Chapter 105: Races

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SN2X_2Bx6c2qTKPM6EF4J2JykJtwz7P-oRwmcB5ku-o/edit?usp=sharing

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“...and so, we begin with perhaps the most humble of races: the halfling. The halfling is most easily identifiable by their small size, larger waistline, and affable demeanour. The halfling gains three racial skills: [Affable], [Nimbleness], and [The Great Escape]. [Affable] is a passive skill that makes others predisposed towards liking the user. [Nimbleness] is also a passive which makes any other skills that have dexterity as the ‘base’ stat act as though they were ten levels higher than they actually are. And [The Great Escape] is an active skill which allows halflings to, once per day, escape from any physical constraints. While none of the halfling’s skills are directly related to combat, that does not mean that you should not be wary of them. [Nimbleness] means halflings make excellent pickpockets, [The Great Escape] prevents all but magical prisons from holding them, and [Affable] makes them natural grifters. With [Affable] it will be difficult to be distrustful of any halfling you may meet, but do your best to hold onto at least some wariness, lest you find yourself divested of your riches. Next, we go to the orc. Orcs can be identified by their small tusks, protruding foreheads, and the green tint to their skins, and gain four racial skills…”

Instructor Ponce didn’t pause for a moment as he continued his lecture, and Cayden’s pen flew across the paper as he struggled to keep up. Normally, even staying awake was a struggle in his Skills class, much less paying close attention, but with a topic this important, Cayden was able to do so with ease.

As Instructor Tawny had mentioned when Cayden had gone to her for advice, they were finally starting to cover something in his skills class that could translate more directly to combat: race identification.

Skills could be broken up into three categories: class skills, racial skills, and general skills. An [Inspect] skill could be used to identify someone’s class, which – if it was one of the more common classes – could tell you with high likelihood what their class skills would be. Beyond a few specialized enchanted items, there was no guaranteed method for identifying someone’s race, but most races were easy to recognize via certain physical characteristics. And since each race only had a small number of unchanging racial skills – barring gargoyle, of course – it was entirely possible to know all of one’s opponent’s skills, save their three or four general skills, before engaging with them in combat.

If there was one thing Cayden had learned from the most recent test, it was the importance of preparation before battle. Cayden generally enjoyed learning much more about combat with monsters than with other people, but even he had to admit that the lesson was interesting. And that wasn’t even accounting for the special place the lesson held in his heart from the countless hours he and Elise had spent exploring different race options as children.

“...elves, one of the most popular races among the nobility of our kingdom – and for good reason,” Instructor Ponce said with a rare smile, pausing his lecture for the first time Cayden could remember to flip his hair over his shoulder. But just as quickly, the old elven instructor jumped back into his monologue. “Elves are similar to humans in appearance, but have pointed ears and are more slender. They also typically have fair hair, and are widely regarded as being one of the more naturally beautiful races. They receive four racial skills: [Long-Lived], [Controlled Movements], [Poise], and [Mana Manipulation]. [Long-Lived] is a passive skill which increases the lifespan of elves by an average of fifty percent compared to most other races. [Controlled Movements] is an active skill which gives the elf a temporary fifty-percent boost to their dexterity stat. [Poise] is an active skill with a long duration which, when active, allows the elf to prevent unwanted, unconcious reactions. And finally: [Mana Manipulation], the primary reason for the popularity of the elven race. [Mana Manipulation], coupled with [Controlled Movements], makes elves the ideal choice for any who wish to pursue the path of wizardry and non-skill-based magic. And with [Mana Manipulation], the elf has the easiest time of the races acquiring any other magical skills or classes.”

Cayden wrote the listed skills in his notebook, along with abbreviated descriptions of each. If he were completely honest, he felt slightly jealous of the elven skills. [Long-Lived] by itself would make the elven race better than many other options. Not that he would give up his gargoyle race he’d worked so hard for, but he could see why so many nobles chose elf as their race.

Of course, Instructor Ponce didn’t give Cayden any time to rest in his jealousy, starting the description of the next race with barely a pause for breath. Cayden refocused and resumed his note-taking.

