The Classless Sorcerer's Self-Stealing System

"Geirzmat's Emporium is back that way. And this is Blacktooth forge." Xander stopped walking for a moment, gesturing towards the large building out of which smoke billowed from multiple chimneys layered at various heights along the roof.

A shop front window displayed many kinds of weapons, swords and daggers and the likes, and several sets of armor. A dark, iron sign swung in the breeze from a post next to the door, displaying the name of the forge alongside a little depiction of an anvil.

Xander continued, "Not guessing you'll need much in the way of arms, but Meron's work is essentially the standard for all adventurers in Frostwall. If you find yourself in need of a piece of metal, this is your place."

Bly nodded wordlessly, simply soaking in the sights as he followed Xander down the street, which Xander had called 'Vaulter's Row'. Shops and stalls and vendors of all kinds lined the streets and filled the shops. Armor, weapons, potions, travel gear, delving gear, mounting gear… it wasn't exactly hard to guess that this section of the city was oriented towards adventurers and delvers. After all, the Silver Vault dungeon was located somewhere around here, presumably, and the surrounding elements and infrastructure seemed like only the natural progression given enough time and success.

Blychert wasn't sure he'd ever seen so many adventurer types in one place before, but it was certainly fascinating to see all the various parties and interesting figures that swelled their ranks. He gathered that many of them must have delved the dungeon regularly, if not at the same time. Whether by friendly rivalry or contentious, all parties worked in tandem to clear dungeons. Though equally, most people vied for the reward and glory that slaying boss-level spawns provided. He wondered how that affected so many parties working in one area, and who the highest-level person in Frostwall was. He couldn't help but wonder for a moment if he himself wasn't among the lowest.

Whatever the case, it only made him that much more excited to be involved.

"Adventuring Hall's up here on our right." Xander said, "The Guild has an outpost farther down the way, if you prefer them. Though something tells me that's not really for you."

"Keep me as far away from that place as possible." Bly sighed, shuddering at the thought of stepping foot inside any guild hall again, let alone trying to deal with an administrator.

It made sense that the Guild had a presence in Frostwall, as unwelcome as it was to Bly, considering the local dungeon's high rating. In all likelihood, there were adventures from Greygarde delving in Frostwall this very moment, so it stood to reason that their adventuring liaison would follow suite.

"Don't worry." Xander chuckled, "We won't be dropping in for a visit anytime soon. But look, I'll take you to the Hall tomorrow and we'll get the paperwork done to officially register you as a member of Bold Arrow. We'll also secure your delving emblem—er, that's your permit to enter the dungeon here in the city."

Bly rolled his eyes, "I thought you said I already was a member? And what? What permit? I didn't need one of those for the Gleaming Caves…"

"In spirit, in spirit." Xander waved his hand in protest, "Things are a little more bureaucratic in the big city, Trelen. This isn't the middle of nowhere anymore. You got to play by the rules."

"Cause that's gone so well for me in the past…" Bly grumbled but chose to keep it to himself.

"I promise, it's not so bad." Xander inside, "But hey, look, here we are… behold, the Silver Vault."

Glancing up, any thought of paperwork immediately vacated Blychert's mind, replaced entirely by the sheer majesty of the dungeon entrance before him.

A cylindrical shaped structure standing nearly thirty feet tall and easily spanning several hundred feet in diameter sat in the center of a wide, hexagonal shaped plaza. Beneath the late afternoon sun, its western side was a blazing color, but the structure as a whole seemed to be made of a silvery, metallic material, etched with many fine lines and runes, and much larger bas-reliefs that depicted various creatures and warriors and other iconography that Bly didn't recognize. As they continued past the plaza and farther down the street, Bly noticed a tall archway on the dungeon's eastern side, within which two massive, bronze colored doors were open wide, allowing for presumably adventurers to come and go as they pleased.

[SAGE ---> Winter System Notification]

> New dungeon detected [Silver Vault]

Blychert offered a cursory glance at his sage terminal momentarily, regarding the notification with little interest. However, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and double-took another glance at his terminal.

"Winter system notification…" Bly mumbled.

"I am Winter. I am ruin."

Those words… the Pale Lady had said those words to him in that place, and they echoed in the back of Bly's mind suddenly, saturating his every thought as his heart raced a little quicker.

There were different system notification types, sure, but they didn't mean anything. Did they? What was more, nobody ever spoke about them with any particular interest. And yet… that type of notification only ever seemed to register for dungeon related events. It notified of dungeon entry and exit, of new spawn types, it had even alerted the party of lair changes when they'd fought Glemberfang. Hadn't it?

Bly shook his head confusedly.

