[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 6: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

“What’s this?”

“Pick it up and Examine it,” the butler instructed.

Sam lifted the faceted gem and focused on it like Raiko had taught him to do with the [Shatterblade]. It came much easier this time.

[Starter Job Crystal]

(Ascension Gem) (F-Class)

(★Common)

Unlocks a First Order Job by tapping into the potential of those initialized to the Lesser Shardrune Realm of Il’dran.

Allows one to take the first steps towards defining and evolving a Job to specialize in any of the limitless options for stats, skills, traits, abilities, arts and magic.

Better not lose this, or else you’re in for a bad time.

“What the hell is a ‘First Order Job’?” Sam asked. “I already have a job, and it sucks.”

“Use the Ascension Gem and all will become clear, sir,” the butler intoned. The crystal man made a crushing motion with his hand.

Sam followed along. After a moment of discomfort, the gem shattered, and his vision was filled with shimmering text aligned and arranged in discrete windows.

Before him was a list of four “Jobs” with each having a description and a list of starting traits, as well as what bonuses each gave per level.

Since the windows were sorted alphabetically, Sam focused on that first. As he did, it expanded to fill his vision.

“Handy.”

“Very, sir.”

“Wasn’t talking to you, Wadsworth.”

“Very good, sir.”

[Cleric]

Cleric’s rely upon their magical might to minister to the sick and wounded, and to dish out pain to any who would get in their way. While a Cleric is often considered one of the weakest Jobs, with their restorative magics, they can generally outlast any other First Order Job, provided they do not receive an instantly fatal blow.

As a First Order Job, Clerics gain the following Stats per Level Up:

+1 Arcane | +1 Vigor | +1 Insight

+2 Mind

+1 Bonus Point

Starting Skill Spheres

[Restorative Magic Foundation], [Magical Tool Foundation], Choice of (1) [Magical Foundation]

Starting Ability

[Spellbreaker]

Starting Spells

[Regen], [Blight]

Starting Trait

[Wound Sense]

Mana Types

[Water Mana] | [Wind Mana]

Health Growth: C-

Mana Growth: B+

Sam transferred Komachi to his shoulder. “Can you see this too?”

“Yup.”

“Cool, you think I should be a Cleric?”

Komachi gently head-butted her furry round face against his cheek. He reached his hand up to idly scratch her chin.

Clerics usually had a god or something from what he remembered in most TTRPGs, but there was no mention of them here. He wasn’t big on gods, so that was good.

On the other hand, Clerics were weak. It directly said so, even if it covered it by saying they were hard to kill.

He would rather kill whatever was trying to harm him before it could slip past his defenses than to constantly heal any wounds he received.

Sam was no stranger to punishment, but that just sounded masochistic.

Seeing the mention of stats made him pause, however. Didn’t Raiko mention stats and levels as well? She hadn’t been exactly forthright about what that meant, and there never seemed to be any time.

Simply thinking about stats shrunk the shimmering window in front of him and summoned another beside it.

[Status]

Name: Samuel Hunter

Race: Human

Legend: [N/A (Lv.0 - Unranked)]

Job: [N/A (Lv.0 - Unranked)]

Path: [??? (Lv.0 - Unranked)]

Profession: [N/A (Lv.0 - Unranked)]

Health(HP): [50/50]

Mana(MP): [35/35]

Attunements

[Void Mana] (F-Class Apocalypse Gate) (★★★★ Legendary)

Physical Stats

Strength(STR): 9

Dexterity(DEX): 7

Agility(AGI): 6

Vigor(VIG): 10

Awareness(AWR): 7

Magical Stats

Arcane(ARC): 6

Control(CTL): 3

Resonance(RSN): 8

Mind(MND): 9

Insight(INS): 4

Sam rubbed his chin thoughtfully. That was a lot of stats.

Okay so… 10 total stats split between Physical and Magical type. The first four were easy to figure out, and he had to admit he was pleased with the spread.

High Strength, high Vigor certainly made some sense. He imagined if he had more money—or didn’t live in Hawai’i, which was the same thing really—he would have had higher starting Strength.

Was 10 the limit? He had no stat higher. And as soon as he asked the butler about it, he realized his mistake when he simply gave him a level look.

Okay, not getting any help there. I guess this isn’t a game where they tell you everything upfront, how it all works, then set you loose to kill giant rats or something.

