7 How to Use The License

With paladin class license in my hand, I open my codex and see if there's some changes in me. Still noted me as "Junior Hunter". Now I begin to worry if I can't have the abundant defensive skills that Paladin has, and my plan going to waste. I wait and wait, maybe the system need some time to update the game's data.

Hours passes and still there's no changes in the codex. I am still a Junior Hunter. What should I do now? Ask Game Master about this? What if using someone else's ID is illegal? They can banned me from the game, it means forced retirement. I can not retire the game, I just begin.

Now what am I going to do? Who should I asked? Can I asks an NPC how to use my own licence when I am using another player's ID? What if the NPC record it and GM detect my activities? Oh wait, I can tell the NPC that the player who gave me the ID was already retire, so I am not buying his licence, nor his identity, and that's why my game is legal. Isn't it? Maybe let's just try it.

Just before I re-enter the Hall of The Phoenix Knights, a knight pass me. Interestingly, he hold license on his hand and open his own codex. I stand behind him so I can peek on a flash notification shown in his codex page, says, "you had been promoted to the next level. Imprint your blood seal into the codex to confirm.". He then pressed the license into the codex until it melted into it. I see a faint bacon light shines from the codex and quickly gone. After it was done, he close the codex and walks on.

Wait, is that how it actually works? I let my codex eat my license?

Maybe the notification does not shows on my codex because I was not a knight. I doubt that I can change my class, but we'll never know if not trying. I open my codex once again and press the license into it. To sign the license, I need to press my blood to seal it. That blood mark glows when it touch the codex. Soon, a faint bacon light shows just like that knight before. After the codex swallow my paladin license, the license disappears.

Now my codex noted me as "Paladin", my rank is C. Interestingly, it change my name as Gail a.k.a Byrond Marshall.

I checked Byrond's license once again and find his blood mark near his signature. Now I know that I was supposed to use this when Byrond gave me the license. Well, how come I did not notice how to use this? Maybe because this license was not done by me so the codex a.k.a my personal record was not detecting the activity? What if on third class I take another class than Paladin? Maybe to strengthen my power, I will take third class from another branch. Well, since the codex is telling me that I will need lots achievements, titles, and honors to be able to enter the third class trial, maybe I will leave that later on.

On the next page in my codex, new pages appears. It was pages that lists paladin's skills. Basically all of them are passive skills.

Shield Endurance - raise shield's endurance power

Heavy Armor Endurance - raise heavy armor's endurance

Provocation - make enemies drawn into you and disarm them from any skills for 8 seconds

Defense Boost - reduce incoming damages by 5%

Reflect Damage - reflecting 1% of incoming damages

Beast Master - raise defense against non-playable characters (monsters) and raise attacks towards them.

I have 5 skill points to raise, means I have to sacrifice one skill to be left behind. Welp, basically Paladin is a support class, isn't it? And I will rely my attacks to my biological power. So, let's focus on hunting first, then, I choose to sacrifice Shield Endurance, since I think I might be using bows and arrows more.

Next step is looking for clan to provide me with stuffs I need to grow. This game, Age of Clans conditioned it's gamer to depend on clan in order to survive, grow and be stronger. Suddenly I remembered Adrianne, the cute lady wearing heavy armor on her torso said that she was in a clan called Gunslingers. I open map from my codex and searching for it's location. Once I find it, I directly walk my way.

It was not really an incredible clan, the headquarter is small, rather like an old abandoned building in renovation. When I got there, a tall black guy with handsome features immediately notice me as a paladin. He stops nailing the broken roof and jump right away, landed in front of me.

"Wow, are you what I think you are?" he asks with faint smile on his face, sign that he is excited to see a paladin walks right into his headquarters.

"If you think I'm the living sand bag masochist, yes I am," I answered.

His smile widen, I can see his white teeth behind his lips. "Oh, well, so, what can I help you, Mr..."

"Byrond. Byrond Marshall."

"Byrond," he repeats. "Anything I can help you with?"

"I am looking for a clan."

I can see that he is very happy to hear that, after all, the rarest class in this game has come on his own, looking for a space available in his clan. If I were him, I would kick someone to spare a space if the lists was full. But he told me, "wait a moment, will you?"

Smoke blows above his palms, turned into fire, fire turned into ashes, ashes formed a codex. It is the codex of this tall black guy. He open his codex and searching for a player by the name of Byrond.

The pucker between his eyebrows telling me that there's a little problem in finding me.

"So, we have two Byronds, one of them is Squire, and the others is Paladin. I assume that you are the Paladin one?"

I peek at his codex and see that my name was written as just "Byrond", instead of Gail/Byrond. Just like the name on the license. Interestingly, my brother was classified as "Squire" even though he was already had his license as a knight. Yes, Byrond my brother had not yet imprint his license so I can imprint it on mine early. Damn he must had forgot to tell me what to do with the license.

"Yes, I am Byrond the paladin one," I point at myself in his codex.

"Alright, let's see your statistic," he read my information in his codex. "So, you just finish your trials, I see. Unfortunately, our clan, tho it is not really popular, but we have our own standard too."

A test! I should've know. One way to lift their own pride from other players.

"Cool, so what should I do?"

I imagine that I should fight someone, and maybe I should beat Adrianne in a fight. But it is more than a duel, "on weekend, there always a tournament being held. It was an Open Fortress Siege tournament. A good and brilliant way to gain fame and honors. You will come to this place and we will go there together on friday, so I can see and judge whether you can fight or not."

"I see," I answers simple, full of confidence that I can fight better than most people out there. I will make him amazed with my power and abilities.

"Good. See you on friday morning. Don't show up late," he grabs my palm as I grab him.

On my way home, I open my codex to read anything about Open Fortress Siege, because I just heard about it. The description says "Open Fortress Siege is a weekly tournamen held between 30 player versus another 30. Both played as opposite team, wages in war with real equipments, but each players can choose any skills from the other classes. The winner is the first team to take the enemy's flag and replace it with their flag."

Sounds interesting. So basically this is a simulation war. They even embed the record video about the last Open Fortress Siege. I play it and watch.

My hands trembles as I watches the brutality of war, and I feel like my neck got cold. What I see is real bloodshed. Arms chopped off, arrow struck into someone's eye, hammer destroys someone's face.

Byrond was right. This game is crazy.