“I guess this means… we can believe her?” asked Fayte like she still didn’t know whether to trust this woman or not.
“It should be fine,” Titania suddenly said as she fluttered out from behind Adam. “I do not sense any malicious intent from her anymore. That means she does not want to harm us.”
Adam and the others relaxed when they heard Titania’s words. She was the only one they could count on for advice and information about all things relating to Age of Gods, so they had a great deal of trust in her. However, while their reaction was to relax, Alexandra gawked when she saw the tiny woman now sitting on Adam’s shoulder.
“I didn’t realize this before, but you’re a fairy, are you not?! Why the fuck are you so tiny?!”
“Do not call me tiny!” Titania snapped like it was an inborn reflex. Her face had turned bright red like a volcano ready to explode. “I don’t want to hear someone who died several millennia ago calling I’m tiny! Say it again, and I’ll curse you!”
“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry.” Alexandra raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I apologize. I did not mean to offend a member of the Fairy Clan. I was just shocked. I’ve met a fairy once before, you know, and she was the same size as a normal human.”
Titania glared at the woman but didn’t say anything further.
“What did you want to talk to us about?” asked Fayte.
Alexandra recovered from her previous shock and smiled at them. “When I was alive, I had been considered by many to be a magical prodigy. Rather than go to an institute, I traveled the world, learning magic from various places and helping people in need. I soon created my own branch of magic called Elemental Magic, which is how the Elemental Master Class was created. You could say it is the culmination of my work. To be honest, the skills I currently have right now are pathetic compared to when I was still alive.”
Nobody said anything as the woman looked at her own hands with a self-deprecating smile, like she was reprimanding herself for being so weak.
“Being a ghost has made me lose a good portion of my spells. The longer I exist here, the less I remember,” she admitted, dropping her arms to her side. “I don’t want the magic I so carefully cultivated for so many decades to go to waste. The magic academy I created to teach others is done for, but that doesn’t my work has to cease. You.” She pointed at Fayte. “You are a Mage, yes? Will you allow me to pass down my knowledge to you? I promise you won’t regret it.”
Ding!
[Alexandra would like to pass her skills on to you. Do you accept? Yes or no?]
A window appeared in front of Fayte, who glanced at it before looking back at Alexandra. The excitement in her eyes was visible—and why wouldn’t it be? It sounded like this woman was offering to turn her into Elemental Master, and finding her a suitable hidden class had been their entire reason for coming to this academy.
“I accept,” Fayte said with a bright smile as she pressed the “yes” option.
“Good. Then be sure to learn these skills well. Also, make sure you show these skills off in front of everyone. Let the entire world know the power of an Elemental Master, someone who has mastered all the elements.”
With a satisfied nod and a bright smile, Alexandra burst into particles of golden light, which floated over to Fayte and engulfed the woman. Susan released a startled scream as light erupted from Fayte’s body. Adam, Lilith, Kureha, and Titania were forced to look away. The light eventually died down, however, and everyone looked at Fayte to see her staring at her hands in awe.
“Did it work?” asked Adam.
Fayte looked up. “It worked. My class changed. It’s now Elemental Master.”
“That’s great!” Susan cheered. Everyone seemed excited. Even Kureha was running around and yipping in excitement.
At that moment, another flash of light appeared in the middle of this stadium. What appeared before them was a treasure chest. Simple, unadorned, but well-crafted. Adam walked over and opened it up. A smile appeared on his face as he reached in, grabbed the items, and held them out to Fayte.
“I think these are meant for you.”
What Adam held in his hands was a set of clothes and a staff. The clothes consisted of a black robe with gold adorning the hems, black pants, a black shirt, a black veil with gold around the edges, and black boots with golden lines running across them. The staff was the same one that Alexandra had used against them. What impressed Adam more than their appearance was their abilities. Each piece of equipment seemed better than the last.
Item Name: Alexandra’s Staff
Item Type: Magic Staff
Grade: 4-Star
Use Requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters
Description: This staff was carved by Alexandra herself. When she was young, she discovered the fabled Tree of Life and was gifted one of its branches by the tree itself. This staff was carved from that branch and contains incredibly potent magic.
Abilities: Intelligence+200%; MP+250%; Magic Attack+200%
Item Name: Enchanted Elemental Robes
Item Type: Clothes
Grade: 4-Star
Use Requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters
Description: These robes were created from threads of magical silk and enchanted with incredible defensive powers.
Abilities: Constitution+100%; Defense+200%; Magic Defense+200%; 75% damage resistance for all elements
Item Name: Enchanted Elemental Shirt
Item Type: Clothes
Grade: 4-Star
Use requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters.
Description: This shirt was created from threads of magical silk and enchanted to protect people against elemental attacks.
Abilities: Magic Defense+300; Defense+300; 15% damage resistance for all elements
Item Name: Enchanted Elemental Pants
Item Type: Clothes
Grade: 4-Star
Use requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters
Description: A pair of pants created from threads of magical silk. They provide a boost to one’s magic defense and elemental resistance.
