Time to be a Warrior!

“Hmm. I think I’ll go with warrior since I have a weapon for warrior and I can’t easily find a new weapon for the other classes,” John hovered over the accept button for a few more seconds and then clicked accept.

Warning: Once chosen, you can not change classes!
Still accept?

John took a deep breath, resigning himself to warrior and clicked accept. There was a bright flash that only John could see and once it cleared John had a torrent of pop ups appear.

You have gained the following abilities:

Charge (Already have so leveled up by 1)

Shield Slam (Already have so leveled up by 1)

Pommel Strike lvl 1
10 Stamina
You hit the enemy with the pommel of your weapon, dealing 10 damage and stunning the target for 1 second.

Second Wind lvl 1
You take a deep breath and restore ¼ of your stamina. Usable once per combat.

You have unlearned the following abilities:
Mana Bolt lvl 1
Stealth lvl 1

Mana has been replaced with stamina. Stamina regenerates at a slower pace during combat then when out of combat, not attacking will increase stamina regeneration.

“Ok, makes sense. I lose the moves that tend to go to rogue and mage but gain a bunch of warrior moves. Looks good to me. I guess I should dump my points into strength and endurance so I can be more melee ready,” John followed through and looked at his new sheet, happy with how it turned out. With that, John headed to his Civics and History classes with Mrs. Wentworth.

John entered the classroom and took his normal seat. He made sure to pay attention to Mrs. Wentworth, afraid to anger her and face her wrath. He did attempt to cast Observe on her.

Observe Failed. She doesn’t want you to see her information.

“Wait. She chose not to have my observe work? Can she do that? Can anyone do that?” John was left with even more questions to attempt to ask Mrs. Wentworth once class was over. Mrs. Wentworth’s lesson for the Civics class was on whether all of Germany was responsible for the rise of the Nazis and were just as responsible for their crimes or was it just the Nazis that committed the crimes. She explained both sides of the argument and then split the class into two sides and told each group which side they must defend. Whoever could convince her of their side over the other side would get the full points for the exercise while the losing side would get half. She used to give no points for the losing side but enough angry parents complaining to the administration made her compromise to half points for the losing side. (The school also didn’t like how most of the sports players tended to be on the losing side.)

The debate started off like your standard debate. Both sides presented their arguments in quite a civil fashion. It was when someone made an offhand comment that everything went downhill. Soon people were yelling at each other, nasty insults were flung, and two fights broke out between the opposite sides. John had tried to stay out of the whole thing, seeing as how if attacked he could do some real damage to people. That’s when John noticed the slight change to the surroundings that happened when a barrier was activated. He made a quick glance at Mrs. Wentworth to see her furious.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” her voice echoed in the room with a powerful **** behind it. Every student immediately stopped what they were doing and looked in her direction, with faces of pure horror. “You are all students of Ashcroft Academy and I EXPECT YOU TO BEHAVE AS SUCH!” bellowed the powerful mage. “This was to be a very important lesson for you all, but instead you went to the lowest base setting of humanity. How pathetic. You all failed this assignment,” she said with such venom that some students began to cry.

John stood frozen, but it was not out of fear. He seemed to have gotten greater control over his emotions. He figured it must have to do with the recent stat boosts he had gotten. He froze because as Mrs. Wentworth talked, she made a quick glance at him after she mentioned an important lesson. Was this whole thing a lesson for John? Was she trying to tell him something? But what? This lesson was a bit off topic since they were talking about citizen participation in the government. John took his seat as Mrs. Wentworth told them all to sit and write the definition of civics until the rest of the class was over, which was another 20 minutes.

Once the 20 minutes were up, half the class left while the rest stayed for the History class that followed. John was a little apprehensive now. He still could not shake the feeling that Mrs. Wentworth was attempting to tell him something.

“Good afternoon class. Today we shall continue our discussion on Rasputin.” Informed Mrs. Wentworth. Thanks to John paying extremely close attention to her, he immediately noticed a common facial expression when one mentions a person they personally do not like. That was impossible since there was no way she would know someone who died 100 years ago. “This day we will discuss the occult connections that Rasputin had and how that spread to the rest of Europe,” she told the class. “Rasputin was a firm believer in the occult and is best known as using ‘holy powers’ to heal the Tsarevich. This cemented his relationship with the Russian nobility. Now, some say Rasputin could do far more than that. In fact, they say he was a powerful sorcerer who used his magic to start the first and second World Wars.”

“But wait, didn’t he die in 1917?” interrupted Jack Malconey. Mrs. Wentworth sent him a **** glare and he shrunk down in his chair, but that did nothing. Mrs. Wentworth kept glaring at him before answering his question.

“I’ll overlook your disrespectful interruption because you do bring up a good point that I bet many of you missed. According to both the Russian Monarchy and then the Communist Government, Rasputin died in 1917 when members of the nobility that grew jealous of his control over the Tsar killed him. But, thanks to his magic, he survived. According to the occult, Rasputin transferred his soul into a body of one of the 2 men that found his broken body along the shore. Over time, he transformed that body to match his old one. He didn’t finish until the 1920s, just in time to meet one Adolf Hitler, whom he then took on as an apprentice.”

John took a glance across the room and it looked as if every student was enraptured by the story. Some were hanging on her every word, wanting to know how the story ended. Some of the more fact loving students were stuck between the sincereness in the story she wove and the sheer 180° turn of facts the history teacher was new spouting. What interested John the most, however, was when she brought up Hitler. She looked right at him. Wait that was it. The man from earlier, he was German! He had a German name and German title. Was he somehow tied to the Nazis?

