53 A New Journey
Orena had a wolfish grin on her face as she grabbed his hand and hoisted it in the air for all to see. If Stanis had thought that they had been loud previously, his viewpoint changed as an explosion of cheering hit him, knocking him off his feet as he fell senseless. It was only 5 minutes of cheering after that the majority of the crowd dispersed, allowing Orena to finally talk with Stanis.
He would only learn later that the Classer's Hall had lit up the night sky with a beam of light as he had become a Classer, something that hadn't happened for weeks now. Stanis grew more confused as he saw that Kevin was no longer there, the drunk somehow managing to walk away unscathed from all this cheering.
"The whole Village thought you were dead, you know that?"
His attention was back on Orena as she talked to him in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Knocked out cold by two strong enemies they said; Tanya called the retreat and they left."
Her words shined some light onto his thoughts as he had previously wondered why they had just left him for no reason. Despite it making sense to retreat if you saw that your enemies were too strong, it still couldn't eradicate Stanis's bitterness, after all, he had suffered what no human should have to due to that.
"But turns out you were alive. We figured that out during the war with those moles: we got a notification that we had an hour left to raise our contribution, whereas they stopped fighting and broke rank, their whole formation going down the drain as they lost hope. The tide had turned and we were all too happy and battle-hungry to care about the reason behind it, instead our minds filled with getting the top spot."
She took a breath while enigmatically looking at Stanis.
"But we never had a chance at it as it turned out that dead-boy had come back to life, using his second life to destroy their teleporter from right under their noses. People who knew and still remembered you were happy, no longer guilty that they had killed you. But then you didn't appear…"
This time she looked outwards towards the shining moon.
"We guessed you were dead, either ran away from the Village or had been chased down. Either way you were dead to us once again. But no, dead-boy can never stay dead for long. I can't say I'm too surprised to see that you're alive and kicking right now!" said she as she laughed at her own humour.
Stanis could do little but wrinkle his nose as he heard her narrate his story. It was like a fairy tale from her point of view, with all the horrible things taken out, only his achievements left in. He hadn't really taken much thought when deciding to come back to this village: it was the only one he knew off. He guessed he was happy to know that there was still who remembered him, but he sure as hell wasn't going to be their throw-away rag-doll from now on…
Orena missed the dark shade that was cast over his face and patted him across the back.
"I don't know where you been but it's good you're back. Scowly and that girl Aaliyah both died after those monsters started to come out. Just you, Jayesh and me left." She said with a smile on her face. Stanis looked at her confused but she merely shrugged her shoulders, thinking he was asking about the deaths and not about the mysterious monsters she had just mentioned.
"Anyway, I'm guessing you haven't been in the Village for long and need some help? Jayesh is gone somewhere and your battle-ability would be wasted if you wandered around so join my group tomorrow, we're scouting out a few new camps that popped up."
Stanis had no time to think as she whisked him away, talking non-stop as she brought him over to a building near the centre of the Village. She seemed happier and chipper than before, something Stanis could only see her being if there were strong opponents to fight everywhere…
She quickly got him a room and told him to catch his z's, "cause you're gonna to work up a sweat tomorrow" she said, followed by a tinkle of laughter. Her joy and chipperness gave him a bad feeling as he could only remember her being such at only the wrong moments…
The room he was given was far better than the tent he had to sleep in when first arriving at Yona village weeks ago, as it had a proper bed and a bedside table. However, it lost out big-time compared to his room back on the mountain. Stanis felt exhausted by the day and could feel his emotions going out of control, so forced himself into the bed.
It was as he was lying that he realised he had completely forgotten about the system messages. Unlike other people who regularly checked it, he wasn't in such a habit and thus only checked when it caught his fancy.
[You have upgraded from Classless to Origin.
You have passed the Hu mission by accepting a class, you are now affiliated with Village#4591.
You have gained experience equal to 2 levels as a reward for the mission.
You have been given a new mission by the Hu.]
He was hit by a barrage of messages as he realised he had finally passed the Hu mission. He had all but forgotten about both missions after his time with the Zelts. He had lost his veils of darkness and so couldn't pass the Zelaro mission anymore until he found darkness of similar quality. As for the Hu one, he had long forgotten about it as it hadn't activated when he had first arrived at the village; he only now knew why.
