Silverdawn
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Unclassed - 7
🕑 Added 2025-10-26 20:19:28 +0000 UTCMy stunt with the grenade had earned me, in Tattia’s words, ‘the most lucrative contract she’d ever given out’.
I frowned as I picked at a tough piece of steak with my fingers. They’d given me a knife and fork, but right now, I didn’t have the patience. I bit and tore into the meat like I hadn’t eaten in years—which, considering my usual propensity for gruel, was almost true. The meat was tasty. It was ike daydreams and silk.
It didn’t make me smile. There was no pleasant fullness, nor desire to relax.
I wasn’t a guest here;this was fuel.
I ate it as such. Refused to savour a bite beyond the first.
I didn’t trust this place. I didn’t trust my contract. I certainly didn’t trust Tattia.
But I’d thrown my lot in. For the next six months, I was an employee of the Rift Delving Association, and I was determined to make as much money out of that as humanly possible—whatever that might entail.
The steak they’d given me was huge. I got through about half of it before I started to feel full.
Rather than waste the rest, I stored it in my [Hoard]. Living creatures were a problem at my current level, but dead ones? They seemed to pose no issue.
I did wonder about spoilage. How long would the meat keep inside my [Hoard] before it started to go stale? Would it degrade more slowly inside, or perhaps faster?
I made sure to grab my thousand gold before I left. I was told that I was better off leaving it with the Association to ensure it didn’t get stolen on the job, but as usual, I told them I was confident that I could hide it. Same went for the potions I’d been given. Tiger man assured me that was a terrible idea, but he didn’t seem to care either way.
My other provisions would apparently be provided to me once I arrived. Once I’d finished eating, I was brought out to a plain horsedrawn carriage and told to sit at the back. A lizardman with light bronze scales sat inside.
“Greetings,” the lizardman said with the hint of a hiss.
His body was thinner than the tiger’s, but not by much. He was definitely larger than the average human, and beneath the scales, he appeared to be well-muscled, if the tightness of his shirt was any indicator.
“Hello there,” I replied back, somewhere between noncommittal and warm. “You’re the one taking me to the rift?”
“Yes,” the lizard nodded with a big motion of his head. His eyes were large and bulbous, and he stared at me as he spoke. “You are quite the special one, aren’t you? Unclassed, yet your contract is so lucrative.”
The carriage door slammed shut behind me as the implication of his words hit.
Shit… Tattia shared my contract details with other employees.
I’d expected something like this might happen—best I could do was roll with it.
“I don’t know if I’m special,” I lied. “Maybe the Association just wanted to push me hard.”
“Maybe…” The lizardman shrugged his shoulders, then began to reach into a pocket. Moments later, he held a thick piece of cloth in his webbed hand.
“Here. Wrap it around your eyes and I’ll fasten.”
Couldn’t say this was particularly surprising, either. Of course they wanted to keep rift locations secret. Saved ex-employees trying to raid them after.
I placed the cloth over my eyes and leaned forwards. I tried and succeeded to preserve a sliver of vision, but it didn’t end up meaning much. With how the cart’s windows were angled, I could barely make out anything.
The lizard tied the cloth tight and then called forth to the driver. The moment he’d signalled we were ready, I felt the carriage hum into motion, smooth and then bumpy.
I’d never actually been in a carriage before. The closest experience I had was stowing away on the back of a food cart—this was decidedly more comfortable.
I used the few moments of silence to go over my skill increases.
[Haggling: 5 >> 7.]
[Persuasion: 6 >> 7.]
[Grappling: 5 >> 6.]
[Sleight of Hand: 5 >> 6.]
[Intimidation 2 >> 5.]
Once again, it was a fairly substantial increase, especially in [Intimidation]. Two whole levels in [Haggling] where usually it took multiple deals to score one level—it made me wonder whether the inventiveness and efficacy of the techniques I employed or the size of the deal I ended up making was the more important factor for growth. I imagined both made a difference, but I could be wrong.
I’d gained a level in [Sleight of Hand], too, likely from my practice with the rock being put into action. [Persuasion] increasing also made sense, as for [Grappling]…
Had it gone up while I was tussling with Tattia? I was more being crushed than tackling her. Then again, I supposed I took control of the situation and pulled her around after. I guess even with a massive amount of leverage, that counted?