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“...and he even mentioned a number of races we don’t have – crazy-rare races like dragons, drakes, unicorns, chimeras…” Cayden bobbed his head. “I know we don’t have the requirements to unlock them, but maybe we can include them in an appendix or something?”

Elise nodded with a small smile. “Hmm, maybe. I’d like to get confirmation myself though. It’s not that I don’t trust your teacher, but…actually, yes. It’s that I don’t trust your teacher.”

Cayden laughed. “How are you going to do that? I guess we know unicorns exist cause of Instructor Tilda, but how can you confirm the others? Dragons are supposed to be really rare. Like, less than one in a million. Instructor Ponce couldn’t even give any specific advice on their appearance or skills, just that they supposedly exist and are powerful.”

“Eh, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out,” Elise replied with a shrug, before flipping open her soul notebook and marking something down.

Cayden looked at her with concern. Normally, Elise was single-mindedly passionate about whatever she dedicated herself to, and her book of races and race requirements was something she’d been pursuing for more than a decade. Distraction or focus on another project, Cayden could understand. But this halfhearted effort from her was unusual.

“...are you okay?” he eventually asked. “Is this book something you still want to make?”

Elise sighed and snapped shut her soul notebook. “Yeah, I do…” she began, her tone not entirely convincing. “It’s just…I’ve run into some setbacks with publishing it recently.”

“Heh – as if setbacks could keep you down,” Cayden joked, but Elise only chuckled half-heartedly in return. “What sort of setbacks are you talking about?”

“The people who manage the academy’s library have been no help at all. Worse – some of them are actively sabotaging my efforts. I tried to go over their heads directly to the royal library, but they don’t even have a method of accepting book submissions directly – it has to go through the academy or city library, first.”

“...they’re sabotaging you?” Cayden asked with a hint of anger.

“Yeah. I can’t prove it, but every time I try to submit my book, it hits roadblocks that shouldn’t be there. And when talking to me…some of the clerks are cruel.”

After hearing that, Cayden was well and truly worked up. “What about your teacher, Basura? Isn’t he some sort of bigshot in the affiliate academy? Can’t he help?”

“He’s great. An absolute genius when it comes to enchanting and wizardry. But he’s not exactly socially adept, and I’m not his only student. This isn’t something I can run to him for help and expect him to fix with a snap of his fingers.”

And Cayden didn’t have another response for her. For a moment they sat in silence in Elise’s dormroom, Elise in the chair in front of her desk and Cayden in the chair she’d specifically gotten for his visits. Until Cayden jumped to his feet in a surge of motion.

Cayden had recently acquired a skill he’d been told could be quite intimidating. He figured it was time to make use of it.

“Why don’t we pay these library clerks a visit?”

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Cayden led the way from her dorm, stalking across campus, but was forced to pull back on the reins when Elise pointed out he was going the wrong direction. He’d never actually been to the academy library. He knew lots of students found it extremely helpful for the more academic side of their classes, but Cayden had never learned very well from books. Elise had always been knowledgeable enough and willing to help, and was a much better study aid – in Cayden’s eyes – than a book could ever be.

Eventually, they made their way into the library. The only library Cayden had ever visited much in either life had been the prison library on Earth, and this one…wasn’t too dissimilar to that. It was smaller than he expected, although he supposed that made sense. In a world that hadn’t yet developed the printing press, there wouldn’t be near as many books.

“Who do I need to talk to?” Cayden asked, and Elise gestured to a line of desks on the far side of the building. Only one of the desks was occupied, by a young intelle a few years older than Cayden. He had a pile of scrolls and books next to him he was flipping through.

Elise edged behind Cayden as they approached, which Cayden found strange. In their delves together, Elise had always been so fearless, often foolishly so – yet she seemed so hesitant around this clerk. What must he have done for her to react this way?

As Cayden approached, he didn’t bother to stare over the clerk’s shoulder as he was trying to build the habit of doing, instead focusing his eyes directly on the clerk’s hunched back. The young intelle dropped his pen before looking up in fear.

