Heavy (The Weight Of It All): A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

by J. J. Thorn

  The results had been lack-luster, of course. Zane was a lean 165 pounds, while I was still 202... but who's counting, really.

  Zane had screamed almost instantly. We were both pleased to know that he hadn't passed out, but his headache continued up until now, while we waited in class.

  I was glad that I was still making progress, having progressed to 69%.

  Affinity : Weight

  Rank 1 – View Weight – 69%

  You'll be fine. We'll do that every morning and I bet your headaches will only get better. In fact, they barely hurt for me now." I quietly mentioned to Zane as more students were now walking into the auditorium.

  "This is why they mention waiting, though. Every tutor I've ever had mentions how our internal energy is only now starting to gather within our bodies at Rank 1. For us to try and use such a new substance so early on is foolish. Most scholars mention waiting until at least 20% at Rank 2. By then, they believe your amount of internal energy should be enough to try using it properly."

  "Is it really a substance? I always thought of it more as like a thing that you could never see but just know is there."

  "It depends on which scholar you're reading, really. Some believe that since it can be measured, it should be qualified as a substance. Others believe that it is something incorporeal and shouldn't be looked at the same as liquids or gasses. No one knows."

  "What do you mean measured though? Do you mean like those bracelets they had at the Church? Something like that, but for measuring your internal energy?"

  "No, Ren, similar to how you can see your Progress, people are able to see their internal energy. For instance, I know that I have 5 internal energy, all of which was used when I augmented my eyes this morning."

  I shot up from my seat immediately. What is the deal with all of these stupid rich people and their stupid extra knowledge! What other stuff does he know that I just haven't been told?!

  "WHAT?!" I said a little bit too loud as others started to look at me in the room. I slowly sat down, trying to stop myself from drawing any additional attention. I could also see some of the others in class starting to giggle. It really was impressive that they could fit all of us in the auditorium. Raised platforms were located all around the room, with another platform raised in the middle. This way everyone could see the professor in the middle of the room at all times.

  Once seated, I started to hiss at Zane again.

  "What?! You're telling me I could have kept track of my internal energy all along?"

  "Oh Ren, don't worry about it so much. That's what Prep school is for. I wouldn't be surprised if the General Magic Studies class doesn't cover it in the first semester. I only know it because of my tutoring - it's not something they readily tell everyone. Why would they when most people won't ever get internal energy?"

  I considered his response, before realizing he probably had a point.

  "Over the next couple weeks, I'm going to be asking you loads of questions though! I feel like you have all this extra information that I just have no idea about."

  "You'd be surprised. Most information isn't too secretive. I definitely know a lot more than you about history, or trading, or different influential figures, but when it comes to affinities, we probably know a similar amount."

  "Doesn't matter, I'll be asking."

  "Haha, ok Ren."

  "Why do you keep calling me Ren anyways?"

  "I realized yesterday that your name is too long. We were in the market and I kept having to call your name, Terrence this, Terrence come here - way too long. Ren is short and sweet. I think it suits you well, do you have any objections?"

  "Why not something like Terry? My sister calls me ‘T’ also."

  "Not my style, I prefer Ren."

  "Alright, I don't mind that nickname, sure. You can call me Ren, and I get to ask you questions."

  "We're roommates and friends, I expected you to be asking me questions anyways. Everyone else seems to be quieting down, the professor is probably here, let's talk after."

  "Ok, yeah."

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Students had stopped streaming in. Only a couple were now walking in, trying to find a seat. As soon as the clock struck 9, the clocktower near the auditorium made a large noise indicating it was time for class.

  At that exact moment, a short individual in Professor's robes walked to the middle of the auditorium.

  I recognized Claire immediately as the person who had helped ensure our safety on our trip to Prep. I thought back to her fight with the bandits often.

  She walked up to the podium in the middle of the room and stood briefly before starting to walk around the stage slowly. As she walked around, she stared at the rows of students, as though she was sizing them up. Potentially looking for the smart ones. Potentially looking for future trouble-makers. Who knows.

  Claire's robes were a bright purple, with gold trim, similar to the robes of all other professors. Hers were trimmed at the arms and legs to match her short stature. Her bleach white hair was straight, flowing down her back. The hair looked well kept, and no hair was out of place. She eventually stopped after making one full rotation around the room.

  The room was completely silent as everyone took stock of the person in the middle of the room.

  And then she began.

  "You've all been lied to."

  "To some of you, it will be to varying extents. But in one way or another, you've each been lied to. And I'm not talking about anything juvenile like your parents telling you there was a monster who ate children who didn't do their chores.

  About your affinities, you've all been lied to.

  In fact, you were lied to just yesterday by the Headmaster.

  He and I have different opinions on the matter, so I'll tell you my truth as he told you his yesterday. To me, receiving your affinity does not make you a new person.

