Oath

Warden already knew Xiv didn't have answers to all of his questions, but even getting answers to a few of his questions left much for him to think about.

He didn't ask anything related to the world yet. For one reason, Xiv was only a village boy. The farthest he went was to the nearest town. Although he might know more than Warden was giving credit for, the world was not his most imminent concern.

Magic was the biggest thing Warden was curious about. How the system works, why killing monsters makes you stronger, and more importantly, how strong one could become.

Obviously, Xiv wasn't able to answer most of his questions. So Warden changed his tactic and asked him to explain his experience, which started with the Awakening.

Apparently, people randomly awaken their class in their teens. The age may vary from early teens to late teens, but nobody had awakened before they were thirteen or after they were twenty. Awakening wasn't uncommon either, as the little village had over a couple of dozen people with a class.

What surprised Warden more was how Xiv awakened his class [Spearman].

"I was scared out of my mind," he explained, showing a month-old scar on his calves. "The wolf had already taken a bite off my leg, and all I could do was struggle. It was then it happened. Somehow I barely managed to wound the wolf a little with my quarterstaff when a warm light pulsated within me. Before I knew it, my injuries were healed, and I heard the voice of the god."

"God?" Warden raised his eyebrows. He didn't know why his expression became... Well, it wasn't irritated, more like amused.

"Yes," Xiv nodded reverently. "Among the three deities, Kandrashi is responsible for taking care of the world. It is his given duty to protect us from the calamities."

"So this Kandrashi gave you the class, and you managed to overcome the wolf," Warden nodded.

Xiv nodded.

"Do you need to awaken a class to gain strength from the slain creatures?" Warden asked because he was given no class yet was able to harvest energy from the creatures he killed.

"Yes," Xiv said, sounding certain. "Many of us from the village hunted beasts before awakening a class. Most of them didn't see a chance."

"Most, not all?"

"Some died, a couple awakened their class under the pressure," Xiv said, letting out a sigh.

Warden refrained from asking the questions that would give away too much about himself. He wanted to know if everyone awakened possessed a class, but that seemed rather self-explanatory from what he could tell from Xiv.

As far as Xiv was concerned, the Class was the only way to harvest energy from the slain creature. As for how it happened, he wasn't sure, other than Kandrashi allocating the deserved benefit to the class holder.

"About the ranks," Warden mumbled. "It's Copper, Iron, and then the next are Silver and Gold?"

He was merely guessing, but seeing the nod from the boy, he couldn't help but wonder if the knowledge about awakening sparked his forgotten knowledge, or if it was merely a guess.

The spark of realization was quite hard to understand. Warden didn't feel like new information came to his head; he just knew what it was.

More importantly, he was neither Copper, Iron, Silver, or Gold. In the status window, his rank was termed as [Broken Calamity]. He had no clue what its deal was. Still, it felt like something he shouldn't reveal easily.

"What is the rank after Gold?"

"God?" Xiv tried, uncertain. "I don't think anyone has claimed a higher rank than Gold in the whole world."

Warden asked him if he knew anything about the hidden aperture on the way back. Xiv's answers were vague, nothing conclusive for him to consider anything. The Hidden Aperture seemed an even more important thing.

"Oh, Onia awakened something like that," Xiv said, hitting his palm. "She mentioned something about a focal point in her navel."

"Onia?" Warden frowned. "The girl with the water power?"

"Yes," Xiv said. "She almost went down in the river before she awakened her class."

It feels like trauma was necessary for the awakening process.

If he wasn't wrong, awakening an aperture was the only way one would be able to use the energy, be it through a spell, natural control, or imbuing.

There were twelve of them. Warden was certain of that, but he was uncertain what the rest of them do.

Xiv had no answer to different kinds of energy. The boy was even uninformed that energy could be different.

"If you don't mind me asking," Xiv finally asked as they reached the periphery of the village. "Why are you asking such questions of me? I'm sure you know better than a village boy like myself."

"I wished," Warden sighed and decided it was better to express some of the truth, at least not all of it. "I think I hit my head badly somewhere, and my mind became jumbled. I don't remember even most of the common things."

"What!?"

"Fighting comes naturally to me," Warden said. "So is whatever else I learned before, but I don't know even the simple things, such as if we trade in coins, cash, beast cores, or some other credits."

"But Warden, you—"

"Don't ask any questions, because I won't be able to answer you," he said. "Also, keep the knowledge a secret from others as well."

Even though Warden said it casually, his voice had an extra edge to it, which seemed to alert the boy a great deal.

Xiv stood up on the path, his hand clutched to his chest. "In the name of the great System, I swear not to reveal Sir Warden's secrets to anyone without his permission."

"Xiv what are you..." Warden paused midway as a heavy feeling pressed into his chest. "...doing?"

[User Xiv has taken a soul oath to protect your secrets.]

Then the feeling was gone, leaving a perplexed Warden. The idea of soul oaths and binding came to him, and unknowingly he was aware of what the boy had done.