“...I understand that you are giving my friend a hard time?” Cayden said in his most menacing tone. He wasn’t sure how effective it was – after all, he was still only fifteen years old – but it seemed to work well enough, as the intelle shrank back even further from Cayden’s gaze.

“...who…?” the young man got out, and Cayden stepped slightly to the side to reveal Elise, who simply stood there.

“Assist her in getting her book published,” Cayden commanded. It bothered him how much he enjoyed seeing the clerk nod frantically in response, but this guy had been bullying Elise – he deserved what he was getting.

But then the clerk’s gaze shifted slightly to the right, further behind Cayden and Elise, and his posture changed. Cayden heard a voice from behind him.

“Cayden. Why are you bothering this young man?”

Cayden turned to find Velic and Marvenal standing just a bit too close behind him.

“What’s it to you?” Cayden asked, perhaps more confrontationally than was needed. But he noticed Elise shifting to stand behind him once again, and he refused to back down.

“Do you not recognize the handwriting?” Velic asked, gesturing to the papers strewn across the clerk’s desk. If he was bothered at all by Cayden’s gaze, he didn’t show it. “He is the one who compiled the report of our fellow competitors. So again, I ask: why are you bothering him?”

Cayden looked back at the clerk in surprise. Was this one of Velic’s ‘contacts’?

He shook his head. It didn’t matter either way, not if the man was messing with Elise. But he didn’t want to antagonize Velic, so he dropped the hostility from his tone.

“He’s been preventing my friend from publishing her book – I’m just trying to get her fair treatment.”

Velic looked at Elise, his head tilted slightly sideways, before a faint sneer appeared on his lips. “From what I understand, her ‘book’ concerns making race requirements known to the masses – a frankly ridiculous idea, putting delusions of grandeur into the heads of commoners. It’s no surprise that it was rejected.”

Cayden frowned. Did Velic…already know about Elise’s book? Was he the one who was actually stopping it from being published? It seemed like such a ridiculous possibility. Even if they didn’t always get along, Cayden didn’t think Velic would be needlessly malicious. Why would he do something so…petty?

“I’m one of those commoners too. And why not? Are you worried her book will shake up the status quo? That something in it is so revolutionary that you need to go through the effort to stop it? By blocking it from being published, you’re preventing nobles from being able to read it too, you know.”

“Hah! I’d hardly call it revolutionary. And it’s cute you think anything in that book could possibly offer something new to anyone with true power. Trust me – any ‘new information’ she thinks she may have found has already long been discovered and discarded as useless.”

Cayden frowned. He knew Velic was still angry with their loss, but now the boy was just being unnecessarily antagonistic. Not to mention, his last claim was patently untrue.

There wasn’t a chance the nobility knew about the gargoyle race. Right? If they did, wouldn’t they be using their influence to force the race and milk dungeons for primordial mud to stack as many powerful racial skills as possible? Not to mention some of the other powerful races he and Elise had discovered, such as fateweaver…

Cayden’s thoughts ground to a screeching halt, as his vision narrowed in, blocking out everything but Velic’s sneering face.

If the nobles knew of fateweavers…they would attempt to create them. But the requirements for that race were difficult – they required the fateweaver to live through a calamity that had less than a one percent chance of survival.

That was not something that could be easily manufactured. Not if they wanted the new fateweaver to hold any loyalty to those in power afterward. The only way would be to cause the calamity without them knowing. To prevent them from having access to other races so that they’d be more likely to choose the powerful fateweaver race. And then, after going through the change, to scoop them up and train them to be loyal…

Like pieces of a horrific puzzle, slight inconsistencies around the disaster that changed his life slotted into place – like why the legion had appeared so soon after their town had been destroyed. Why one of the first things they’d asked Cayden and Tiana, after rescuing them, had been their age. And why, the day after Tiana’s change into a fateweaver, they had shown up to recruit her to the fateweaver compound.

It was as if they had been expecting it – waiting for it.

Cayden lunged forward, his claws around Velic’s throat.

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