If that was enough for me to get a level in [Grappling], why hadn’t reading those two contracts made my [Literacy] skill increase?
Skills and the metrics used to govern their growth continued to boggle my mind; it was a puzzle I was determined to figure out.
“So…” the lizardman started after we’d been on the road for about a minute. “You think you’ll work on getting your class while you’re here?”
This guy was talkative. “Probably. Got any advice on how I should go about that?”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” the man said, a soft click in his throat. “You’re going to want to join a group when you arrive. A strong one that will protect you.”
“A group?” I repeated, glad I was getting some actual advice.
“Yes. Miners often form groups. Being in one should give you others you can rely on. Unless you do have some special talent, almost everyone in that rift is going to be stronger than you. Going it alone would be impossible.”
“What do I need protection from?” I tried asking.
“Other than the workers?” Lizardman clicked again. “I do not know. I only work transport. I hear monsters are a concern. I couldn’t tell you what else.”
I thanked him for the information. Anything right now was useful, and while I liked the idea of joining a group in theory, I didn’t want to be the weak link in one, and I knew my Unclassed status was likely to make me just that.
Plus, I wasn’t sure how my contract information being leaked was going to affect me. Would it make people assume I was highly capable? Would it make them resent me? Time would tell. Either way, I imagined that joining a group for ‘protection’ wasn’t a simple and friendly activity that didn’t incur a major cost.
That’s how it worked out in the real world. I’d seen it countless times with gangs and organised crime.
Still, if groups were how these mines operated, I might have little choice but to join one. It’d be on me to make sure I didn’t get exploited for my efforts.
I could hide all of my belongings, at the very least.
I did have one thing I was beginning to worry about. How exactly was I going to deal with rift monsters in my current state?
Mutated rodents had been barely accomplishable for me. I was strong for my size, but I was still small, and Tier 0 to boot. If I couldn’t actually fight anything, then I was going to be in a position where I had to rely on others for help, and that position sounded like one where I had zero control.
That meant I needed to find ways to shore up my weaknesses and grow in strength immediately. That or ways to beat monsters I usually wouldn’t be able to.
I still had three Resonance Crystals on me; two of them B Grade, the other Grade C. They were a powerful asset, but limited and hardly subtle. Plus, I doubted I could pull the same trick I used on Tattia on anyone in here—I’d get murdered in my sleep if I wasn’t careful.
I carried on mulling over my options as I listened to the sound of shod hooves and turning wheels. The air grew more pleasant, and I felt a cold chill as I realised we’d entered some stretch of countryside. Through the small eyehole in my head covering, I could see a faint trickle of light. The air smelled of grass and dew.
Eventually, the cart ground to a halt. I reached for my bag and was led, still blindfolded, out into the evening air.
I shuffled along the floor, unable to see, until I heard the sound of knocking on metal.After a brief, hushed exchange of words, a door swung open.
“I leave you here. Good luck in there.”
“Appreciated.”
Truthfully, I felt somewhat unnerved, standing in a strange place with a blindfold still around me. The next person to receive me was far less talkative. He grabbed me by the arm and led me through the mysterious facility. I could hear a faint, static hum as I walked. Though I couldn’t pinpoint the source at first, it grew apparent over time that we were walking directly towards it.
The feeling of the portal made the hair on my arms stand—I could taste electricity in the air. My stomach was doing backflips as my body tried to rationalise its new surroundings;my ears stung under the pressure that the gate before me exuded—I had to suck on my tongue in order to relieve the gnawing sensation.
“First dive?” a foreign accent asked me.
It took me a moment to make out the words. Not sure if that was confusion or panic. I eventually nodded.
“Don’t hold your breath,” the voice instructed. “You’ll go into shock if you do.”
“Got it.”
I didn’t have it whatsoever. I felt scared. I hadn’t expected to feel scared, but faced with this, unable to see, having to trust that whatever came next wouldn’t tear me apart or fling me into the stars above, it was—
I felt my blindfold being pulled away, and audibly gasped when I saw what laid before me.
Only a few feet ahead stood the most blinding and cacophonous medleyI’d ever borne witness to. It was a roaring inferno of otherworldly splendor. A rabbit hole that looked as terrible as it did inviting. Colours and sounds melded together in ways I’d never imagined possible.
It was like something from a dream, or a nightmare.
