Spiteful Healer

Chapter 67: Goodbye, Rene

"Ok, you guys are all set!" Ruffily said as she made the final adjustments to make sure the two animals were properly strapped in. The sun was just beginning to rise that morning as they'd finished all the preparations. The wagon was small and simple, but functional, and the seat at the front was wide enough for two people.

"Perfect, thanks Ruffily." Aegis said as he climbed up and sat down, grabbing the reins.

"Now be careful, controlling two different species of animal is no joke. They'll move at completely different speeds, that's why it's so good for experience points." Ruffily explained as Lina approached the wagon nervously. She made one last glance back at Amlie who gave her an encouraging thumbs up.

"We're ready to go?" Lina asked Aegis as he sat atop the wagon looking down at her.

"Yup." Aegis replied awkwardly.

"Okay." Lina climbed up and sat next to him, leaving as much space between them as the wagon would allow.

"Remember, the rougher the terrain is, the faster you will level up. Goodluck guys, woof!" Ruffily cheered.

"Have fun!" Amlie smiled as Lina waved. Aegis gave a quick flick of the reins and the two creatures began trotting forward away from the others down the paved road towards the crafting buildings. It didn't take long for them to run out of road and the wagon started bumping along the grassy fields. Aegis needed a good deal of focus to keep the two animals synchronized and moving straight - the lagnok was bigger and stronger but the horse Grumble was faster and more nimble, and a few times Grumble would pull ahead and bump the wagon into the back of the lagnok, causing it to let out an annoyed growl. Lina simply watched in silence as Aegis got them under control, and this gave her time to calm her nerves and become more comfortable with the situation.

By the time Aegis finally had the animals under control, Rene was out of sight and they were surrounded by grassy fields on the far side of the Jia'nir mountain.

"Phew, I think I finally got it. This is tough." Aegis said as he leaned back, relaxing for the first time since they'd set out. "Do you want to try?" Aegis asked as he offered the reins to her.

"S-sure." She shrugged as she took them, and with little to no difficulty she was able to keep them in sync.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Aegis asked as she watched her.

"Y-yeah, lots of stuff. I don't know anything about crafting." Lina shrugged. "I used to ride horses a lot on my old character though."

"You told me a bit about that... but what intermediate class did you play?" Aegis asked.

"I was a Shadow Dancer. They are one of the intermediate thief classes. That's why I've been leveling shadow step." Lina explained.

"Are you going Shadow Dancer again?" Aegis asked her.

"Yup. I really liked it, it's fun. You can hide when you want to and move really quickly and quietly. Most people think Shadow Dancers are weak but, those people just play them wrong." Lina explained.

"And they use horses a lot?" Aegis asked while motioning to her hands on the reins.

"N-no, that was a thing with my guild. I was good at going into high level areas, or enemy guild territory, and finding targets to attack or places to explore." Lina said, and as she began explaining Aegis could see the spark in her eye she got whenever she went into detail about the game world. "You see Shadow Dancers have a known weakness, just like those Darxon hideout guys, a lot of our skills only work when we're standing in shadows. Lots of high level players know this, it's why they think Shadow Dancer's aren't that good, but there's workarounds for a lot of situations where you don't have shadows big enough to use your skills." Lina shrugged.

"But anyway, sometimes I'd fight wizard or priest intermediate players with light spells, and sunlight spells, so I'd have to escape without using shadows. Thats why it was important to know how to ride horses." Lina finished explaining herself.

"That makes sense." Aegis nodded.

"Also, do you want to know? The real strength of Shadow Dancers? Is that if you use the skills properly, they can make their own shadows." Lina continued excitedly. "Here-" She handed the reins back to Aegis and stood up on the wagon, as Aegis watched with interest. "Looks like there's no shadows, right?" She motioned around them under the bright sun.

"Yeah," Aegis looked around and nodded. Lina suddenly flipped her cloak over herself and crouched down into a ball, the movement happened so fast Aegis could barely see her pose.