  You have not been baptized.

  To me, most of you are the exact same person. Some would call me a cynic, but most of you will go on to do exactly as you had wanted to do before receiving your affinity.

  Some of you will want to be Dungeon divers, looking for wealth and power. Most of you who do this will likely die, like thousands of others before you.

  Some of you will join the military, looking to protect and serve our kingdom. When the next war happens, you too will likely die.

  The rest of you will choose more mundane careers. You too will die.

  This is the stark truth.

  When you received your affinity, my opinion is that you are no different from any other human that existed before or will exist after. You are still human, and humans die.

  Do not think yourself to be better than any other human. Too many affinity users leave this school thinking they are somehow better than those without.

  You are not.

  If you want to be better, do what the Headmaster said, make humanity better. Better yourself with the intention of making the world around you better as well.

  If you learn nothing in this class, learn this.

  We are all humans."

  Claire stopped talking at that moment to let her point sink in. No students spoke as she once again walked around the platform looking at the faces of every student in the auditorium.

  "Good. I see some of you have taken that to heart. I always give that speech at the beginning, and I hope some of you take the lesson with you throughout the rest of the year and beyond.

  With that, welcome to General Magical Studies.

  This is the only mandatory class for every student. As such, I use this class as an introduction to most things magical. That relates to anything from your affinities, to Skills, to the use of energy in the world. For deeper looks at any of these topics, please take a look at the class list.

  Also, this is the only class that is exclusive to First years. For a fee, it is possible for students to remain more than a year. This is an option that ma
ny take, as you will see in some of your other classes. The cost of admission is steep, so most are not able to do so, but many try.

  For today's class, we have two topics of discussion.

  Firstly, our guest speaker. Each semester, you will receive 4 guest speakers. These speakers are people in town who are graciously offering their time. They will speak to you about their affinity, their profession, and anything else they feel comfortable sharing. I'll tell you that despite having a Dungeon in town, not all of our speakers will be Dungeon divers. A lot of you intend to take a less violent path. I recognize and applaud you for that decision. With that in mind, we'll see a mix of both types of careers.

  As this is the first class, there's a bit of a tradition to uphold. There will be no guest speaker. Instead, I will be our guest. I will give you some details about myself, demonstrate one of my abilities, and allow you to ask 5 questions.

  Let us begin."

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Claire stood in the middle of the room and commanded attention from every person in the room. During her initial speech, I thought back to my Mother. The greatest woman I knew, who herself didn't have an affinity. Would I think differently of her after my own power increased?

  Would she think differently of me?

  I had never taken the chance to really consider those thoughts. I had always wanted to be a Dungeon diver. The concept captured my attention early and hadn't left since. Does Dad get treated differently because of his affinity in town? Did having one make life for us easier? Harder?

  I saw another human's death for the first time two days ago and I've thought about it every night since. Will I stop viewing regular humans the same?

  My thoughts continued to run wild as Claire took one last walk around the stage. She had just finished telling us that she was this month's guest speaker. I had already seen her kill a series of men, what more could I know about her?

  "My name is Claire Valk. To many in Terna, I am known as White Lightning. You will call me either Professor Valk or Professor. Nothing else.

  I wish I could say 'White Lightning' was some splendid nickname about my affinity, but it is actually because of my hair. At a young age, almost directly after receiving my affinity, my hair started to turn the colourlessness you see today. The white of my hair became well known as my powers increased and my name became more renowned.

  In my youth, war was constant between our Kingdom and at least one opposing nation that won't be mentioned in today's discussion. When I finished Prep, I tried to become a Dungeon diver. At the time, because war was raging, resources from the Dungeon were heavily sought, and I did very well for myself. Eventually, after reaching Rank 3, I was asked to join the military. That was about 10 years after leaving Prep.

  In my time with the army, I won many battles and lost just as many. War is brutal and I saw people die around me by the thousands. I am not proud of the things I did during that time...

  Sadly, war breeds ingenuity and progress for an affinity user. At that time, I did not realize it, but my progress was sky-rocketing. And as it did, I became more renowned throughout the nation. My name became one of fear."

  Claire paused as a sadness came over her eyes and she looked again at the crowd of students.

  "While my own powers increased, my colleagues, friends, and family all died around me.

  After 12 years, I stopped. I decided I would no longer kill for the sake of the Kingdom. At the time, Headmaster Braun and I had a conversation, and it was decided that I would join the school's faculty, teaching this course.

  Since then, I have taught the General Magical Studies course for 22 years now.

  My Rank Progression has remained fairly the same for 22 years, but I have never been happier. As for my affinity, true to my name, it is LIGHTNING. For today's class, I will be showcasing my Rank 5 Skill, 'Charge'.

  I will not be using this for long, as it depletes my energy very quickly, and my old body has a difficult time managing it."

