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

by J. J. Thorn

  As we got closer to the first stop, the number of guards around continued to increase.

  I looked ahead, but because of people and buildings, there were too many obstructions to see what was up ahead. It was only when we got much closer that I finally saw where they’d taken us.

  “The Dungeon,” I said out loud.

  “Haha, ya. You should see your face now, Ren. I really do forget that you’re from a town that doesn’t have one. From how Trish talks about them, you’d think that every town lives beside a Dungeon. She really wanted you to see it.”

  Ahead of us and all the other people in our way stood a large black doorway encased around a large tree. The doorway was directly embedded in the very large tree, but it was impossible to see through the doorway.

  “Does it always look like that?” I asked no one in particular.

  “What do you mean?” Zane responded.

  “Like, the wood and the blackness. Like it’s in a tree. On a tree?”

  “Yes, and no. It always looks like a black hole to nowhere, but what appears around it, or where it shows up always changes. Some are on rocks, some have nothing around them at all and they just appear in the middle of nowhere. They’re really weird.” Zane responded again.

  A guard came over to us as we continued to get closer and closer to the dungeon’s entrance.

  “You all need to step back further. Students can’t enter the Dungeon area.”

  “Yes, sorry Sir, we were just leaving,” Jen said to the guard with a smile.

  I looked back at the entrance to the Dungeon. The darkness was stifling as if no light at all could escape. It made me consider the people who had first ventured inside. Had they not been scared?

  I took my mind off it as we continued to go to the rest of the places on their list of activities.

  The next stop was a pastry shop that Jen loved. We each got a pastry and took it with us while walking. As we continued to walk, I really noticed the number of enchanted objects throughout the town, compared to Huag. Jen pointed out the lights, using her parent's knowledge to her advantage, even though it was still bright out.

  As we passed through markets, Zane would spend some time looking at some of the goods as well. He said he wasn’t looking for anything specific, but he looked disappointed almost every time.

  Afterwards, Cassie took us to the infirmary in town. She had us meet a few of the healers in town and had them check out our bodies. They had graciously healed some of our sore muscles.

  I had been sore from all the training, and the heals had been an awesome gift.

  Plus, Cassie had convinced them to do it for free.

  Britta had taken us to see her Parents. At that point it was later in the day, so they made us dinner. It ended up being a delicious stew, made differently from how my mom might make it, but it was still delicious.

  As we finished dinner, stuffed and exhausted from our time in the city, I looked around the table. My friends were all laughing and smiling around the table making jokes with Britta’s mother and father. It made me think of home, but it also made me appreciate the friends I’d made at Prep already.

  As we prepared to leave, I once again asked what the surprise visit was.

  “Come on Jen, are you sure you can’t tell me now? It’s basically nighttime now, we may as well head back.”

  “No Ren, you’ll see in a few minutes now. We’re really close.”

  “Ok, but really, this day has already been amazing. Thank you all for such a nice visit.”

  “No problem” they all echoed unanimously to Zane and me.

  We said goodbye to Britta’s parents and left towards the campus again. We had walked around quite a bit throughout the day and the streets were almost bare.

  We rounded the corner and found ourselves beside a shop covered in floral signs and bright colours. It was hard to see in the diminishing lights, but the shop still stood out.

  In the window, we could see a series of paintings and sculptures.

  All of them were terrible.

  Far from being abstract, they looked like different animals put together. And to add to that, everything was bright.

  I looked at the girls who all had massive grins on their faces.

  Zane was also surprised as we looked at each other in shock.

  “Surprise” they yelled together, as they ran towards the shop.

  We eventually followed, walking inside the store.

  At the counter stood Professor Renault, Luke. He was drawing what looked like a dog, but the drawing was good!

  “Hi, Luke,” Britta said first.

  “Oh great, great! Customers, great! Britta and friends, welcome lovelies!”

  “Ya, we wanted to come say hi. You mentioned the shop in class, so we needed to show the guys here.”

  “Oh yes, great, I do recognize them all from your class. You’re the black-haired girl who responded for the team. Nice to meet you all.”

  “Ya, I’m Jen, this is Cassie, Zane, and Terrence. You already know Britta.”

  “Great, great – nice to meet you all. Please feel free to look around. You all probably can’t afford any of this right now, but when you become Dungeoneers, please think of me.”

  “Professor…” I started to say.

  “Luke, please, Terrence.” He cut me off.

  “Sorry, Luke. Your drawing looks beautiful, why don’t you sell those?”

  “Oh, this old thing. Ya, it looks alright, but it has no colour, it has no character. It’s part of my affinity, DRAWING. I can draw versions of Ottis very well. It’s how I manifest him with my Skill. I need to first draw him. Ottis is great, but I need colour and creativity. That’s what my shop is. My creativity. My passion. So great.” Luke responded as he started to walk towards his pieces of art.

  “Yes, thanks, Luke. Can we play with an Ottis?” Britta jumped in.

  “Yes, I think that would be great. Ottis, come out.” Luke manifested his portal, but this time, only one Ottis came out. The Ottis dog that had been with our group earlier in the week.

