Hearth Fire

“And then she lead me here.” Stronric concluded. The siblings sat in front of him mesmerized by his story. Stronric waited for their response. The siblings mouths were open as they met eyes. Something passed between them because they nodded in unison and turned back to Stronric.

“Say we believe you, world walker, what now?” Asked Rugiel regaining her composure.

“Nothing, nothing changes now that ye know. Made an oath, I will see it to the end. Thoranthana will guide us.” Stronric finished his tankard and wiped his beard, “Now tell me what this level up is.”

Realization crossed Rugiel’s face. “Oh, my ancestors!” Rugiel jumped to her feet and grabbed Stronric by his shoulders, shaking him. “Do you know what this means!? We have gods! The gods can guide us down our proper paths!” She let go of Stronric and raised her hands to the Cornucopia, “thank you ancestor, may you bless us and those that walk in your steps.”

Stronric looked over to Bauru, raising an eyebrow. Bauru shrugged his shoulders looking just as confused.

“Rugiel, what ye mean, yer huntin alone here, and this is a group hunt.” Bauru said to Rugiel, confusion still written on his face.

“Bauru, I swear if I didn’t know better, I would say a horse kicked you in your head. The Mas… the slavers, don’t you remember your classes from when you were young?” Rugiel ran her hands down her dress, taking in a deep breath. “The reason the dwarfs can’t pass into the threshold of elite classes.” She sat down and crossed her leg like a schoolteacher and waved Stronric to sit. “I will keep this brief. I do not have all the details, but every dwarf grows up knowing they can never take an elite class.” Stronric stared at her blankly, obviously still confused. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I forgot, world walker.” Taking another deep breath, she started again. “When a person hits level 25, they can take their first class. The guilds and government have ranked the different tiers of classes. Like a fisherman, carpenter, blacksmith, guard, warrior, and the likes are common class. Then you have the uncommon classes such as merchants, gem cutters, duelist, and mage. Now you can still perform actions from another class, such as a warrior can fish, but an angler class would have an innate sense to be more proficient.”

“Classic example is a carpenter. Anyone can cut, sand and build buildings, but a carpenter could fortify the lumber. He could use his innate ability to seal it better or know the way the grain is strongest. This extends to almost everything in this world. Some things are off limits or very hard to achieve. Someone who shows potential in magic could use magic in a very limited way, but a class mage could sense and use magic far beyond the abilities of an unclassed. Now everyone knows, except for my brother, that the gods and their blessings help guide people to higher tier classes. At least that is what we were told in the schools. Every generation of dwarfs has been told their gods abandoned them. That is why we can’t get elite classes easily, also being a slave doesn’t allow us to pursue our interests.

“I was being groomed to be a governess. My education was on court etiquette, education, proper attire and things of that nature. My brother here is a hunter by trade. We can get experience by completing task. For me to become the class governess, I would not have to kill goblins, or gobi, as you call them Stronric. I would have to attend the lords and ladies of the court. Now how exactly this is done, I don’t know. It’s one of the greatest secrets of the land. The guilds, Administers, and royals keep this secret guarded, and those that rise above their stations are taken away to work for their lords. Some believe that their high pay includes hush money. Others say false charges are thrust upon those who do not follow their rules and they find themselves hanging by their necks in the center of town. I might not know the exact rules, but with a true god, OUR god, will allow us access to classes that haven’t been seen in centuries!”

Stronric rubbed his beard. “Okay, but what about these points?”

“Every person has Statistics points set at birth. You can increase your statistics by spending points in the different areas you want. The statistics are like a pie. That pie is sliced into ten pieces. It takes ten points to increase your stack by one point.” Rugiel's posture had changed, going from excited to a professional one.

“How much better is one whole point?” he asked Rugiel as he looked over his screen.

“The actual amount is quite a debate. Things like strength are easy to measure, but when comparing wisdom, intelligence and dexterity, it becomes quite hard. Stronric you move like you have an incredibly high agility, but after tonight’s training, I don’t know anymore. If a person spent as much of their time with weapons and drills, they would naturally be faster than someone who hasn’t. Situations like these make comparing statistics points hard. Think of them as more of a guiding number, rather than a raw number to compare oneself to. Similar to using your whole body to swing your weapon, instead of just your arms, just as you taught. There are many stories at court of those with lower numbers besting those with much higher statistics. Same goes for level, you're a testament to that.”

