The powers bestowed upon us

“First let’s start with Blessings.”

She raises her left hand, now glowing orange.

“With our new form Sonala also granted us her blessings. With it we can protect, heal and support ourselves with her holy abilities. For example...” She clenches her fist.

“Holy dream blessing: Guiding nightlight.”

She opens her palm again and an orb of light starts floating. Lighting up the entire interior of the carriage.

“Something like this can quite literally save your life in a dark cave.”

I’m mesmerized by it. It is something so simple, but the anticipation of being able to do it is making me smile.

“With Blessings is all about communing with Sonala, feeling her presence and clearly conveying what you wish for so she can answer your call, this wish should not only be for yourself but to others too. It’s a little hard to use, and hard to control but is a safe power with lots of utility.”

As she puts her hand away the ball of light she created vanishes with her.

“On the other hand, we have Protections. They are a bit tricky but are a great form of offence.’

She raises her right hand, with a faint purple glow.

“Holy nightmare protection: Partial transformation.”

Her entire arm starts the change. The muscles start bulging and the entire arm grows in size disproportionate to her body.

“It involves giving in to Umbravar influence but keeping yourself tethered to Sonala as in to not completely lose yourself. With it you can enhance your strength, heal your own wounds and use primal abilities that weren’t passed over to our current forms.” The entire time Gora looks afraid, and there’s a slight tremble to her voice.

She takes a deep breath and calms herself down. As she does her arm returns to normal.

“It’s easier to use, but extremely easy to lose control if you’re not careful. With it comes a lot of danger.”

“It’s just like back in the cave.”

“What?!”

“I guess I didn’t mention that before. Back in the cave when that slumberwalker attacked me, there was a moment when my arm turned monstrous just like yours right now. But it reverted back after it ran away and calmed myself.”

“Okay!” Gora has a nervous smile on her face. “Well, I guess the good news is that you do have the potential to use protections. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be taking right now.”

“Wait a minute. Is it that dangerous?”

“Not everyone has the potential to use Blessings and Protections Akihiko. The reason common folk are so scared of Umbravar influence and avoid fighting is because if you revert into your original form without them there is no going back. If they start to transform, there is no stopping it unless they get immediate attention from a Blessing user. And if they fully turn back to their original form, that’s it. We don’t know how to bring them back once they become slumberwalkers.”

Gora holds both my hands. They are smaller than mine but way rougher .

“Promise you will never push yourself beyond your limit. Is painful enough when they are people we don’t know. But having to put down a former teammate is just…”

“Gora, hey is okay. I promise. I won’t push myself.”

“Good.” She lets go of me.

“This is all so you can better understand what you will be learning. I don’t recommend training just yet. You woke up yesterday and will have plenty of time to train once we get back.”

“That’s fine. I pretty much got the gist. One is like support and defensive magic while the other is like transformation and offensive magic.”

“What’s magic?”

“Oh. uhm. I heard someone called them this in the streets back in the capital!”

“Weird, never heard them call blessings like that before.”

After a few more hours, the sun is beginning to set, just as we approach another mesa with a small town on top. We make our way up. And get settled on the guild facility there.

Apparently almost every town has one of these to work as shelter for guild members traveling the continent, who can eat, sleep and be of service in case of a surprise slumberwalker raid.

The only thing missing is a fast travel option to complete the video game cliche.

It is way smaller than the one in the capital, but the food they serve is still good. Made with the local products of the town. Theres only one other duo of guild members, but neither me nor Gora were in the mood to talk so we headed to bed.

After lying in bed all the exhaustion from the trip hits me at once. I’m not used to it at all. Especially mentally, so much information to process.

(So basically, the magic system has a skill tree with two paths. The Blessings users are good for those who want to stay on the backlines and provide support and healing but it’s high skill. While the protection users work as vanguards on the frontline, it is easy to use but has major drawbacks of overuse. Both sides also have good individual perks.)

I close my eyes, there’s just so much going on with so little time. I just want to sleep to better understand it all.

(It would be a waste to just focus on only one path. I better see if there’s a way to multiclass once I get to HQ.)

I close my eyes and drift into sleep.

For the first time in a long while, and that includes back in my world, I have no dreams in my sleep.

I’m woken up by a knock on my door. It’s still dark, the sun hasn’t even risen yet.

It’s Gora.

“Wake up sleepy head. We’re heading out.”

“So early?”

“Yup. That’s how we travel. Gotta make use of all the sunlight we have. Also, I want to reach HQ today. No complaining now I’m just getting you ready for your training.”

We eat breakfast and once again head down the mesa into the road with the carriage.

However, since it’s still dark Gora goes in the front together with the coachman watching the road.

As a try to get comfortable on my seat preparing myself for the long trip Gora calls me:

“Akihiko, up ahead. Time for a demonstration.”

I quickly get up and look to the front. A couple dozen meters ahead of us in the middle of the road I see a small creature, green skin, pointy ears and nose, wearing nothing but rags. A goblin.

He’s alone, hitting his head with a rock, eyes completely white like the wolves from before.

Gora signals the coachman to stop and jumps down. As she does, the goblin notices her and lets out a war cry.

It immediately runs towards us with the rock covered in his own blood.

Gora entire body glows purple but her body doesn’t transform into an orc creature. She dashes forward with amazing speed; the goblin doesn’t even flinch at her approach.

She puts her hand forward and with an orange glow emits a blinding light close to his face. The goblin shrieks and stars to flail the rock around with its eyes closed. Put it’s already over.

Gora swiftly puts herself behind it and grabs it in a head lock. With one final move she snaps his neck and the goblin falls dead to the ground.

“This was the perfect demonstration. It is not always going to be this easy, but this is what you should always aim for. Ideally, everything you just saw is what you want to do. Put him to rest with the minimal amount of force and as quickly and painless as possible.”

“I think I get it. You’re amazing Gora!”

“She really is” The coachman chimes in.

“Thank you. But it is almost never going to be this easy. Especially when there is more than one target. The important lesson to take from this is: Always put them to rest as quickly as possible. Letting the fight drag on will aways be bad for everyone involved. To you it just tires you out, for them it just prolongs the pain. That’s why you should always work with your teammates. Together you’re stronger.”

Gora arranges the goblin body in a proper position.

“You can just watch Akihiko. I don’t expect you to have memorized the prayer in one day.”

“I’ll join you miss.” The coachman rushes to her side.

Once again, I watch as they start to pray.

“Oh goddess. She, who watches over us all. Please guide this lost soul who have met its end in suffering. May only dreams find him in his eternal slumber.”

And once again after a minute passes, I watch as its body is enveloped in light and ascends to the sky in hundreds of light orbs.

We return to the carriage, and it takes a bit for the mood to return to normal and we start talking again to pass the time.

But after many hours we finally start to see it. A new mesa, but I don’t see any buildings on top of it. What is clear to see is the massive mountain that ascend to the sky almost like a tower. It’s has way less reinforcement’s than the walls of the capital, but even I can feel it from here. That place has an entirely different vibe to it. Like a god is truly watching over it at this very moment.

“Welcome to the Resting Guild Headquarters, Akihiko. I expect great things from you.”