"Shadowstep!" She shouted, disappearing from atop the wagon and reappearing behind the wagon in it's shadow. "See? So Shadow Dancers aren't weak, you just have to know how to use the shadows properly!" Lina declared.

"So you can teleport anywhere as long as there's a shadow?" Aegis asked as he held the reins with his right hand and lifted his shield up to block the sunlight over the seat on the wagon next to him, looking at Lina expectently.

"Hum. Yup, but, a bit bigger than that." Lina squinted as if she was looking at something in her interface Aegis couldn't see. He adjusted his shield to try and increase the size of the shadow it was casting, turning it at just the right angle to make it as big as possible. "There! Shadowstep!" Lina shouted and disappeared from the shadow of the wagon, reappearing under Aegis' shield in a crouching position but as she stood upright, her head bumped into his shield and caused her to lose her balance, nearly making her tumble forward into the lagnok, but Aegis quickly let go of the reins with his right hand to reach out and catch her with his right arm and pull her back in towards himself to stop her from falling, resulting in her landing on his lap.

"Sorry, I should've moved the shield faster." Aegis replied with a red face as Lina sat on his lap, Aegis shield arm now at her back as she turned to look at him.

"N-no, it's okay, it's my fault, I jumped up too fast." Lina replied shyly. She looked away from Aegis but didnt get up. "So anytime you need me, just make a big shadow and I'll come." Lina said nervously. "I mean, if I'm within 15 meters... and I have enough mana..." Lina added awkwardly, mustering her courage to turn and look at Aegis as he looked back up at her.

"I can... use the light from my magic to cast shadows for you." Aegis said timidly, and the two locked eyes with rosy red cheeks, slowly leaning in towards each others faces. Aegis wasn't sure what he was doing, his body felt like it was moving on it's own, and Lina's heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst out of her chest. Unable to control herself any more, she could do nothing but close her eyes as Aegis' lips were milimeters away from hers - but before Aegis could move any closer there was a sudden thud. With no one holding the reins, Grumble had run ahead of the lagnok and pulled the wagon with force into the back of the sturdy slow lagnok, causing the cart to knock into the lagnok and jerk Aegis and Lina forward, both flopping down into the grass behind Grumble as the wagon came to a halt.

"Right, forgot, no one was holding the reins." Aegis said awkwardly with his face planted in the dirt. Lina felt so embarassed she lost the willpower to reply or even stand up for a moment as Aegis got back to his feet. "Sorry about that." Aegis said as he moved to Lina and helped her get back to her feet.

"N-n-n-no problem." She smiled awkwardkly and quickly scrambled to get back on the wagon, Aegis following behind her. Once they were both on and Aegis had the reins in his hand again, he got the wagon back in motion, though there was an awkward silence.

"So... can you tell me more about Shadow Dancers? They seem really interesting." Aegis asked to break the silence.

"Y-yeah, sure." Lina smiled shyly. The two continued talking with one another for two full round trips around the base of Jia'nir mountain, ending in the morning of the following day. In that time Aegis learned a lot from Lina about the ins and outs of her Shadow Dancer class and how he could help her use her skills in the future. He also learned a bit about Battlemasters and some other classes, and as long as they kept the conversation to the game, it flowed seamlessly and endlessly. By the time they'd arrived back in Rene after the second round trip, Aegis got the last notification that he'd been holding out for.

Level Up! Riding has reached Level 30!

Congratulations! You have reached the maximum level for Riding(Beginner). In order to progress further, you will need to advance the skill to (Intermediate).

"That's it, that's the last one. I'm surprised we get riding experience even on a wagon." Aegis commented as they came to a stop near the fountain in the townsquare. As the sun had already set, Farlion and his family were already in bed and Ruffily and Amlie were both preoccupied with farming and blackmisthing - the sound of Ruffily's hammer echoed through Rene.

"Riding is pretty easy to level, the only hard part is the intermediate quest." Lina said as she hopped off the wagon and started unhooking the lagnok and Grumble from it.