  Rather than looking at the art, we then spent the next hour playing with Ottis.Luke tried to explain some of the art to us, but we were able to distract ourselves with Ottis throughout it.

  All of the places to visit had been amazing. By the time we went back to Campus, we were exhausted.

  One week, done.

  Chapter 23

  Rank 1

  "Welcome back class. I've had a chance to speak to many of you around campus, and I'm happy to hear so many of you are enjoying classes.

  Last week I asked you a question. We're going to spend a lot of today's class talking about affinities and Ranks as a whole, but let's start at the beginning.

  So, tell me, why is Rank 1 important?"

  We sat in Professor Valk's General Studies class. After a fantastic day in the city with the girls, Zane and I had spent a lot of Sunday working on assignments or testing our Skills further.

  Now, seated with all other first-year students, I was worried about having to provide an answer. I had discussed it with everyone over the weekend, and we all agreed that the first Rank Skill was near useless.

  And by the looks of how many people were raising their hands, most agreed.

  "So I see we only have a few volunteers. Here, let me invert the question for the rest of you. Class, tell me why Rank 1 is not important."

  A majority of the students in class raised their hands.

  "Yes, that's what I thought. Ok, we'll start there. How about you start us off, young man."

  She pointed at a small boy close to the podium. His voice was steady, but soft, as he responded.

  "I can't do anything with my Rank 1 Skill. I know I'll be able to do a lot more when I get to Rank 2. Rank 1 is just a stepping stone to greater ranks. For that reason, it's not important."

  "I see, so you believe Rank 1 to just be a first step towards greater things. Ok, how about someone else. Yes, you."

  She nodded at
a girl in a colourful shirt.

  "Like he said, it basically doesn't do anything. At Rank 1 we barely have any internal energy. If we try to use it, it hurts too much. And our Skills don't even do anything useful. I have a FLOWER affinity and my first Skill lets me know the names of flowers. I already know the names of most flowers, so how does that help me with anything?"

  "Yes, several Rank 1 Skills manifest as identification abilities. You believe that this ability is useless because you already know most of their names. That is interesting. Does anyone else have anything significantly different to say?"

  Several students lowered their hands, but some remained up. The professor pointed at a couple more, allowing them to answer.

  "Rank 1 Skills can barely be used because we have so little energy."

  "Rank 1 Skills are too specific, they don't allow us too much to work with."

  "Rank 1 is basically like being a regular human, we're barely any different."

  The professor eventually stopped asking for answers as they became less and less unique.

  "So, now that I've done that, can I please have the hands up for anyone who answered the original question. Why is Rank 1 important."

  A few students still raised their hands, but less than the original group.

  "Ok, thank you for being brave. Please, you there."

  "I thought about the question and the only thing I could think of was how some people get a useful Skill at Rank 1. Like one SWORD affinity user might only be able to identify swords, but another might be able to use them more effectively. It would be minor, but even at Rank 1, that could be useful."

  A regal looking boy, probably a noble, answered the professor's initial question.

  "That is true, but you've sort of subverted the question a bit. You're saying that some Rank 1 Skills CAN be useful, while you still believe most are not."

  The boy nodded.

  "Yes, ma'am. Just like some people will get stronger Skills or stronger affinities than others."

  "I thank you for answering, but we will need to disagree. Skills and affinities are incredibly different between people. While one might be stronger in combat, the other might be more useful in crafting or something else. Usefulness is subjective, after all, based on how the person is intending to use their Affinity or Skills.

  So while your basic premise makes sense, I have to disagree with the overall point.

  Anyone else?"

  A few hands went up again. The number of hands was continually dwindling.

  "Before I ask the next person to answer, please consider the question again. Most of you are focusing on the usefulness of your Rank 1 abilities, and while that is valid, I am specifically asking about their importance. Why is Rank 1 important? Ok, yes, you young lady."

  "Umm, well I was just thinking that it was a good way for us to start learning about our abilities."

  "Simple, but definitely correct. When we asked the inverted question, several of you answered that Rank 1 is just a stepping stone and that made it useless. I would argue that any stepping stone is absolutely vital.

  Think of a child learning to walk. They usually don't start by walking, they first learn to move around, then to crawl, then to stumble, then to walk, and eventually to run.

  Your abilities are similar. Your initial Rank helps you start navigating your abilities. Regardless of your Rank 1 Skill, anyone can do this.

  Thank you, young lady, is there anyone else? Ok, yes," she pointed at a boy who was basically jumping up and down in his seat, looking to have his hand-chosen.

  "But Professor, our internal energy is so low that we can barely use it. If Rank 1 is like walking, shouldn't we be able to use my internal energy even a little bit?"

  "I see what you mean, but you are missing one crucial piece of perspective. Every time you use your first Rank Skill, you use internal energy. And while you might not be able to use it as effectively as someone at my Rank, that does not mean you can't use it at all. We'll be discussing energy usage a little later on in the course and I would also encourage all of you to consider taking General Energy Manipulation. You might not be able to make use of your energy much right now, you will gain quite a bit by starting now, rather than later.

