It was early morning. He awakened to hear the usual screaming of his name.
“Wake up fucker.”
He was now called fucker. Everyone had been calling him that he should just change his name. He began to get up on all fours but was kicked in the ribs and fell back down.
“I said wake up, not have a calm awakening moment.”
He pushed himself up faster and was standing in front of Slaver B. Slaver B was a mean old man, not like slaver A, who was a sadistic fuck.
“Ready to begin the day.”
Slaver B sneered at him and gestured to be followed as he walked off.
Zelhaut looked around but could not see the woman.
He went to start his day as fucker, the most slaving fuck you could ever fucking see. He was digging more ditches it seemed today. What would this village do without him? They would have to whip trees to do their work for them, or god forbid animals. He liked animals. That is why he would never call people animals. Because he hates people, with some exceptions, like that tall lady “Anon” he met last night. She said she would be staying for three days so he should see her tonight. He will be sad when she leaves, but he will enjoy the rest of his time with her.
With something to look forward to he was a ditching machine. He finished the work slaver B gave him, hoping to get the rest of the day off. But alas, he was not lucky that day. Nor any of the other days either now that he thought about it.
So he slowed his pace when he was handed over to slave C, a little boy who knew how to handle a whip. Seriously, this boy was so precise, he could whip a spot in the same place over and over, making for some nasty wounds. It also hurt a lot.
Slaver C had chosen a spot on his ass this time. He wished he could open a can of whoop-ass right back at the boy but, he was weak. Without being able to level a class, he could not gain stats.
A class level is a person’s overall level. Every level in a class gives free stat points and health. Stat points can be put into, Str, Ag, End, Dex, and Int. The amount of health points given is determined by the class. Physical classes usually give more health points than magical classes. Affinity level gives power to the affinity used and mana points. You may be thinking, “well physical classes are better because they give more Health points than magical ones.” Well, that is kind of untrue. Magical classes may get the same mana points as physical classes when leveling up their affinity but, magical classes have an easier time leveling up their affinity. Magical classes deal more closely with mana, making them more involved in the process, which net’s more XP gained for the affinity than normal, without taking away any XP gained for the class. So, often a magic class has more mana and power than a physical class but fewer health points when they are both at the same class level. That is because the affinity level of magical classes are often ahead of physical ones.
Without a way to use mana, he couldn’t level up, even if he had a class. He was stuck with no clear way to improve. Even if he had the ronin class he would still be suppressed as he is now. Take “Anon,” for example, who had to sleep in his shack last night. She was probably kicked out of the inn because they identified her class as a ronin.
He walked back to his shack, the big blue moon in the sky providing enough light to see by. He walked through the door expecting to see “Anon” sitting on the box, but she wasn’t there.
He didn’t think too much about it and just went to lay down. After all, he had a feeling that she had been lying to him.
She was never going to stay for that long when she was on the run.
How had he been fooled?
He should remember that.
His hope for a good night’s rest had been dashed. He had a fleeting sleep, where he would go to sleep and then wake up, angry at himself for being tricked.
When it was finally morning, he had only slept for about three hours. He waited for someone to come kick and yell at him to get moving, but nobody came.
Why nobody had come for him made him wonder. He got up off the ground and went towards the doorway. He looked outside at the dirt paths, and they were empty. He stepped onto the path going towards the square, where people should be, to see what was going on.
When he arrived there, all the people were gathered. On a raised platform were four warriors of a church. Three paladins and one cleric. The paladins were wearing plate armor and had a shield and sword each. Paladins were known to be a physical class that dabbled in a bit of magic. The cleric was wearing light leather armor and carried a mace. Clerics were known as healers who could fight, making them the ideal healers for expeditions. Those two classes were exclusive to churches. The church has a monopoly on those classes. Only the most loyal can learn those classes and they don’t teach them to others unless they have the head of the church’s approval.
All of the paladins and the cleric had their helmets on, so he couldn’t tell their facial features.
“People of Zola, I ask again, did any of you see a tall female ronin come through here?”
The only paladin with silver gilded armor was at the front of the group asking questions about the tall woman.
“Her name is Nona, a blighted individual we have been tracking for weeks.”
He tried to back out of the crowd but got stopped by a voice. It was Maelstront.
“I saw her. She spent the night in that deficient pig’s shack.”