If any of that was true, and if it was also true that the dungeon anomaly had triggered a series of events that led Bly to meeting such an entity in the first place, then that entity, which had named itself Winter—named itself—then coincidence was all but impossible. Just what in the hell had they crossed paths with? And if it was a part of Sage, in any way, why had it said those things to Bly? Said it would 'pray' for his journey's beginning, and not simply destroy him on sight?

Wasn't he an abomination in the eyes of the Divine?

And why hadn't he noticed any of this before now?

Bly's eyes widened.

Because… he hadn't been back to a dungeon since the incident. Had he? He hadn't received any further 'winter system notifications' until this very moment.

"Trelen?"

Bly jumped back slightly, startled by the hand on his shoulder. Glancing up, he saw a concerned look on Xander's face and realized he himself was breathing a touch haggardly.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked, a genuine concern in his voice, "Not having those… vision again. Are you? You need to sit down?"

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"Huh? No—I mean, not really." Bly dismissed with a shake of his head. Whatever this was, if there was any credibility to his speculations, then there was simply no way he could tell anyone about it right now. It was far too dangerous, considering how little he really understood about it in the first place. Paired with his classless nature, there was just no telling what kind of trouble he was liable to face, neither for himself nor for anyone associated with him. He smiled, saying, "Just a bit lightheaded. Tired too. I haven't eaten much today."

Xander grinned, "Well it couldn't have been the cleaning. You barely used the broom."

"Hey, I didn't see you doing much either." Bly crossed his arms, eager to change the subject. Frowning somewhat, he added, "Are you sure everyone's going to meet us on time?"

"Count on it." Xander affirmed, "They'll be there."

"Trel Trel!"

"Guh—" Bly grunted, as his body was suddenly pulled into an embrace and squeezed to within an inch of his life. The Half-Full Flagon was fairly crowded for the supper hour, and so more than a few pairs of wandering glances met Bly's own embarrassed guess, to which he simply smiled and nodded.

Stepping back a pace, Vineta inspected Bly with a scrutinizing look, her black hair a bit shorter than the last time he'd seen her, but still braided intricately, as she huffed, "How is it you look deathlier than when you were on your literal death bed? I swear, the boys of this party… do you all have a death wish or what?!"

"Nice to see you to too." Bly chuckled with a warm smile, scratching the back of his head somewhat awkwardly, "And cut me some slack. Would you? I've been on the road awhile, you know."

"On the road—hm…" Vineta shook her head in exasperation.

Bly didn't really feel like explaining the probable reason behind why he looked so bad. He was still shook from his earlier insights, though nobody else needed to know about those right now.

"Vineta, you're making a scene in front of the whole tavern…" A familiarly quiet yet assertive voice said suddenly, and Bly glanced past Vineta eagerly where the bright, blue eyed gaze of Lisel met his own.

"Oh, fine…" Vineta sighed, resigning herself back to the table, "I need a drink."

"I'll go get us a round." Xander said expectantly, removing his cloak and throwing it into a vacant chair, as he turned towards the two people Bly didn't recognize also sitting with them, "You two thirsty?"

If Bly didn't know any better, he was certain that one of them was a giant, and the other was elvish.

The man was huge, especially sitting at the table around other human sized people. He didn't seem quite as tall or as broad around as the giants Bly had seen back in Everden, but he easily eclipsed Xander's height, who was already a few inches taller than six feet, and his degree of muscularity was certainly impressive. Furthermore, he bore the same pale skin and dark, braided hair as the giants Bly had witnessed, and he even had similar runic tattoos.

The woman, on the other hand, had long, golden hair tied back in several loops, revealing her long, pointed ears with no certain subtlety. She wore a curious amulet around her neck too, a crescent moon shaped emblem in the color of azure-blue and white. Otherwise, she seemed to bear a magic aura of some kind, Bly was certain of it even without casting any detection spells.

"Mm." The giant man nodded, "Ale. Please."

The woman looked up at Xander and nodded as well, "Any Lorelic wine will do for me."

"Wine for Rosayn. Ale for Bjadir. And I know the rest of the orders. Be back!" Xander affirmed and headed off for the bar without delay.

"Hey… Lisel." Bly turned back towards her and said, offering what was no doubt an awkward smile, "How have you been?"

Unlike Vineta, Lisel's auburn hair was slightly longer now and styled somewhat differently, bearing a single, small braid along the left side by her ear. It was certainly different seeing her dressed in more… womanly clothing. He had grown so accustomed to her dark leather armor and various winter gear that it was somewhat perplexing at first.

A warm sensation filled Bly's cheeks suddenly, and he couldn't help but think she looked… nice.

"Hello, Trelen." Lisel smiled back, who then stepped up and offered him a hug as well. Stepping back again, her gaze narrowed, "You do look different. Hmm… your hair is longer."

"So is yours." Bly chuckled but turned suddenly to look at the rest of the table. He bowed his head slightly, and said, "Apologies, I don't think we've met. Trelen. Trelen Veil."