Abilities: Magic Defense+150; Defense+150; 10% damage resistance for all elements
Item Name: Enchanted Elemental Veil
Item Type: Clothes
Grade: 4-Star
Use requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters
Description: This veil was made from threads of magical silk. It doesn’t just hide your face. It also provides you with a unique skill and defense against magic.
Abilities: Magic Defense+50; Defense+50
Unique Ability: Mind Reading
Item Name: Enchanted Elemental Boots
Item Type: Clothes
Grade: 4-Star
Use requirements: Can only be used by Elemental Masters.
Description: These boots were made from the leather of a dragon and enchanted to offer a boost to the wearer’s physical and magical defense, as well as resistance to elemental damage.
Abilities: Constitution+100; Defense+100; Magic Defense+100; 50% damage resistance to all elements
Fayte quickly equipped the new equipment. Adam thought they looked good on her. The black and gold of the outfit made her seem enchanting and mysterious, which fit her personality. The addition of the veil also added to her mystique. However, while the outfit certain gave her that aura of mystery, it also outlined her figure and made her more notorious assets stand out that much more prominently. Adam was sure men everywhere would be going insane once they saw her dressed like this.
Since he was curious, Adam opened her stats.
Name: Changing_Fayte
Class: Elemental Master
Lvl: 16
Experience: 4,660,450/4,915,200
Reputation: 90,000
Strength: +5
Constitution: +350
Dexterity: +10
Intelligence: +225
Speed: +5
Physical Attack: +5<
br />
Health: 560/560
Hit-Rate: 200%
MP: 1,125/1,125
Movement: 5
Physical Defense: 3,750
Magical Defense: 6,200
Dodge-Rate: 200%
Magic Attack: +5,400
The upgrade to her stats was impressive—ridiculously so—particularly the increase to her Physical Defense, Magic Defense, and Magic Attack. With this, it was unlikely there was a single player outside of himself who could harm her. This hidden class officially made her one of the strongest players in the game.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have defeated [Alexandra the Elemental Master]! [Alexandra the Elemental Master] has dropped the items [Heart of Magic], [Dean’s Key], [Teleportation Scroll], [Guild Creation Token], and 900,000 gold coins. +2,000,000 experience points! +200,000 ability points! +60,000 Reputation!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now at level 18! +1,500 HP! +400 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Changing_Fayte has leveled up! She is now at level 16! +1,400 HP! +1,800 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Little_Su has leveled up! She is now at level 16! +150 HP! +20 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Your party is the first one to defeat a 4-Star enemy. An international announcement will be made regarding your accomplishments and a suitable reward will be given. Because your party has defeated an enemy far above your levels, it has been decided that you will get to choose your reward. You can choose between +10,000,000 experience points, +1,000,000 ability points, or +1,000 status points.]
As the announcement was made, Adam, Fayte, Susan, and even Lilith could not stop their eyes from widening.
It’s All About SP
Adam was so shocked he felt as if someone had shoved his finger into an electric socket. The rewards they could choose from were some of the best he’d seen from any game ever. It was almost like the creator was begging them to become the most broken characters in the entire game.
“Is this what it means to be the main protagonist?” asked Adam.
“Excuse me?” Titania turned to him with a blatant look of confusion on her face.
“Nothing.” Adam shook his head.
“Am I... am I seeing this right?” asked Fayte.
“I think you are… maybe?” Susan didn’t sound very sure of herself.
“Those rewards are quite substantial.” Titania was back to sitting on Adam’s shoulder, so she could see the announcement screen just fine. “It looks like whatever reward you choose will be what I receive as well, Adam. Kureha will also receive the same reward.”
“Huh… is that because I’m the party leader?” asked Adam.
Titania shrugged. “How should I know? Well, for Kureha, it is probably because she is your pet.”
“Does that mean you’re also my pet?”
“Absolutely not!”
“I believe we need to think about this carefully,” Fayte said at last. “These rewards are all very impressive. It’s not something we can decide on a whim.”
“Actually,” Adam began, “I think we should all choose the status points as our reward.”
His words caused Fayte, Susan, and Lilith to turned toward him. The sense of curiosity coming from them made Adam straighten his spine like a soldier in front of his commanding officer.
“Can you tell me why you believe we should choose status points?” asked Fayte.
“Because status points are the hardest type of points to come by,” Adam said simply. “Think about it. How many ability points have we gained just by tackling this magic academy? How many experience points? We can get ability points and experience points whenever we want, but we can only get status points when we level up, and we only get five status points per level. If we have a thousand status points to allocate to our various stats, think of how incredible we can make our current levels. You could dump all one thousand of those status points into your Intelligence and raise your Magical Attack to over +20,000. With that kind of firepower, none of the other players will be able to threaten you.”