Somehow, seeing the unreality of an otherworldly rift shored up my determination.
I might be stepping into the unknown here. But I could see it. I wasn’t fumbling through the tenebrous dark. I could see the wonder and the terror and the beauty that stood before me.
My decisions had led me to this place. This was the door I’d been seeking.
A portal to a new life. A path laid bare.
I took a deep breath, ignored self-preservation, and walked onwards.
The rift swallowed me whole.
…
…and spat me out a world away.
For a moment, eternity danced in my periphery.
Then I was sick. My vision swam as I chucked up undigested steak.
It was brief, seeming to fade as my nausea surfaced, but I felt as if I’d glimpsed something beyond reason. I couldn’t describe it.
“You okay?” the gruff voice beside me asked.
“Yeah… just…”
“Feel like you went to a higher plane of existence?” the man asked.
“...maybe?”
The man, who I could now see was human, and bald, glanced at me sidelong. “That’s pretty normal. Happens to a lot of people the first time. It’ll fade pretty quickly.”
Oh, great. It’ll fade pretty quickly. Totally not questioning reality right now.
…my new escort gave me a minute, and it did begin to fade. My rational mind slowly returned, and I wondered what I’d been so worked up about in the first place.
I still felt nauseous though. Beyond that… the air was heavy.
I looked up from where I’d stained the ground, deciding to take stock of my new surroundings.
Beyond the perilous beauty of the rift’s entrance, I was surrounded on all but one side by high cave walls. It looked like it could be any place on Tellos at first glance, a simple cave structure…
Then my eyes met the sky.
I stepped forwards, unblinking, recognising for the first time a green tint in the sky and surrounding atmosphere. I could count two, three, no, four moons in the sky, each of them different sizes, alongside a host of bright and shining stars that burned with each colour of the spectrum in a blurring, bewitching haze.
I took another step, only to feel a rough hand on my shoulder.
“Not that way,” the bald man corrected. “Your job is inside.”
Feeling like I was being pulled away from the birthplace of the gods themselves, I turned, reckoning with my infinitesimally limited knowledge of the world, no, worlds as I came face to face with a narrow, sloping path, leading down and further into the—by contrast—incredibly normal cave.
I was on another planet. The knowledge still bounced around in my brain as I walked, so harshly that I worried it might dislodge something important. I had to pay attention to my breathing in order to ensure I didn’t shiver and shake, my conscious mind still miles away.
Eventually, I managed to drag it down to this new world alongside me. Just in time to see the first thing that set this cave apart from the ordinary and mundane.
Vast constellations and clusters of crystals adorned the high ceilings of the structure, spreading out for what seemed to be forever. There were so many that I imagined a cart like the one I’d rode on could fit less than a percentage of just what I saw before me.
And this was only the entrance. Who knew what else existed further in?
What riches were yet to be tapped?
I steeled myself and kept walking, my eyes attentive.
I’d lost myself for a moment, but I was at full focus now. I remembered what I had come here to do, and it wasn’t to sightsee.
It was to take every penny I could from this place, to become as powerful and skilled as possible in the process.
Even if I was stuck levelling my skills to ten. Even if I was capped there. I knew ways to refine them further existed. I’d find them.
“This is your accommodation,” the bald man said, pointing to a collection of tents that sat over a huge and spacious area. “You’ll stay here until you find a group.”
Despite the vast amount of tents, the area looked relatively unpopulated. The only other people I saw were a few kids who looked to be about my age or a bit older, situated around a campfire, some standing.
“More new arrivals,” the bald man explained. “You’ll be touring the place with them soon. For now, find a spare tent and drop off whatever you need to. Careful what you leave lying around.”
Finding a spare tent wasn’t that difficult. There were plenty that seemed not to be seeing much use. The difficult part was trying to find anywhere inconspicuous to hide my things. Thankfully, however…
[Would you like to store leather satchel containing 1000 gold coins? Y/N.]
The answer to that was yes. Definitely, yes.
The moment I selected it and the bag disappeared, as if it’d never been there, I watched my [Hoard]’s progress bar shoot from one side to the other. It had almost ticked all the way to the right, and I found that by stuffing all three of my superior healing potions inside, I was able to finally progress [Hoard] far enough that the bar was entirely filled.
[Evolution in progress. Hoard Level 1 >> Hoard Level 2.]