"Well, as Pyri said, no spoilers. If I'm not good enough..." Aegis said as he helped her out.

"Right." Lina smiled. "I'll take Grumble back to Farlion's farm."

"Wait..." Aegis stopped Lina from leading Grumble away. "Thanks, for everything. That was really fun." Aegis smiled awkwardly.

"M-me too. I mean, thank you too. I had l-lots of fun." Lina smiled shyly.

"R-right." Aegis looked at his feet for a moment as well, the two standing silently near each other until the lagnok gave Aegis a nudge. "Ah, I'll put this thing away." Aegis motioned to the lagnok and Lina nodded. The two walked away from each other with an aura of giddyness, but Aegis didn't get far before he was intercepted by Ruffily and Amlie, approaching him from the Forge and the Farm field respectively.

"You guys are all done?" Amlie asked curiously as she brushed some soil off of her leather gloves.

"Yup. Every skill is leveled up. I'm ready to start with intermediate stuff." Aegis declared.

"Aw, I guess this is goodbye for now, Woof!" Ruffily said with a sad expression, her tail hanging down. "But don't worry, we will take good care of Rene while you are gone." She gave an assuring nod.

"Good. And you'll look after those three?" Aegis asked while motioning to Farlion's house.

"We'll be fine, just make sure you don't take forever doing your quests. By the time you get back, I bet I'll be a level 30 farmer class and it'll be my turn to do my quest." Amlie declared.

"Me too, I'm going to be an Armorsmith. Woof!" Ruffily declared excitedly.

"Sounds good." Aegis smiled at them as Lina approached from behind. "You ready to go?" Aegis asked Lina. Lina got a curious look from Amlie as she glanced between her and Aegis.

"Y-yup, I'm ready." Lina nodded.

"Then..." Aegis turned around to look at Rene under the clear moonlit sky. "I guess this is Goodbye to Rene for awhile. The next time we come back here, we'll be intermediate classes." Aegis took a moment to enjoy the scenery. Lina joined in beside him as Amlie and Ruffily looked as well. Aegis let out one last huff of air before turning and heading across the bridge of Rene with Lina close behind him.

"Good luck!" Amlie gave Lina an encouraging thumbs up.

"Take care, woof!" Ruffily called out after them.

"Bye! See you soon!" Lina called back to them with a wave, and with that, they parted from Rene. Ascending up the ramp, Lina and Aegis began their journey back towards Orm, but the two were quiet during this nighttime stroll. With every step Aegis took to get closer to Orm, his stomach churned from the anxiety of not knowing if his plan had worked. All the hours, days, weeks he’d spent leveling these skills just in the hope that a theory would pan out - it was all coming to a head now, and soon he’d know if he was right or wrong. It was the longest walk back to Orm that he’d taken thus far, and It wasn’t until they reached the treeline around Orm that morning that Lina spoke up.

“I’m sure it’ll work out. It makes sense, you know, all the other passive experience bonuses lead into intermediate classes. It’s just, pacifism is so vague and so hard to get, so…” Lina’s own nervousness seeped out. “The Priestess in Orm will have a breadcrumb quest for any intermediate class quests that you qualify for.” Lina motioned to the church on the far side of Orm, its belltower visible under the now rising morning sun.

“Right, I suppose here goes nothing.” Aegis shrugged as they made for the church of Eirene.

Stepping inside the building hit Aegis with wave of nostalgia. The first time he’d entered the church at level 1, he had no idea what he was truly doing. He was following a hunch of a post he’d found online. A hunch that came to be true, only to empower another hunch he had about a possible unobtained class.

Aegis knew from the moment he made that deal with Makaroth that he’d have to do something big to catch up, and through all his research of classes and skills in the short time he could, this was the only possible chance he’d spotted. Lina’s logic was the same as Aegis’. Pacifism granted experience to all non-combat related skills, so it had to lead to an undiscovered class related to some of them, didn’t it? Despite this way of thinking, Aegis felt the last direwolf steak he’d eaten making its way back up his throat as he walked down the center of the church of Eirene towards Priestess Clara. She stood on the far side of the church talking with a level 3 player, other players and NPCs looking at Aegis as he passed, many marveling at his shield hanging over his back. Lina followed closely behind him, trying her best not to feed off of the aura of anxiety that was exuding from Aegis with each step he took on the creaking wooden floor of the church.