“So Rasputin spent the next 10 years training Hitler in the magic he knew. Nobody knows exactly what happened between the two, but there was some sort of falling out that led to Hitler taking over control of the Nazi Party and beginning his quest to rule the world. Rasputin, meanwhile, headed back to Russia on the request of Stalin, who became interested in the occult all of a sudden. We, of course, know how this story ends. Hitler, while invading the world, searched for unique mythical objects like the Spear of Destiny. Now officially Hitler died in his bunker as the Russian military descended upon Berlin. But in occult circles, Hitler survived through magic and fled to Brazil. There he did many occult experiments until his eventual **** at the hands of an ancient magical order,” finished Mrs. Wentworth. She then opened the class to questions about the occult and how it shaped World War II.

When class finally ended 15 minutes later, John stayed behind to ask Mrs. Wentworth some questions. Her discussions had answered a few questions and added a whole lot more. Once everyone was gone, he approached her desk.

“Mr. Newman, unless you are here to tell me you completed my task with the Brightons, then I suggest you leave,” she informed him.

“Well uh, I was just wondering if you uh might have got uh caught up in that barrier from earlier? You know, the one the apparent Nazi made I guess? But since you knew that I guess you must have been one of the four,” John kept rambling.

“Enough!” roared Mrs. Wenworth. “No, I was not caught in that filth’s barrier. And I’m glad you have at least half a brain to see the connection I made quite obviously. Now I think you’ve taken up enough of my time. So go. Now,” she sternly informed John.

“I have one more question before I leave. Moira said that there were four magic users at this school, including me. But after William left, I got a quest reward indicating I saved four girls. You confirmed that you weren’t in there, and I only know of Rave and Moira. Miss Summers has that strange magic necklace but doesn’t seem to have any magic powers. So who are the two other girls?” as soon as John finished, he saw Mrs. Wentworth’s face change from contempt to that of interest. It appeared he said something important.

“Four girls were caught in the barrier you say? And you know about Miss Summers’ necklace? How curious. I know of three female students at this Academy that use magic. You seem to have met two of them. The third one is Kim Moon, of an ancient order of demon slayers from Asia. I am not aware of a fourth female student. Thank you for that information John. I doubt you are aware of this else you would not have blatantly told me, but in the Abyss information is power. Normally you would have haggled with me for something of value for the information you presented me. Since you are one of my better students and have so far been shown to be competent, I shall give you an item. But this is the only time I’ll give you a handout to cover your mistakes, next time know what to do,” she had somehow found a way to be both helpful and cutting at the same time. He had made a rookie mistake in not bartering his information. He saw Mrs. Wentworth reach into her desk and pull out three items. He cast observe on all three.

Command Collar
Rare Item: This collar is commonly used by slavers. Once on, the collared shall obey every order given by the one that collared them.

Horn of Baba Yaga
Common Item: This is a fake horn of the mythical Baba Yaga. While the true horns summon birds this one just makes dogs howl.

Firebird Feather
Uncommon Crafting Item: The tail feather of a firebird, used in crafting fire related items.

Hmm. Well the horn is clearly out since it's fake. The feather having the crafting tag means that I’ll be able to craft at some point, so that’s good to know. But it’s also uncommon so chances are I’ll be able to get them sometime down the road. The collar is clearly the best item but if I take a slaver collar Mrs. Wentworth might get the wrong idea about me. Although it does open up a lot of possibilities. John spent a few minutes debating which item to choose, and that’s when he remembered what Mrs. Wentworth had told him earlier in their talk. Information is power, and he knows that one of her items is fake, but does she know? Is this a test to see what powers he can do? There was only one way to find out.

“How do I know these are all real and not fake? For all I know these could be cursed and allow you to take over my mind or something,” John accused Mrs. Wentworth. A slight smirk appeared on her face.

“Very good John. I was not expecting you to be so observant. You are correct that they could be cursed items. But I assure you they are not.”

“But what if they are fake?” John inquired.

“I assure you that they too, are all real,” she said that with a straight face. John couldn’t tell if she was very good at lying or did not know that one of her items was fake.

“You could easily say they are real when they are not,” he pressed her on this issue. Her face began to contort, her anger rising.

“I offer you a gift after you make a mistake and you have the audacity to accuse me of trying to cheat you? I should kill you where you stand,” she snarled at him. John immediately knew she was telling the truth.

“B-but one of them is fake! One of my powers told me so!” John prayed this quick explanation would save his life.

“What? I know these items are all real because I had a hand in acquiring them. I got this collar from a slaver many years back, I was part of a hunt for Baba Yaga that was only able to find one of her three horns, and I personally slew the firebird that dropped this feather,” as soon as she finished speaking, her face changed. It went from a look of confidence and self-assurance to one of realization and slight panic. “John, if you can tell me truthfully which one is fake, I’ll let you have the other two items,” she told him in a calm tone.

“The horn is fake. It only makes dogs howl.”

“I…see,” he could see the flames of anger burn in her eyes. John figured whoever cheated Mrs. Wentworth was going to regret that decision. “As per our deal, I will give you both these items. Use them wisely Mr. Newman. Now, there is an old business partner I must see and figure out who this fourth student is. As thanks for all you’ve done today, I shall let you know who she is once I find her.”

“Really?” John couldn’t believe it. Why would Mrs. Wentworth just go ahead and tell him that. It made no sense. “Why would you share that information with me?” he had to ask, his curiosity got the better of him.

“After this exchange, I have come to realize you could be a valuable asset to me, as I’m sure the Brighton’s will after they talk with you. So, for now, I will allow you to be an asset to them as well as myself. But be warned John Newman, there will be a time when you will have to make a choice. Make sure to choose correctly,” with that, a giant gust of wind flew from behind Mrs. Wentworth and blew John to the door. John got the hint and left. It wasn’t until he got outside and saw a very angry Moira that he remembered he was supposed to meet her after school was over.