Stronric chewed on his lip as the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. He thought he had started to understand the the rules of this world. Once again, he became more confused as he learned more. “What about being a dwarf? From the old world, few other races were as sturdy and as strong as us.”

“Your race does play a part in how you perform. Have you never looked over your whole class sheet? You can gleam quite a lot from it. That’s why classes that offer identify are so coveted. The information you can gleam is quite powerful.” She paused and her eyes opened wide in surprised, looking at Stronric. “Open your condition screen now!”

“Ye know I don’t know how to do that, lassie.” Stronric said with annoyance.

“Just think conditions!” She basically yelled at him, her face becoming red with anticipation.

“Alright alright, no one died and made you queen under the mountain.” Stronric grumbled, but he did as he was told.

Conditions:

Blessing of the Hearth (Minor)

“All it’s says is blessing of the Hearth and in little brackets minor.” He drawled as he read it out loud to her.

“Now think Titles. It should open a distinct part of your sheet.” she replied.

Titles:

Seeker of the gods.

World walker

Student of the Gods.

Slayer of the beast.

Stronric told her his titles and her mouth fell open. Even Bauru's mouth was hanging open.

“Student of the Gods, that must be the one. Wait! I just leveled up from simply explaining the class system. I wonder, if we teach you about this world and how it works, if we will receive extra experience. How did you get the blessing of the hearth, and what does it do?” Rugiel probed as she closed her mouth.

Bauru could not help himself and interrupted them. “Ye have Slayer of beast!?”

Stronric and Rugiel both paused and looked at him in surprise. Bauru chin shot up and he looked down his nose at his sister. "Now look at this, miss know-it-all doesn’t know it all. I over heard the knights talking about it back at the capital. Slayer of the Beast is one of the hardest titles to get. Only way to get it to fight a beast over fifty levels higher than ye.”

Rugiel turned back to Stronric with a look of fear and astonishment again. “What did you slay, Stronric?”

Stronric shrugged and counted off his major battles since coming to this world.

“A Troll!” They both shouted in unison.

“It aint hard once ye know the trick.” Stronric shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “ Now, back to what we were talking about before.”

Stronric told them of how he believed he received the blessing. Each morning he eats more than one meal and rests inside of the hold.

“Good night sir, not another question!” Rugiel said as she jumped into her bed and rolled over.

“What? Rugiel, what are you doing?” Bauru asked, shocked once again at his sister’s behavior.

“Not another question until I get the blessing of the hearth. I am not wasting my experience.” She answered flatly as she fluffed out her blanket and laid back down.

“Oh come now, tell em more bout how things work, ye know I know not.“ Bauru said to his sister.

No reply was forthcoming from Rugiel. The two dwarves looked at each other and shrugged.

“How ye think I should spend my points, then?” Stronric asked Bauru.

“Well, ye plenty strong. Why not spend it on charisma so ye can talk people into selling ye more citizens?” He suggested.

“STOP! NOW! Shut up you idiot,” Rugiel said shortly scolding her bother. “Don’t do that Stronric, we will speak in the morning and you and I will come up with a plan.” She said to him sweetly.

Stronric and Bauru gulped, each for different reasons. Rugiel had a temper and Bauru knew it quite well. Stronric because Rugiel has never spoken to him nicely and she was always well mannered and lady like but she was never sweet. Now that he was a source of leveling and experience, he was scared she was going to corner him and teach him pointless things every time she saw him. I think I am due for a long hunting trip. Maybe I can take Beatrice out for a couple of days.

Stronric laid back and stared up at the Cornucopia. Oh Thoranthana, what have you gotten me into? I knew there was more to your story than what you said on that cliff. It was almost kind of exciting, well almost. This is a completely new experience for me. If these classes are as powerful as Rugiel says, I could become a Thane or even a King. Maybe I could become a legend of old, like that of breath and fire. I could be reformed into steel! Yes, this was going to be fun. Think of how many Gobi I could slay with a flying axe or flaming fists.

Stronric smiled as he drifted off to sleep. This was the first time he didn’t think of his hold, his past life, and his perceived mistakes. Beatrice laid in her normal spot and wrapped her head and neck around Stronric. She began to close her eyes as something caught her eye. Bauru was staring at her. He was looking down at her hoof. She curled her hooves underneath her and “baa” at him.

“I’ll keep yer secret.” Bauru said with a smile as he laid his head down.