  Claire took a position at the very middle of the platform once again as she regarded the class. Her face started to concentrate before she expelled the words initiating her Skill.

  "Charge"

  In a split second, the air in the room held an air of ozone. The hairs on my arms stood tall and I could feel static along with my fingers.

  This was nothing in comparison to the change that had occurred to Cl-Professor Valk.

  In the middle of the room stood a figure of lightning where the Professor once stood. Her body was now completely encased in lightning. Lightning that was now dancing around her body.

  "I will now move around the room. This will be hard for most of you to see. If you have sight-based powers, I recommend using them now." The figure of lightning spoken. Her voice came out distorted, but clear enough to understand.

  After a moment's hesitation, the figure of lightning was no longer in the middle of the auditorium. It took a moment for any student to notice, but one eventually yelled out for others to take notice.

  "The ceiling!" They yelled from across the room.

  Claire's form, still encased in lightning was darting across the ceiling, going between the different wooden beams in the room. Her movements were very difficult to see, even as I augmented my eyesight with my internal energy.

  From what I could see, her body would blur from beam to beam. Eventually, she launched herself back down to the ground, made one last dash around the podium, and then dismissed her Skill.

  All of this happened within a minute, at most.

  Professor Valk stood in the middle of the podium, her hair now standing up straight, completely electrified by her own Skill.

  Everyone in the room was stunned, and several had their mouths completely open in shock.

  "My Charge Skill grants me multiple things. I become faster than most affinity users will ever be. Additionally, I gain the use of lightning at all times, which I can expell or use to shock people indiscriminately. It also acts as a shield against projectiles, especially metallic ones.

  That is the end of my demonstration, I will now allow for 5 questions from anyone in the auditorium."

  For a complete minute, all students continued to remain silent as they considered what they had just seen and heard. Eventually, one brave student finally put up their hand for the Professor to see.

  "Yes," the professor spoke as she pointed at the young man who happened to be in my section.

  "Will we all be able to do something like that?"

  "Hmmm, good question. Speaking to the combat focused individuals only. Some of you may eventually get a Skill that allows you to become as fast as I just showed. While others might receive a Skill that allows you to encase your entire body. For some, that might happen at Rank 2, while others might have it happen at Rank 6, if you ever get that far, of course.

  My point is that we'll never know. For most, the answer is no. Among other things, Skills are driven based on need. My hope is that none of you ever need the level of power I've just displayed. So, to 99% of you, no."

  After the initial question, several people in the room were now lifting their hands, eager to get their questions answered.

  Similar questions were asked, everyone seeming to have focused solely on the demonstration and not willing to ask about anything else.

  "How long did it take you to get that Skill?"

  "How long can you keep the Skill active?"

  "How many people have you met that were stronger than you?"

  That last one was at least somewhat interesting, allowing her to speak about some of her hard-fought battles, adding anecdotes about people who were not physically stronger, but stronger in other ways.

  Throughout each of the questions, I still didn't hear the question I wanted to ask. I lifted my hand again after her previous question had been asked.

  To my good fortune, we made eye contact and the professor asked me to speak.

  I
asked the question I had considered ever since she had spoken about her life.

  "Does it ever get easier?"

  At first, she chuckled.

  "Does it get easier? I don't know. I'm still figuring it out myself. I think of what I've done in my life. Does it get easier to live with that guilt? Maybe?

  Having these classes... having these classes helps. That makes it easier, knowing that I will help you all make fewer mistakes than I did.

  So, yes, it does get easier."

  The whole class's hands went down as they realized the last question had been asked.

  Claire made her way to the podium and spoke again.

  "Today's class will be ending a little shorter today. You will get back an hour of your day or so before this afternoon's classes.

  Between this class and the next one, you have two assignments.

  The first is to figure out how to view your own internal energy. Some of you might have already done so, but by next week, everyone must be able to do so.

  Secondly, a question to answer between then and now.

  Why is Rank 1 important?

  We will discuss this in next week's class.

  Thank you all for coming today, you are now dismissed. I look forward to working with you for the rest of the year."

  Chapter 15

  Foxy

  Class ended early, but most of the students didn't leave for at least another 5 minutes. Some people couldn't stop talking, while others furiously took notes on everything they had heard as part of the lecture.

  Zane and I finally decided to leave after some of the seats had cleared out - making room for us to get on our way.

  "Zane, did you know most of the stuff Professor Valk said today?" I asked while we started descending from our seats.

  "My father usually equips both sides in any conflict, so I definitely know about war as a whole, but I hadn't heard it that way from a high-Rank affinity user before. A lot of what was mentioned was new to me too. Claire really has seen a lot in her life."

  "If all of our classes are like this, I don't know how I'll make it through the first semester. I thought we'd be here for magic and hitting things, that was a completely different thing altogether."