The other three listened to him with rapt attention as he explained his reasons, and none of them could find a flaw in his argument. He was right. They could gain experience points by killing enemies, and ability points by killing enemies that were 1-Star and above, but they could only gain status points by leveling up.
Lilith reached out and placed her hand on the announcement.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Lilith! You have selected the reward [+1,000 status points]! Please allocate those status points wisely!]
“Lilith, don’t you want to think about this a bit more before you select your reward?” It was hard to tell because her voice was so mild and her face covered with a veil, but Fayte seemed genuinely shocked that Lilith hadn’t even considered the reward before selecting the one Adam suggested.
“There’s no need,” Lilith said in a cool voice. “Adam’s reasoning is perfectly sound. I agree with everything he said.”
Adam was glad he was wearing a mask so no one could see the pained smile on his face. This woman would do anything he said. no matter how stupid it sounded. Even so, he was also grateful that she trusted him so much, even if her absolute faith in him made Adam feel soul-crushing guilt.
“I actually… agree with Adam and Lilith,” Susan said after hesitating for several seconds.
“You too, Su?” Fayte turned to Susan, only to see a somewhat resolute expression on the girl’s normally meek face. After another second passed, she sighed. “All right. All right. I also agree with Adam. We can gain experience and AP on our own time, but we can’t always gain status points, especially not this many.”
With everyone in agreement, the entire group chose to select the status points reward.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Adam! You have selected the reward [+1,000 status points]! Please allocate those status points wisely!]
Ding!
[Because you have selected [+1,000 status points] as your reward, Kureha and Lilith have both received +1,000 status points as well!]
Ding!
[Congratulations, Changing_Fayte! You have selected the reward [+1,000 status points]! Please allocate those status points wisely!]
Ding!
[Congratulations, Little_Su! You have selected the reward [+1,000 status points]! Please allocate those status points wisely!]
Ding!
[We have an international announcement to make! As of 5:46 PM Standard Eastern Time, the party consisting of Adam, Changing_Fayte, Lilith, and Little_Su have defeated the first 4-Star enemy. They have received a suitable reward of one thousand status points. We hope that this knowledge will cause all of you will strive your hardest to earn fame, fortune, and glory as you traverse the ancient and mysterious Forgotten Realm.]
Once all of them had received their one thousand status points, the group decided it was time to leave. Adam planned on going over the items they had acquired during their fight later. All of them were tired, and according to Fayte, it was around 6:00 PM, which meant Adam had left Aris alone for about four hours. He’d never left her alone for anywhere close to that length of time, and being away from her for so long made him nervous.
Fortunately, this room had a teleport pad that took them back to the first floor. Once they arrived on the first floor, Adam and the others logged off.
“You mean it?! I can finally leave the Village of Beginnings?!”
Aris looked at Adam like he’d just told her that every day was going to be her birthday from this moment onward. She and Fayte were sitting on the couch, playing old-school console games. The game they were playing was not the fighting one that Adam and Fayte so often played, but a racing game. Adam did not know what it was called since he had never played, but the game featured a host of unusual characters, including a fat plumber in a red suit, a skinny plumber in a green suit, an
d a blonde princess dressed in pink.
There was also a green lizard.
And an evil-looking turtle who transformed into a hot babe when he wore a princess crown.
“Of course I mean it. Also, your character just crashed.”
“Wha—oh, no!”
Because Aris had whirled around to look at Adam when he said she could leave the Village of Beginnings, Aris had not been paying attention to her character. The green lizard she was playing had driven off the road and crashed into a lake.
Adam had decided it was his turn to cook tonight. He was going to make chicken scampi pasta. His original idea was to make shrimp scampi pasta, but Fayte did not have any shrimp in her fridge.
It was an easy dish to make, taking only around twenty-five minutes, and Fayte fortunately had all the ingredients he needed. She even had the dry white wine used for cooking.
That said, he had been forced to switch from using angel hair pasta to linguini because Fayte didn’t have that particular type of pasta, but it wasn’t like thicker noodles would change the flavor. Sometimes you had to get creative when cooking.
Dinner was made and Adam brought the plates, forks, napkins, and everything they would need to the coffee table.
“Thank you, Adam!” Aris leaned over and kissed him right on the mouth. Adam only felt a little awkward at the show of affection because of Fayte’s presence. While Fayte retained her smile during their kiss, the upturned lips looked just a little brittle.
“You’re welcome,” he mumbled as Aris and Fayte stopped their game to eat.
Dinner was nice after that. Aris excitedly talked about how much she was looking forward to meeting everyone in their party. Even Fayte’s stiff smile evaporated as she listened to the excitable girl talk nearly non-stop.
“One of the things I’m really looking forward to is going on quests with everyone! Adam and I used to play World of Wargcraft when we were younger, and one of my favorite activities was quests and dungeon raids. Fighting a raid boss was always exciting. You should have seen us, Fayte. You might think Adam was the best player among us because of that silly title he earned during his stint as a VR gamer, but I was way better than him.”
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