Rosayn bowed her head in return, saying, "Rosayn Alrevel. Cleric of White. Thirteenth level. My specializations are healing and battlefield control. I have minor specializations in both counter-magic and alchemy as well."

Sheesh, that was formal. Bly thought to himself, wondering if he shouldn't list off any of his abilities. Considering he wasn't even level ten and didn't technically have any specializations, he thought better than to embarrass himself.

"Pleasure." Bly smiled, turning to the giant, "And you?"

The man stood to his feet, moving the entire table half-a foot forward as his knee hit the bottom of the surface. He winced, pulling the table back to its original position, before extending his arm towards Bly, "I am called Bjadir. My father's name is Burazim. I am of the Salt-Hammer clan. It is an honor to meet Trelen of the Vale."

"Ah, just Trelen. No veil… that's just a surname." Bly corrected. However, his arm was suddenly gobbled up into the massive, muscular forearm of Bjadir, who clasped down hard and shook Bly's entire body fiercely.

"I see, so there is no vale…" Bjadir furrowed his brow. Though truthfully, he looked entirely perplexed by Bly's statement. Regardless, he took his seat and spoke of the matter no further.

"Where's Bredic?" Bly asked, as he squeezed in next to Vineta and Lisel.

"Working, the little weasel." Vineta shook her head, "Leave it to a flame-for-brains like that to go and find his sense of duty all of a sudden. He said he would try to meet us later, but I wouldn't hold your breath."

"Ah, come on, Vin." Xander replied, coming back with two fists full of drinks. He set them down for everyone, and took to his own chair, "Give the guy a break. He's only getting ready to go to school. Our Bredic's a busy fellow. Moving up in the world."

"Sideways, more than likely…" Vineta grumbled, sipping from her tankard. She then said, "Well, enough about him. Trelen. You really must tell us everything. How is Kelvalder doing? And your trip? Spare no details!"

Bly smiled, taking a long swig from his own tankard, and delved right back into telling the same tale he'd told Xander only but a few hours earlier. Granted, he left out all the strange stuff. There would be a time and a place to tell the party the truth, but only after he had the whole truth laid out himself. Although, he couldn't help but notice a few of the wary glances Xander cast at him from time to time throughout the telling of his tale.

He couldn't be sure, but he wondered if the swordsman wasn't keeping a closer eye on him.

Regardless, Bly finished his story, which came with its own slough of questions, though he was happy to answer as many as he could. Rosayn and Bjadir were particularly interested in their fight through the Gleaming Caves, and the four present who were there recounted those days as best they could. It was exciting to tell the story, thinking back to their fight against Glemberfang, the long days of pushing through the dungeon, and the final showdown of course.

Bly wondered if they wouldn't have a few more stories like that to tell as a group in the coming weeks or months, assuming they found any success. Bly figured they could do without all the strange bits, but he was looking forward to the challenge.

A sharp, stinging pain throbbed through Bly's temple suddenly, forcing him to lean back with a wince, as he caressed his forehead. His vision felt blurry, and the sounds and colors around him seemed to dampen at that moment.

There was… something.

A sound?

A voice?

Was it humming? Was it singing? Crying?

It wasn't loud, softer than a whisper, and yet it had some tremendous pull over Blychert's waking mind all of a sudden. He felt… compelled to do something. But to do what? It wasn't clear, it was just an unintelligible idea—a suggestion of sorts.

Was he hallucinating? Was he having another vision? There was a pulsing sensation, like something was moving through him. Was he—

"Trelen?" Lisel's soft voice shattered Bly's inner turmoil, and everything went back to the way it was supposed to be. He turned to look at her, and she seemed to be the only one that noticed something was off, for the rest of the table was laughing at something that had just been said. Lisel lifted her arm up to touch his forehead with the back of her hand and murmured "You're cold. Are you feeling sick?"

"Uhm…" Bly stammered, not entirely sure how to explain his way out of this, "No, I'm alright. I guess I'm just feeling a bit tired, is all."

Lisel's brow furrowed with a concerned look, and she then opened her mouth to say something else. But before she could, Xander stood to his feet and raised his tankard.

"I propose a toast." He announced, extending his tankard towards Trelen, "To the arrival of our sixth member. Tomorrow, we head to the dungeon. But tonight, we'll drink to the honor of our sorcerer. Welcome, Trelen!"

"Welcome, Trelen!"

Blychert blushed, not expecting the rest of the tavern to join in the toast, which had to have been forty or fifty people at least. He was still mildly concerned about whatever the hell he'd just experienced. Whatever it was, it had passed. For now, he would forget about it and just try to enjoy the company of his friends and try to get into the right head space for dungeon delving.

"Thanks for having me." Bly clapped his hands together and bowed his head slightly, "I'll do my best."