

He needed to see his Trial before he decided on his Abilities.

Oftentimes, people could pick whatever Abilities they wanted for their future Class, breeze through The Trial, then move on, but if Will didn’t choose the best Primaries specifically suited for finishing The Trial, then he might just die.

Well, let’s see what we’ve got.

Will took a deep breath and stepped through the glowing yellow portal.

Sunlight.

Chirping birds.

His eyes adjusted.

He was standing on a narrow ridge in a canyon of some kind, with rugged terrain in every direction. There were cactuses, scrub brush, and the unnaturally strong sun beat down on his dehydrated frame like he owed it money.

Above him, sheer cliffs trapped him inside the Trial. Below: jagged crags, narrow footholds, and the occasional patch of flat ground which was completely dominated by plant life.

“Huh.”

Welcome to your Trial, Climber. Somewhere in this canyon is the portal which leads back to the Hunting Grounds.

The portal is guarded by a wicked tribe of Maksu, led by their leader, Sezz’kenal, a vicious raider of caravans who has acquired a taste for human flesh.

Make it back to the Hunting Grounds, and you will be qualified to join The Climb.

Oh great, it’s a fighting Trial, Will thought, sitting down.

Well, no, it didn’t say I had to fight them. Just that I had to make it back to the Hunting Grounds. Although not fighting them might be difficult. Which is the point.

Please choose your Primary Abilities.

“Sta—” *COUGH*

Not having spoken except to scream or cry in a couple days, Will’s voice was gunked up.

“Status.”

Moment of truth—when we find out what cards the cruel hand of Fate has dealt me.

Will’s stat sheet began to print itself in the air in front of his eyes.

William Oh

Resourceful Climber, Level 1

1 Strength

3 Resistance

3 Kinesthetics

3 Acuity

2 Focus

Charges: 2

Free Points: 1

Please choose your Primary Abilities.

“What’s a Resourceful Climber?” Will mused, interrupting the display of his Primaries to go back and study his Class. Again, he needed to know the context of his Class to have a better inkling of how his Abilities might develop.

The orphanage did have basic instruction in how to pick your Primaries, and what Classes did what.

Never heard of ‘Climber’ before, though. Aren’t we all Climbers?

Resourceful Climber:

A Resourceful Climber will use any means at their disposal to make it to the top. They are strong, mentally and physically, but most importantly, they are tenacious, enduring. Receives bonuses to tools, Meta Relic use, hardiness, and mobility, with a minor focus in Earth and Spacetime.

“Oh, like a climber climber? Not a Climber? One who literally climbs? Shit.”

That sounded like the sort of thing that having two hands would be fantastic for.

It sounded like a Scout archetype, which wasn’t the worst. The Focus per level was better than a Scout should’ve expected, too. The Resistance, as well...

Matter of fact, those stats are really high. 12 points?

5 from the Uru Drake, 3 from the gravity goat, and…4 from his hand?

That was 3 points per level more than a typical Climber. That was the kind of stat growth that could give birth to a Lord.

You know, assuming I live long enough to capitalize on it, Will thought.

Please choose your Primary Abilities.

Alright, I’ve put this off long enough. Show me the Abilities.

Stone Charge

Aspect of the Goat

Mighty Leap

Prey’s Senses

Sourdough

Phantom Hand

Everyone started with two Primaries. The first two Abilities a Climber picked gained the most upgrades over time, which meant that whatever he picked would grow and change and become more powerful as his Class advanced, forming the core of their style.

Every ten levels, he could pick a new Ability, but of course it would be 10, 20, even 30 levels of growth behind the Primaries.

Let’s see what we got…

Stone Charge

Active: 1 Charge

20ft range. Coats the user’s body in stone armor and/or propels them forward at lethal speeds.

It’s not a bad Ability; it could be used for mobility, defense, or attack, depending on how you use it…but it’s not enough by itself.

Will only had 2 Charge at the moment. Not enough to take out or bypass an entire camp of maksu twenty feet at a time.

Next.