[Hoard will now allow skill combinations/evolutions to be forced in exchange for appropriate materials. When merging skills, the primary skill must be level 10 or higher.]
[Unwanted skills can now be discarded for material gain.]
[Hoard capacity increased.]
Wait… what the…
“You done in there?” came a gruff voice.
I almost banged my head against a tent pole as I rushed out the word ‘almost!’; I was still scanning the text that had appeared in front of me. Trying to ensure it meant what I thought it meant.
I mentally pivoted to my system interface, and there, under [Skills], I saw three new options. [Merge], [Refine], and [Deconstruct].
I’d definitely be playing with this later. Right now, however, I had a tour to go on, and I was pretty sure the rest of the group would leave without me if I wasn’t out of this tent in the next five seconds.
I emerged to a tapping foot and a scowl. Our new guide didn’t enjoy being kept waiting.
“This is Maxwell,” the bald man started, pointing to another man dressed in leathers who was just starting to saunter over. “He’ll be taking over from here. Do as he says and don’t wander off. Treat him like your boss.”
With that, the bald man departed, and Maxwell continued to strut onto the scene.
Maxwell looked… tired. He was attractive in a scruffy way, his jaw hard and his eyes a dull brown, hair fluffy and a light coating of stubble across his face. He rested a single hand on the pommel of his sword, while his other arm hung loosely.
“Sup,” he yawned.
No one really responded. A couple of the children around the campfire began to fidget.
“Not a talkative bunch, eh?” He turned his neck to the side until there was a loud pop. The sound reverberated through the large space.
“Well, if any of you think of any questions, it’s what I’m paid for. Otherwise…”
He reached an index finger up to his chest and then fired it forwards.
“Come on. We’re wasting daylight here.”
If that was meant to be a joke, it didn’t land. I thought I heard one half-hearted chuckle, but it might’ve been a cough.
Everyone here was clearly nervous. This guy didn’t really do much to inspire confidence, either. He seemed so nonchalant, like he didn’t take this even remotely seriously.
The other kids filed out at varying rates. A couple looked more alert and attentive, the others like zombies. I think I could pretty easily deduce which of these kids had come to work in the mines by choice.
One girl in particular, a long-haired blonde around my height, seemed to be regarding every stalactite, crystal cluster, and cave formation she saw with abject wonder.
I pondered whether she came here by choice. Sure looked like it. The girl acted more like a tourist on a pilgrimage than a worker or conscript of any kind.
Part of me wondered when crushing reality might set in for her, but then, I could be wrong. Maybe some people were naturally suited to this kind of work. Maybe I should hold off on judging others when I too had come here of my own volition.
Besides, there was something beautiful and mystifying about the sight of it all. Better to appreciate that than be one of the sad sacks in the back looking like they were waiting to die already.
“Do you know anything about the crystals?” she eventually asked, and it took a flustered moment to realise she was talking to the guide rather than me—I’d been open mouthed and about to respond.
“They’re worth money,” the guide answered very simply. “Beyond that, don’t worry. We have skilled appraisers who determine their exact use on the other side. All you need to be concerned with is handling the materials gently.”
“I see…”
She didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. I wasn’t satisfied with the answer. I’d seen what a tiny Resonance Crystal of high quality could do, and while I knew nothing about them, the gems I could already see in this cave varied in shape and size and colour—they could have all kinds of uses I’d never even considered.
It was times like this that I wished I had an [Identify] skill. Appraisal was great if I could actually put something inside my [Hoard], but being able to determine the name and use of objects by sight alone would be far more useful right now, even if the information wasn’t quite as comprehensive.
Ah, well. I’d just have to gather some samples of everything and put them in my [Hoard] if I wanted more information. Should be simple enough if I worked at it.
“This is an active excavation site,” Maxwell grunted, motioning ahead with all the theatricality of a greased cadaver. “See that drill?”
I looked ahead. The open space in the cave had given way to a more narrow one, past which a whole host of wooden and stone supports seemed to have been constructed around a specific tunnel.Inside, there was a small entry point and no perceivable exit.
A massive metallic drill, far bigger than a person, seemed to be operating of its own accord here, pumping on as it burrowed into a hefty slab of stone, through which multiple shiny veins protruded. It seemed to be making steady, incremental progress through the tough material. The drill itself was covered in a faint blue sheen.