  Now, let's get back on topic. Anyone else able to answer the question 'Why is Rank 1 important?"

  Professor Valk waited a few seconds before picking another student from the audience.

  "It's sort of like you mentioned before when the other guy talked about strong Skills versus weak Skills. It lets us know what types of abilities we might get as we progress."

  "Yes, you have mentioned exactly what I wanted to talk about today. Direction.

  Thank you all for your answers, even those who believe your initial Rank is useless. I ask this every year, and every year I get similar responses from students who are taught that their Skills need to be all-powerful or useful to be important.

  It is an antiquated idea that even nobles are still taught. But the whole idea disregards the concept of Affinity direction. It gives you no choice in the matter.

  Think for a moment about a person who gains a SWORD affinity, which I know most of you have. You wake up one day and are given a Skill that lets you view swords differently, or use them differently. It doesn't matter what it does, but you start using that Skill daily. Throughout your use of the Skill, you find ways that you prefer to use it. You create your own habits. You might even change how the Skill works, slightly.

  You decide.

  These patterns help direct how your affinity will progress. It is because of these decisions that we have so many different SWORD affinity Skills, after all. If everyone did the same thing every single day, we would all get the same thing!

  The Goddess grants you an affinity and that affinity makes you unique. We do ourselves a disservice by thinking that ANY Rank of that affinity is useless or not important. Furthermore, for affinities that are more obscure or unique than others, like FLOWER, this shows that the person had a specific interaction or affinity."

  A student raised their hand for the Professor to see.

  "Yes, young man. You wanted to say something."

  "Yes, Professor Valk, I just have a hard time believing what you're saying. You're making it seem like we got to choose our affinities or get to choose our Skills. If that was true, would everyone choose to be uber-powerful with a FIRE affinity or something?"

  "That is true, maybe I should clarify then.

  You are correct in some ways. Unlike what some might want, you are not given a screen with options for you to specifically choose. And you are right, you cannot choose to become all-powerful. That is only given to those who work hard and progress to higher Ranks.

  But I would still disagree with your statements.

  We may not have explicitly chosen our affinities, but your affinity is not by accident. Your affinity was chosen specifically for you, just like it was for everyone else in this room. We do not know why, exactly, but we can see that there are trends globally that lead me to this conclusion.

  Did you ever consider why most people receive a SWORD or SHIELD affinity? Why would everyone not receive a FLOWER affinity like the young miss earlier in the class? Why not FIRE, like you had mentioned? In their case, SWORD or SHIELD didn't make sense, because FLOWER was meant for them.

  Some say it is because we require protection in the Kingdom at all times and I would agree, but we can't know for sure. There are cities where most people receive different affinities altogether, and several noble houses have affinities passed down from generation to generation. In some societies, most receive a SPEAR affinity. In others, a TATTOO affinity is the norm or the HAMMER.

  So to your first point, I do not believe it is an accident. Direct actions can be taken that will lead someone to receive a different affinity.

  To your second point, we have even more say in the decision. Think of your FIRE affinity example. Some of these users go on to become dungeon divers, but some go on to bec
ome amazing blacksmiths or crafters in general. And their choice of profession has a direct impact on what types of Skills they receive in their progression.

  And this disregards the ability to create Skills altogether. Some very proficient affinity users can use their own abilities so well that they create their own Skills.

  It is incredibly difficult to do, and it takes a lot of time, but it is possible. And I consider that a choice. One that we can all start making from Rank 1.

  To your last point, we have a little less leeway. You will not become all-powerful at Rank 2, but like everything else, your actions help direct your abilities.

  If at Rank 2 you are already fairly powerful with your abilities, your Rank 3 ability is almost always an increase on those abilities.

  Your choices and decisions absolutely impact your future Skills."

  Professor paused to allow some of her previous statements to sink in.

  She did her customary walk around the room, looking at each of the students in turn.

  "Now, do not let this scare you. Instead, this should be encouraging for those of you having difficulty in your progression.

  You have an impact on what you do in the future. The Goddess may have chosen for most of us, but you get to choose what you do moving forward. I find comfort in knowing that I have a large part in my own future and progression.

  For the rest of the class, we'll be going over some known affinity users. We'll discuss the decisions they made at Rank 1 and how that might have impacted their Skills moving forward. These decisions are not always well documented, and people are inherently boisterous by nature, but we can still gain something from studying the past.

  Before that though, I'd like to summarize some of today's discussion.

  To summarize, I believe there are three main reasons Rank 1 is important.

  1 - It allows you to start learning about yourself and your affinity;

  2 - It allows you to start thinking about where your affinity might lead you in the future; and

  3 - It allows you to start making decisions that will impact that future.

  From my perspective, Rank 1 should be deemed the most important. At this time, you are all starting to consider what you might do in the future. And these considerations are taken into account for your potential future abilities. At Rank 1 you progress much faster than you will later on. As a result, your Rank 2 Skill will be incredibly important. For many of you, you may never get past Rank 2.