Aspect of the Goat

Passive:

A collection of minor passives that focus on mobility and hardiness. The bearer of this Ability becomes more resistant to exposure and altitude. Their digestive system becomes able to process food unfit for human consumption, and their hands and feet always find safe purchase on even the most hostile terrain. Scales with Resistance.

Will’s eyebrows rose.

That could be useful. Less likely to die of starvation before I even reach the end, or to fall down a cliff and break an ankle and THEN die of starvation.

Will mentally marked it down as a possible choice.

Mighty Leap

Active: 1 Charge

Your Jump distance is tripled for a single jump.

Now that might help me get out of here alive, too.

If the portal was guarded, then sneak up to it and cover the last thirty feet or so in a single leap, bypassing the fight entirely.

It’s got more potential range than Stone Charge. Possible. Next.

Prey’s Senses

Passive:

The User’s field of vision widens, as well as minor improvements to their hearing and smell. Scales with Acuity.

That’s a good Ability. Not sure I want it as a Primary, though.

It would help with survival, definitely, but since it didn’t help with actually doing anything, that assistance was limited.

Sourdough

Active: 1 Charge

The user may gain the full effect of a Consumable Relic only using 80% of the Relic. The remaining 20% may be reserved to ferment a new Consumable Relic, if provided powdered Relics, time, and additional Charges. Scales with Resistance.

That is…what? That seemed like an Alchemist archetype minor Ability. If it was strengthened enough, it would probably allow someone to grow consumables in batches, like…sourdough. Hah.

Upgrades might expand this Ability to include equipment maintenance, or food-creating Abilities. It gave Will the impression that it was pretty useful for a Climber. Or a climber, for that matter.

Abyss, if he raised it high enough to produce more than he used, he could make a living off of selling batch-grown healing potions.

But it didn’t help survive The Trial. He didn’t have any Relics to hand. Next.

Phantom Hand

Passive: Gain the use of an ethereal Phantom Hand. Access a tiny amount of Dimensional Storage with a Charge. Sacrifice a stored Relic to gain its effect. Scales with Acuity.

Active: 1 Charge

Will took it. He’d never heard of Phantom Hand. It wasn’t a rational decision, he just wanted his hand back.

Phantom Hand set as Primary Ability.

Damnit.

Will took a deep breath and rationalized his decision. If he continued raising it as his Primary, there was a good chance it would unlock an upgrade that allowed it to touch real things and substitute for his lost hand. Which would be just…really, really great.

But it’s not gonna help me survive The Trial, is it? Damnit.

Will went back through the other Abilities, and settled on Aspect of the Goat. It was just too helpful in a survival situation to pass. And, like everyone was telling him: Gotta be alive to make it to the top.

Aspect of the Goat set as Primary Ability.

Apply my free point to Strength, Will thought.

Strength is now 2.

There was a saying: ‘Magic is a wonderful, glorious thing that can be doom or savior…but it takes a week off. Strength is Strength.’

If Will was going to be climbing cliffs with one hand, he needed every bit he could get.

Finalizing Class.

A tingling sensation prompted a shudder as it felt like an ephemeral force moved through him, locking in his selections.

A semi-transparent left hand appeared on the end of his truncated wrist, glowing a faint blue.

He clenched it. Unclenched it. Wiggled the fingers.

If anything, the hand had more dexterity to it than the one he’d been born with, responding with unnatural smoothness and precision.

Heart pounding, Will reached out and poked a nearby bush. The hand went right through it, living up to its ‘phantom’ moniker.

Will sighed, crouching down before leaning back, allowing his legs to splay out in front of him. “Yeah, I figured.” It wouldn’t be useful for some time. No sense crying and wasting some of the little remaining moisture he had.

Guess I should try out the other Ability, then.

Will reached out with his good hand and carefully plucked a cactus out of the soil, and began munching on it.

Taste is pretty good, Will thought, spitting out thorns as he went, amazing himself at the sheer toughness of his mouth. Tons of water. Almost as much as a watermelon. I guess now we just need to wait and find out how poisonous it is, and if that falls under the ‘not fit for human consumption’ tag.