He waited patiently for Priestess Clara to finish talking to the player she was mid-conversation with before approaching. He had no trouble being patient and waiting - partly because he wanted to be polite and not interrupt her, and partly because he wanted to wait as long as he could to learn the truth. Finally, she finished, and turned towards Aegis.

“It has been quite some time since we last spoke.” She smiled at Aegis warmly. “You have become very powerful, I sense a strong light within you. Have you come to me to embark on the next stage of your journey?” Clara asked him.

“Yes, I’m ready to grow stronger in the name of Eirene.” Aegis spoke as bravely as he could. Lina couldn’t help but wince her eyes nervously, this was the moment of truth.

“I see. Let me take your hands in my own so that I may see the paths available before you.” She smiled as she held her palms out facing upwards, waiting for Aegis to place his hands in hers. He took a deep breath and tried to swallow the saliva in his mouth, but it was dry. For all the exams and tests he had taken, he’d never been so unsure about the results as he was right now. He slowly and gently placed his hands in Priestess Clara’s, and as he did she closed her eyes.

“I see, you are not familiar with any weapons, nor is your smite very powerful. I suppose the path of a Crusader or Paladin is not what you seek.” Priestess Clara began speaking as Lina held her breath. “You are quite skilled with a shield, and you are a very capable healer. Perhaps it is the path of a Cleric you seek?” She said, but she continued, her eyes visibly wandering beneath her eyelids. “And Eirene, she favors you greatly. The path of an apostle too is open for you, should you choose.” Clara finished, opened her eyes, and smiled as a notification appeared in front of Aegis.

Priestess Clara has offered to lead you on the path of the following intermediate classes:

Apostle (of Eirene)

Requirements:

[Minor Heal(Beginner): 30][3 Or more crafting professions Level 30+][Priest: 30][Spirit: 50+] [Favor with Eirene: 1000+]

[Accept Quest]

Cleric (of Eirene)

Requirements:

[Minor Heal(Beginner): 30][Healing Wind(Beginner): 30] [Shield Mastery(Beginner): 30] [Any Armor Proficiency: 30] [Priest: 30] [Strength: 40+] [Constitution: 40+]

[Accept Quest]

Aegis’ heart sank into his stomach.

“Cleric and Apostle.” Aegis mumbled out, disappointed, as both were already common classes taken by beginner priest players. “It was all for nothing.” Aegis looked down at his feet.

“I-it’s not for nothing…” Lina tried to cheer him up. “Having all of those skills leveled up, there’s so much you can do!” Lina forced a smile, though his disappointment was contagious.

“It won’t be enough.” Aegis looked at the viewership of his stream sitting at three. The reality of the situation began to sink in, just how unreachable and faraway the top felt. The sound of Makaroth laughing and mocking him filled his ears as they reddened in a frustration directed at himself.

“You don’t belong in this world, this is my domain. I’m at the top.” The voice spoke out to him in Makaroth’s voice. He’d imagined it, they were words Makaroth had never said, but Aegis was sure it was what he was thinking when he made that bet. He heard it ring through his ears as clear as day, and despite Lina trying to encourage him, her words didn’t reach. As he took the first steps to leave the church, Lina caught a glimpse of the frustration on Aegis’ face and turned desperately to Priestess Clara.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else?” Lina pleaded with her. “He worked so hard, he made sure to follow Eirene’s teachings.” Aegis heard Lina’s pleading as he continued to walk away. “He didn’t harm anyone, he solved everything with light, he did it all in Eirene’s name, he got so good at so many things!” She continued desperately.