He checked his stats:
[Stanis Volkov
Age: 18 years
Mana capacity: 123 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)
Level 29 (Progress to the next level is 92%)
Class: Origin
Unallocated points: 4
Strength: 44 [35]
Dexterity: 46 [33]
Constitution: 47[34]
Intelligence: 40 [27]
Wisdom: 38+5[26]
Tenacity: 49[32]
Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge, Ice shot, Blueshot spitfire]
He allocated all his points to intelligence and looked at his new stats:
[Stanis Volkov
Age: 18 years
Mana capacity: 131(regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)
Level 29 (Progress to the next level is 92%)
Class: Origin
Strength: 44 [35]
Dexterity: 46 [33]
Constitution: 47[34]
Intelligence: 44 [26]
Wisdom: 38+5[26]
Tenacity: 49[31]
Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge, Ice shot, Blueshot spitfire]
His eyes were half-way popped out as he read through it once more, making sure he wasn't just hallucinating. He had a total capacity of 131 mana! He tried to expand the mana capacity description but failed as all it did was explain it was his capacity of mana storage, and so was forced to expand his class instead.
[Origin: One who chases the origin.
Stat bonus: +5 points to wisdom
Passive skill: Your mana capacity is doubled
Active skill: Blueshot spitfire]
Well, this explained why his mana capacity had risen by so much. He expanded Blueshot spitfire.
[Blueshot spitfire: Use points of mana to create small bullets.]
If he could compare his class to any other person's, he would have quickly figured out that his class was a bit… barren. Usually, the stat bonus was around 10, some even getting close to a 15 stat bonus, and most people got two active skills and a passive. Like Tanya had Heightened senses as her passive, Piercing arrows as her first active and Bladeworks as her second one.
Stanis had hit the mark when he had thought that this class had little substance behind it, and had then missed the mark when he had decided to go with it. In fact, even Aspiring mage had more to it than Origin, nevertheless Tyrant which would have given him a 20 stat boost and four skills! Ignorance was truly bliss as Stanis started chuckling away at his passive.
He found it hard to sleep as his exhausted mind had been rejuvenated by his good luck. The grin wouldn't leave his face as he imagined the possibilities of his mana capacity, which was really the only thing fitting the class's grand name as the rest of it fell short.
He eventually fell to sleep, although not defenceless as his mind still stayed half-awake, a good habit he had picked up after having to put up with Zelgard's night trips for weeks. The sun came out and Stanis awoke, surprising himself as he found out that the grin was still there.
He didn't have any armour to put on as he was still wearing Zelgard's clothes. In fact, the crowd that had cheered for him had been a bit confused at their new, strong Classer. After all, it was a scruffy looking man wearing dulled, casual clothes, with a monster-like arm. The arm wasn't that shocking anymore after many had become Classers, nor was his scruffy appearance as there was still an influx of people coming from the wilderness every day, but the casual clothes he wore, weeks into the apocalypse, was a bit confusing.
Stanis followed his nose and quickly found himself in the dining area, surprised as he found hot food inside the building next to his. He ate the grub and walked out, half-considering going back to the Smithy but deciding to honour Orena's request as he walked towards the front of the village.
It was as he was walking through the village that he realised how many people now lived here. There had been about one to two hundred people in the crowd yesterday, but now he estimated there were at least 800+ people in the village. The most shocking thing, however, wasn't the number of people but the fact that this place hadn't been run down by that amount of people. It clearly showed good leadership at the top, something he instantly connected to strength.
After about a 20 minute walk, trying to find his way through, Stanis eventually saw Orena waiting by the front of the village. Next to her was a giant-like black man, one he instantly recognised as Caleb from the tattoos ranging down his arms.
And next to him was a lithe girl, smaller than she should be as she stood next to Caleb, with white hair and pale skin. Stanis had stood out while walking through the village but it was nothing next to this group who others actively greeted/ stayed far away from. It was clear he had been hoisted into the wrong crowd…