Sam reached up and stroked Komachi as he thought.

His Magical Stats were worse than his Physical ones, no surprise there. But they weren’t as bad as he would have thought, having come from Earth where there was no magic and all.

Maybe that battle tipped things in my favor?

It was a worthy guess, but that’s all it was.

But if this world really did have stats and levels… then his starting stats didn’t matter too much. They would be important now, but later on he would likely get so many extra stats that it wouldn’t matter, right?

So why would he want to pigeonhole himself into one type of Job—what he assumed was a type of Class in most other RPGs—that was strictly suited to those stats?

Besides, his Magical Stats were fairly good. He had high Mind and Resonance—whatever that was—and his Arcane wasn’t too shabby either.

Of his stats, only Resonance, Awareness, and Insight truly stumped him. He could make a guess for Awareness being some measure of his ability to take in his surroundings, but Insight?

Please don’t let it be like a Lovecraftian horror thing where the more I have, the more horrors I see, he silently prayed.

If it was, he would be happy to keep it at 4 forever.

There was that mention about Void mana again… he focused on that specific line but couldn’t get any further information. Just like the rest of the sheet. This world wasn’t very forthcoming with information.

Infobrokers must make a mint here, he thought to himself.

Apocalypse Gate seemed… unsettling, but without further information, there wasn’t much he could do with that knowledge. At least the Legendary rarity seemed to suggest it was both rare and powerful.

Working his way up the sheet, he frowned at his MP and HP. Neither was very high, but then again, he had no reference point.

Vigor is the most likely culprit, though I guess they could combine other stats… but damn, that seems low.

That would mean that Vigor would give somewhere in the ballpark of 5 HP per stat point. Not a whole lot. And he didn’t know if there was any sort of base amount of HP that humans received.

Same thing for MP. Both his Mind—which he only guessed was similar to Vigor from its location on the list matching Vigor’s—and Vigor were among his highest stats, which should mean his MP and HP were high too… which did not seem to be the case.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Just gotta make sure I don’t try to stab a giant evil moon-like-creature and I’ll probably be okay.

Moving on, he came across the curious level 0’s. Job and Profession made sense, but Path? Legend? What the hell were those?

Why was his Path a bunch of question marks when everything else clearly stated “Not Available”?

Too many damn questions.

And then naturally he came to the end—or rather, the beginning—of his Status sheet. He hated being called Samuel, and no matter how much he mentally willed it, the name didn’t change.

He wasn’t too surprised about still being human. If given the chance, he would have chosen the same race.

He was always weird like that. Any games he played where multiple races were allowed, he almost always picked human.

They were such underdogs. It was hard not to root for them in a world where there were big hulking orcs, lithe elves, and swarthy dwarves, among many others.

Okay, back on track. Cleric, yay or nay?

“Definitely, ‘nay’,” he mumbled aloud.

Though he had to admit that their [Spellbreaker] ability sounded cool. Unfortunately, like everything else about this place, he received no further info than the name of the ability.

With Cleric soundly in the trash pile, Sam made a slight motion and brought up the next Job.

[Fighter]

Fighter is a melee specialist, preferring to get up close and personal with any and all threats. What they lack in ranged attacks they more than make up for with higher defense, sheer aggression, and the ability to shrug off life-threatening blows. Be warned, however, that just because a Fighter can keep fighting with a mortal wound does not mean that the wound poses no threat. Without prompt healing, a Fighter is just as dead as their fallen enemy.

As a First Order Job, Fighters gain the following Stats per Level Up:

+2 Strength | +2 Vigor | +1 Agility

+1 Bonus Point

Starting Skill Spheres

[Armor Foundation], [Basic Maintenance], Choice of (1) [Weaponry Skill]

Starting Ability

[Rally]

Starting Trait

[Endure]

Mana Types

[Fire Mana] | [Earth Mana]

Health Growth: B+

Mana Growth: D+

Finally, something interesting.

His stats lined up pretty well with Fighter, he had to admit. He even ranked well regionally in the HEMA tournaments he could afford to go to.

But again, no further information on its abilities or traits. The description gave some hints, but that was all. Being able to shrug off a mortal wound sounded an awful lot like what he did fighting the Empty, so maybe the [Shatterblade] had already given him a taste of Fighter or something like it.

Six stat points per level as well, maybe that’s what all “First Order” Jobs get? Least it’s balanced, I guess.