Its self-operation was the work of magic, or at the very least, something magic-adjacent. I’d never seen anything quite like it.
Maxwell spun around. He regarded each of us with a bored expression. “You don’t touch that, nor any others you see. These tools are worth more than your lives. Meddle with them, and a cave-in will be the least of your worries.
“If you ever see one malfunctioning, you report it to a staff member immediately. Understood?”
There was a series of nods and verbal agreements. Some sounded panicked. I was barely present.
I was too focussed on the drill. How did it work? Did it use a long-range or continuous spell? Did a crystal power it somehow? If so, did that crystal still have to be bound to a spell? Was it attached to the drill?
“Hey! Keep up!”
Shit.
I left the drill behind and came out to yet another large site that looked to have been built and reinforced around. I had no idea how long this cave had been worked on and how many people had aided in its reinforcement, but at least for the areas we were currently walking through, the work seemed extensive.
Beams of wood and pillars of stone held up almost everything. A crude series of scaffolding had been erected around the high ceiling of the cave in order to allow access to the rocks and formations above. Ropes and runged walkways allowed for ascent in lieu of stairs.
Among everything, I finally saw a couple of workers. Off in a distant corner, there were two boys repeatedly smacking at a wall with picks, panting and sweating, and a single larger figure standing over them, watching.
Was he resting? Waiting for his turn?
No… too relaxed. He was… in charge of them?
[Perception: 5 >> 6.]
Huh. I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.
We continued walking, moving past a massive sliding metal door that we were told ‘not to worry about’ and then continuing into the central workers’ hub.
Here, there were food provisions available, as well as a tailor, a general item shop, equipment upgrades and repair, potions and elixirs, and even a doctor on call, provided the worker could afford to pay or was willing to add to their existing debt.
All for a ‘fair price’, apparently. Yeah, we’d see about that.
We didn’t stop off there. We continued travelling towards the far side of the cave.
After a few minutes of the same, the ground became more uneven and the wooden structures more scarce and pointed. The further we got, the more evident it was that there were large swaths of this cavern that hadn’t been mapped out yet.
More interesting still were the multiple paths I saw leading downward. I hadn’t even considered that this place went deeper. How much so? A single floor, or multiple? It was already so large as it was—this floor had miles of traversable space.
The other thing I was beginning to note was the stifled air quality. It hadn’t been so bad at the mouth of the cave, but inside, it was definitely worse. It was acrid, sulphuric, seeming to sizzle in my lungs when I drew a full breath, never quite filling me but not exactly burning either. A vague discomfort that crackled and popped.
“Am I the only one feeling that?” I asked quietly, leaning in to bright-eyed blondie to get her assessment.
“You mean the air?” she intuited.
I nodded, and she shook her head.
“I noticed it too. It feels kinda funky, doesn’t it? Like there’s fireworks in my chest!”
Okay, I retract my previous defence of her behaviour. She’s crazy.
“It’s too thin to properly see here, but there’s a mist in this cave that makes breathing more difficult,” Maxwell said, picking at his ear as he walked. “You’re better off taking shallow breaths.”
No one said anything this time, though I noticed the general sound of breathing around me diminished somewhat.
“Now, we’re gonna conclude this tour with a visual demonstration of mine work,” Maxwell said, pointing to a narrow tunnel and taking point. “You’re gonna see what your fellow workers do here. Try to take notes.”
We followed in sequence, walking one by one through the narrow tunnel until we finally came out into a wide space that glimmered with red and golden notes. Deposits of ore were littered almost everywhere, some having been detached and loaded onto carts already.
There were about thirty miners going at it in this room right now, and I wasn’t sure where to look. Many were hitting the walls with picks, while one seemed to be measuring a rock with a strange instrument, and yet another was using a hammer to dislodge stone.
One was pummelling rocks with his bare fists. He looked to be enjoying it.
That one didn’t look like a child. He was about six foot four and probably three times my weight. Then again, as far as I knew, every worker in this mine was eighteen or under.
That said, almost everyone here was bigger than me. That came with the territory of being called ‘Stick’.
“Just observe for now,” Maxwell said unprompted, everyone already staring. “You’ll be given actual demonstrations on how to locate and excavate materials over the coming weeks, but right now, we just want you to familiarise yourself.”