There was no time limit to this Trial, and if the Aspect of the Goat Ability told the truth, a whole cornucopia of food had just opened up to him. So Will resolved to recover his condition as much as possible before he sought out the tribe of maksu.

Will crushed the thick cactus flesh between his teeth, drinking in the doubtlessly poisonous moisture as it flowed down his throat, spitting out the spines.

Gods, I hope I don’t spend the next fifteen hours helplessly puking out everything I just ate.

Whatever else Aspect of the Goat did, it kept the food down, and the unnatural moving sun of The Tower that had been scorching hot against his unprotected skin now felt like the gentle warmth of the real sun.

Wish I had saved some of those bandages, Will mused to himself as he tucked the scabbing stub against his chest, lying down on the tiny ledge and trying to make himself comfortable.

Or my clothes.

Yeah…clothes would be fantastic right about now… Will thought as the gentle rustle of the wind through the nearby bushes lulled him to sleep, despite the rocks and thorns and insects making their presence known against his unprotected flesh.

Will grabbed a branch from the bush, snapped it off and started chewing on the tough, sun-baked leaves, falling asleep with the branch half-eaten.

When he woke up, Will was again surprised, having expected either the sweet release of death or an acute case of food poisoning in the night, which, in his current condition, would also mean death.

How long have I been sleeping? he wondered, sitting up to scan his surroundings.

There was lingering coolness in the stone, despite the sun baking the surroundings.

Is it morning?

It had felt like noon when he passed out, although Will couldn’t be sure, with the unfamiliar sun.

At least twelve hours. Maybe closer to sixteen or seventeen.

Will felt surprisingly good.

Sure, his skin was red and peeling, and his left hand was missing…but he felt better. Like he’d gotten a big dinner and a full night’s sleep…which he supposed he had.

Not even mild discomfort, Will thought, patting his stomach. Come to think of it, ‘unfit for human consumption’ covers a pretty wide spectrum, doesn’t it?

Further down the cliffside was more food and water: a bit of brush and another cactus.

Will’s mouth started watering involuntarily.

Alright, let’s figure out how we’re going to actually get there. The plants were over fifteen feet below him, with only tiny ridges sticking out of the rock between here and there.

Will tucked his wounded arm in and began carefully setting his feet on the tiny variations in the stone that he could barely snag a toenail on…

And found a solid surface.

Will pulled his foot back and glanced down, spotting the tiny lip. There was no way he had managed to fit his whole toe on that vestigial outcropping.

Watching the entire process, Will carefully lowered his foot to the toehold.

It subtly grew as his toe came down on it, extending outward an extra inch to meet his foot.

What…the…?

Will deeply suspected the Uru Drake’s spacetime Abilities had enhanced Aspect of the Goat to make it go beyond simply being good at climbing, altering the size, sturdiness, and orientation of his foot- and handholds.

Will took another step down and a tiny protrusion jutted out to meet his foot.

Moment of truth, Will thought, letting go with his hand.

The tiny ridges he balanced on supported him. The whole process was almost as simple as walking down a staircase.

Will grabbed a tiny outcropping, which smoothly jutted outward, conforming to his fingers in an ideal grip.

He let go with his feet, then unscrunched his body, catching unseen footholds a few feet lower.

In a matter of seconds, Will was at the bottom of the cliff, with less effort than he would’ve spent if he’d had both hands and no Class.

Mobility is right, Will thought, surveying the surroundings as he munched on cactus and scrub brush. He had entered this canyon with a frame of mind that the steep cliffs and boulders were nearly impassable terrain, and that he would have to carefully pick his way down to the bottom in order to reach the portal over the course of several hours.

But this place was his playground, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a disadvantage for a Resourceful Climber. He was on his home turf, even missing a hand.

How can I capitalize on this?

In the far distance, Will saw a tendril of smoke wafting up above the canyon.

I need a weapon.