Unlike Cleric, Fighter used Fire and Earth mana, which sounded awesome. Its health and mana growth both seemed inferior to Cleric’s which had the same B+ as Fighter had, only in mana, but the real difference was its C- HP growth opposed to Fighter’s D+ in MP.

Sam shelved Fighter for now, but unless something better came along, he was leaning pretty heavily toward it.

Next up was Mage, and he had to admit, it piqued his interest more than he would have thought.

[Mage]

The wielders of impressive magicks that could fell the gods… or so many would believe. As a First Order Job, Mages are unspecialized just like any other, and lack the various advancements that higher Orders provide. Such humble beginnings temper patience and caution in Mages, both necessary traits should a Mage wish to have a long and fruitful life. All is not lost, however, as even First Order Mages are forces to be reckoned with. Just don’t get hit.

As a First Order Job, Mages gain the following Stats per Level Up:

+2 Arcane | +1 Control | +1 Mind

+1 Resonance

+1 Bonus Point

Starting Skill Spheres

[Magic Tool Foundation], [Destructive Magic Foundation], Choice of (1) [Elemental Magic Foundation].

Starting Ability

[Manawall]

Starting Spells

[Magic Arrow], [Mana Blast]

Starting Trait

[Conserve Mana]

Mana Types

[Ice Mana] | [Chosen Elemental Magic Mana]

Health Growth: F+

Mana Growth: A-

Being able to select the type of mana you wanted was definitely appealing. Not that Sam knew a damn thing about mana, but the freedom alone was pretty enticing.

No surprise that all of its stats were Magical. Everything but Insight, and that bonus point could easily be dropped into that stat if need be.

But the starting spells looked basic as hell, and its HP would be laughable. His 10 Vigor would probably be worthless on a Job like that, though it might help him to survive the early days of grinding and leveling.

Just the thought of it made him giddy with excitement. It was actually happening; he was going to be able to level up, get stats, and Experience.

That almost made being rotted from the inside out worth it.

Almost.

Moving on to the last Job, Sam skimmed it with a shake of his head.

He already knew, in his heart of hearts, that he wasn’t going to pick it. But seeing as the choice he made here would likely set up the course of his new life, he had to weigh his options carefully.

Options he never had back on Earth.

[Scout]

Whether at long range or close quarters, Scouts are the swiftest of the First Order Jobs. With options for both long range and melee, Scouts possess unrivaled flexibility. But that flexibility comes at a cost. Without sturdy armor, or restorative magicks, they must rely wholly upon their reflexes and innate speed to avoid damage, and for this reason many Scouts prefer to employ ranged attacks.

As a First Order Job, Scouts gain the following Stats per Level Up:

+1 Strength | +2 Dexterity | +2 Agility

+1 Bonus Point

Starting Skill Spheres

[Basic Maintenance], Choice of (2) [Weaponry Skills].

Starting Ability

[Identify Weakness]

Starting Trait

[Alertness]

Mana Types

[Wind Mana] | [Earth Mana]

Health Growth: C

Mana Growth: D-

Sam nodded as he read through the description. Similar to Fighter, but clearly focused on evasion and quick attacks over power and durability.

They even shared [Basic Maintenance] and Earth mana as their starting load-out. And being able to pick two Weaponry Skills? That seemed like a great choice if he wanted to pick up a classical sword and shield.

After wielding the [Shatterblade] for far too short a time… Sam was already convinced what weapon he wanted to use. He was especially fond of longswords for HEMA, and the grip between a two-hander and a longsword wasn’t that much different.

Especially not with high enough Strength making the former lighter than a fencing foil back on Earth.

Reaching the end of the list, Sam brought up Scout and Fighter side-by-side so he could more accurately compare them.

Much like his stats, there was an even split between Physical and Magical Jobs.

In the end, the question came down to one thing.

Did he prefer to tank hits in return for walloping his foes, or did he prefer to avoid harm, and maybe take a bit longer to finish off his enemy?

“Fighter it is,” he said with a grin.

You have selected [Fighter] as your First Order Job.

Please confirm your selection. This choice cannot be undone once made.

“Tad bit ominous there,” Sam said, staring at the words. “But yeah. I’m sure. I’d rather get hit in armor than trust never to get hit without it.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a powerful surge of frigid cold turned his bones to ice and his blood to slush.