For a while, I did as I was told. I sat and I watched.
I found my focus drifting from mining techniques after a short stretch of time. Moreover, I tried to pay attention to how each miner was situated: who they stood near, what the hierarchy and structure of each group tended to be like, and how cohesive of a unit most groups seemed to be.
From what I could tell, among these thirty miners there seemed to exist five distinct groups, some being larger than others. I assumed these weren’t the only workers in the mine, especially considering the number of tents and the sheer size of this place, but that could be a mistake.
After all, the death rate I’d been told might not have been accurate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if general turnover here even without deaths or injuries was still incredibly high. It was probably difficult to find people willing and desperate enough to sign up for this kind of work.
Many of the workers looked tired, but some seemed to take the work in stride. The guy punching the shit out of a boulder hadn’t lowered the speed or intensity of his strikes once since I’d entered; he looked less affected by the exertion than I did when I punched a sack of grain.
Then again, while he was possibly the biggest guy in this group, he wasn’t necessarily the scariest.
Five well-built teenagers, all of them likely between sixteen and seventeen, stood or sat off to the side, occasionally barking orders at or instructing their groups. One of them was a girl.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think that raw strength was the only indicator of power in a place like this. Everyone had classes here. It was guaranteed that many had skills, and there was even a chance there were a couple of Tier 2’s amongst my new colleagues.
Usually, gaining a class was the first step in advancing from Tier 0 to Tier 1, and getting the rest of the way didn’t take all that much work, as awakening to a class was a big boost early on. Going from Tier 1 to 2 typically took years, and in some cases, decades, but there were a good chunk of talented people who managed to achieve such a feat before they even turned eighteen.
Gaining a Tier 1 soul was a decent boost in power, but achieving Tier 2?
Yeah. If the guys leading these groups were Tier 2, or even at the peak of Tier 1, it might explain why no one stopped them from standing around, barking orders and slacking off.
Maxwell lit a cigarette. He coughed a little as his already mist-filled lungs were suddenly smothered in toxins.
I felt some smoke drift into my eye. It stung. I moved away, rubbing at my face and trying to soothe the sensation.
As soon as the smoke cleared and I was able to see straight, chaos erupted right in front of me.
Some mangled wolf-like thing with a crystal sticking out of its head, looking three times the size of any canine I’d ever seen before, had wandered its way into the cavern from one of the tunnels ahead.
Despite its perilous size, it looked emaciated. As if it were starving and desperate.
Its gaze was set firmly on a set of miners right before it, their backs suddenly to the wall, their eyes wide and fearful.
One miner, the largest of the three, shakily clutched at a pick, waving it in front of himself as a deterrent.
That only seemed to piss the creature off.
I watched as the enemy descended on the three miners, a snarl ripping the air as it leapt forwards in search of fresh meat.
“Hey!” I turned to Maxwell, my eyes still locked on the unfolding scene, wide and fearful.
“What?” the man replied, more of a sigh than a word.
“Aren’t you gonna do something about this?” I asked, pointing out to where the monster had just made its first arching swipe against the largest miner’s arm, rivulets of blood coursing through the air.
“No. Not unless people start dying.”
“What?”
“I’m not obligated to respond unless I see a major threat,” Maxwell explained, taking another draw on his cigarette.
The creature lunged forwards and bit down on the miner’s arm. The boy screamed.
This wasn’t a major threat?
Another new hire started insisting Maxwell help as I tuned out the conversation and focussed on the fight unfolding before me. I might not be able to intervene, but I couldn’t stop watching. I needed every bit of knowledge about this place that I could get.
Of the three endangered miners, the two that weren’t being chomped on had taken the opportunity to flee to safety. Now it was only the big guy, punching at the mangy wolf monster’s head in a fervent attempt to reclaim his stolen arm.
I could see that while he was much larger than me, his balance was off and his movements jagged. The bite was pretty deep, and that was likely messing with his coordination. I didn’t imagine it’d be long until the miner fell to a subsequent attack. Every swing of his pick went wide, and the wolf was pushing him further and further back, pacing back and forth, stalking the battleground.
I felt less panicked than I anticipated. My mind was fully enmeshed in analysis, dissociated from almost anything else.
What Tier was this monster? How much stronger than me was its opponent? What kind of threats might I have to deal with down here without anyone to help or save me?