“Yes, he is quite skilled…” Clara acknowledged her words. “It's a shame. He is the closest I’ve ever seen anyone come…” Priestess Clara replied sympathetically to Lina, causing Aegis to stop dead in his tracks as Lina’s eyes went wide.

“C-c-closest to what?” Lina asked as Aegis spun around to face Clara with a determined expression.

“The Grand Prophet of Eirene teaches all of us Priests and Priestesses to keep an eye out for certain individuals with specific skills, and should we ever find such a person, to escort them to see the Grand Prophet in person.” Clara smiled at Lina, and Aegis’ heart skipped a beat as he stumbled back towards the priestess.

“Wh-what skills?!” Aegis practically shouted at her, startling the others in the church.

“W-w-well…” Priestess Clara smiled nervously at Aegis. “One who as proven themself a capable leader…"

“Leadership level 30.” Lina whispered.

“Who is capable of taming the beasts of the land and riding along side them…” Clara continued.

“Taming and Riding skills.” Lina added in an excited whisper.

“One who can defend those in danger with a shield, and wears armor well.”

“Shield mastery, armor proficiency.” Lina nodded.

“Who has used his hand to create great things of many crafts, and take in what the land has to offer without violence…”

“Unspecified number of crafting skills at level 30, type irrelevant.” Lina whispered excitedly as Aegis listened intently. It was as if Lina was acting like a translator to Priestess Clara’s way of speaking.

“Who has mastered the art of healing through light and wind, and blessing those worthy with holy energy…"

“Minor heal, healing wind, and the rare bless skill.” Lina practically squeaked with joy.

“One who is strong," Clara continued

“A strength stat requirement.” Lina nodded.

“Sturdy.”

“Constitution requirement.”

“Agile.”

“Agility requirement.” Lina couldn’t contain herself.

“Spiritual.”

“Spirit requirement.” Lina nodded.

“And someone who has earned a great deal of favor towards Eirene… and who bears the mark of a peace bringer.”

“High favor, and the pacifism skill!” Lina squeaked as her arm moved on its own to pump Aegis on the shoulder, both of their eyes lit up now. They waited for the priestess to continue, but she stopped.

“I have all of those things, don’t I?” Aegis asked her, confused. “Is it enchanting, is that what I’m missing?” Aegis asked her, hopeful.

“No, not that. Enchanting is not something the Grand Prophet specifically requested. What you lack is the proof that you can withstand adversity in the face of the many dangers in this world.” Priestess Clara smiled. “Please let me know when you are ready to decide if you would like to walk the path of Apostle or Cleric.” She finished before turning and leaving Lina and Aegis to look at each other confused.

The two were both deep in thought, pondering Clara’s words as they walked out of the Church, taking a few steps down the road of Orm as the sun finished rising that morning.

“What does she mean?” Aegis asked, hoping Lina would be able to translate it. Lina was scratching the side of her face, deep in thought.

“Withstand adversity…” Lina was about to form a sentence but was interrupted.

“Resistance. She’s talking about passive resistance.” Sapphire said as she stood up straight from leaning against the outside wall of the church beside the door that Aegis and Lina had just walked out of. As Lina and Aegis turned to look at her, she took a bite of a carrot in her left hand making a loud crunch, while pointing to her ears with her right hand before wiggling them. “You need a resistance skill at level 30.”

“You heard?” Aegis looked at her worriedly.

“I really thought you would’ve caught on to that by now.” She smiled. “Phew, what a laundry list of requirements. Quinn was right, things ARE going to get interesting.” Sapphire smiled excitedly.

“What are you going to do?” Lina gritted her teeth as she gripped the hilts of her iron daggers. Slowly bending her knees into a fighting stance.

“Calm down little gerbil.” Sapphire reacted to her aggressive behavior. “I’ve gotta tell Quinn, but after that, I’m going to help.” Sapphire spoke cheerfully.

“Help?” Aegis asked, confused.

“Y’know…” Sapphire snapped the fingers of her right hand and it erupted into a ball of white flames. “Resistance training.” She smiled demonically.