A scream cut through my prior detachment, and I felt a surge of adrenaline. Surely I could do something?
There was no chance I could go and fight that thing. It would kill me in one bite. But if I could at least distract it long enough for the miner to get away, then maybe I’d earn an ally.
I summoned a small rock from my hoard, throwing it at the massive dog.
It was completely ineffective. The monster barely even flinched.
Quickly, I summoned a larger rock and tried the same thing again, walking up a bit closer before throwing it.
Still I drew no eyes from those around me—everyone was far too focussed on the monster.
But the wolf noticed.
It snapped its head around like an irate bird, staring straight at me.
It shambled as it turned. Began sauntering in my direction.
It licked its lips…
Right as I was about to reach into my [Hoard] and grab the remaining half of my steak, hoping it would buy me some time, I watched as a human body crashed into the hostile wolf.
I saw a red surge of kinetic energy, emanating from the fighter’s leg, and then the wolf flew at the nearest cave wall like a furred missile.
I blinked to find a shirtless fighter rippling with muscle stood before me, his fists both soldering with mana, his hair long and golden, a snarl on his face.
He walked over to the downed wolf and kicked it straight in the head. Then again. Then again. He gave it a glowing punch for good measure, so hard it split the wolf’s head with a sickening crack!, leaving shattered stone beneath the monster’s corpse.
The fighter, the miner’s saviour, didn’t make so much as a sound as he neatly and expertly disposed of the wolf. He reached his hand down, punched into the monster’s chest, and ripped out something that resembled a bloody orange stone. He immediately pocketed it.
Then, over the sounds of cheers, chaos, and unrest, he waltzed through the bedlam and picked up the miner he’d saved by the hair on his head.
The boy he picked up looked a lot heavier, yet he hoisted him up in one hand with ease.
This guy was Tier 2, or at the very least, peak Tier 1.
“Thank me for saving you,” he commanded, the first sound he’d made since appearing.
“Th-thank you, Garrett,” the bloodied miner stammered, his eyes filled with tears.
“Your earnings are mine from now on. Got it?”
“Y-yes, Garrett,” the miner stammered, clearly unable to do anything but accept.
This made me more scared than the monster attack had. The extortion. The powerlessness. This guy could’ve been me. If I was in his place, or if that monster had become interested in me sooner…
“Yeah… no. You can’t do that.”
Suddenly, another boy emerged onto the scene. He definitely wasn’t as physically impressive as Garrett, but this boy was tall, dark-haired, and carried an imposing presence. People muttered between themselves as he walked straight up to Garrett and jabbed a finger into his chest.
“That’s my worker,” the other kid breathed. “His earnings are mine. You want him? Pay me. Then he can join your group.”
“Don’t touch me,” Garrett growled, grabbing the other boy by the wrist. Smoke began to rise from their grip, but I couldn’t tell which of them was the source.
"I saved him, Selsor.” Garrett insisted. “I want sixty percent of his take from now on.”
“Twenty,” the taller boy, Selsor, answered, unflinching even as his wrist continued to heat up. It was clear now that the smoke was coming from Garrett, that he was burning the other leader.
“Sixty,” Garrett repeated. “The kid wouldn’t even be alive if I hadn’t stepped in.”
“Well, you did,” Selsor responded, looking down at Garrett, still not responding to the pain. “Thirty’s the best I can do. It’s not worth keeping him otherwise.”
Garrett growled, seeming to surge yet more heat into his fingertips, looking for some sign of give, but none came.
“...fine. Deal.”
Selsor held his scorched wrist up. “Shall I count this as shaking on it?”
Garrett ripped his hand away, calling the other boy a freak and storming off.
I watched the entire exchange with unblinking eyes. These two kids had just made a deal over that miner as if he were a piece of livestock.
Selsor began to rub at his wrist with a dampened cloth. Within moments, the burn marks had all but faded.
If the other new guys didn’t look like they wanted to be here before, they looked downright traumatised now. Even blondie looked like she might be thinking twice.
Note to self: don’t ever require saving here.
Comments
rk
Thanks. Also found it on Reddit ! Great work and can't wait for the next chapter !!
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Either Royal Road or Reddit! I'll leave links: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/137415/unclassed-a-skill-merging-litrpg https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ojfq64/unclassed/
rk
Where can I read the 1st chapters of unclassed?
