14. Meadow Off The Road

There was a large meadow outside the city of Rosenburg, the capital of Astria. It was mostly untouched land beside the occasional streams of water. Soldiers patrolled the main road where large carts appeared from time to time, but there was little life outside of that road.

This made the meadow a perfect area for the newbie adventurers.

Various low-level creatures would spawn across the land, wandering aimlessly until they find something to devour. When killed, these creatures leave behind no corpse but loot that transfers to the heroes' inventory.

"Excuse me!" Naomi raised his hand upon hearing Suzuki's explanation.

Suzuki led them onto the meadow immediately after gaining a Sigil. He argued that if they wanted to be ready for a Downdraught, they had to start training as soon as possible.

"What is it?" Suzuki asked the confused Naomi.

"We have an inventory like in MMOs, right? How do we open it?"

"Ah, my apologies. I thought you had it figured out already."

Apparently, the Sigils did more than just give a class. For example, they acted both as a bag for loot and a character profile, which one could view when focusing hard enough.

The contents of the Sigils were only visible to their user. Loot remained in the inventory until the user chose to summon it or somehow died.

One by one, the group opened their character profiles to observe their stats. From the outside, it looked like they were looking at nothing, but their exclamations proved a different truth.

"Woah!" Stevie said with excitement. "I never imagined I could see my stats! It's like I've become a videogame character!"

"Oh my!" Pepon chuckled. "I knew I was smart, but even then, this is a surprise!"

Gabriel focused to see his stats. After a brief second, a small interface appeared before him.

[ Name: Gabriel ]

[ HP: 20/20 ]

[ MP: 5/5 ]

[ Class: Warrior/Demon ]

[ Level: 1 (0/20) ]

[ Strength: 10 ]

[ Dexterity: 8 ]

[ Sturdiness: 10 ]

[ Intelligence: 10 ]

[ Souls: 0 ]

The last point caught Gabriel's attention. He understood almost everything there but "Souls" were just something he could not wrap his head around.

"How could I have more than one soul?" He thought to himself, then turned towards Naomi. "Hey, what are your stats?"

"Huh? Oh, if we say that ten is the average, then I'm bad with Strength, same with Dexterity, and even worse with Sturdiness, but my Intelligence is very good! I guess that is normal for a Mage."

Pepon heard as Naomi said that and a playful smile grew on her face. She puffed out her chest and walked by her fellow magic user friend.

"Do you think your Intelligence is good? Hah, mine is way better! The Sigil says it's fourteen! What do you think about that, loser?

"My Intelligence is also fourteen."

"What?!" Pepon recoiled. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. Why? Don't tell me you thought we would not start with the same attributes!"

"N-No, that's not it! It's just... Did I say fourteen? My Intelligence is fifteen! Sorry, small mistake!"

"Huh?" Naomi grew angry. "Don't lie to me, you loli witch! We started out with the same attributes!"

"You're just jealous of my superiority!"

"Superiority? The only thing super about you are the super small tits on your chest!"

"Excuse me?!"

Gabriel sighed. These two were acting like they were on a field trip instead of battle practice.

Still, he had learned something. The "Soul" attribute was something unique to him. But why did he have it?

"Maybe because I have a Demon Sigil?"

While all classes started out with the same attributes, some had special stats. These could be increased if certain conditions were met, but said conditions were variously harder to define.

A shining example of this was Stevie, who was very confused about his unique stat.

"Guys! I have something called 'Swiftness'! The Sigil says I have ten points in this attribute, but I think I can increase it!"

"You have that attribute because you got a Scout Sigil." Suzuki answered. "A scout's job is to gather valuable information by reaching behind the enemy lines. If I had to take a guess, your abilities will focus on movement and evasion."

"Does that mean I can outrun and dodge my opponents? Uwaah! I'm so happy! This means I won't get hurt!"

Suzuki smiled upon seeing the kid's excitement. He turned towards the rest and spoke with a leader's voice.

"Everyone, listen! If we want to prepare for the Downdraught, we need to upgrade our Sigils. Fortunately for us, there are smaller slimes down this path that we could farm until our Classes evolve. But beware! Experience is shared between everyone who took part in slaying a monster, so try to refrain from asking for assistance. Did all of you get a weapon?"

The group nodded in unison.

The king offered everyone a weapon based on their Sigil. Naomi and Pepon were given a small book that contained descriptions for some minor spells. Stevie got twenty arrows and a small crossbow that he could attach to his wrist. Gabriel asked for a rapier, which they denied, but offered him a short sword instead.

Suzuki didn't ask for a new weapon. He said that those he already had were the best for him and a different weapon would prove to be a 'downgrade'.

The king felt remorse for being useless in Suzuki's cause and, instead, he offered him a favor that he could turn in anytime.

"Alright." Suzuki nodded as everyone raised their weapon. "If we are all set, then let's go!"

As such, they left the main road and walked off into the distance.

Gabriel remained silent and followed the group. His plan was to blend into the crowd and observe Suzuki. He didn't know what kind of Sigil he had, but if he could observe him in action, that would give him a good hint of what to expect.

Suddenly, Gabriel felt a bump on his side and when he looked down, Pepon leaned close to him.

"Good job back there! That puts us one step ahead of him." She whispered.

"Why are you helping me?"

"We all got our own reasons. Let's just say I'm a bit concerned about Suzuki's intents."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know something I don't?"

"Maybe. But if you want to know my secret, first you got to earn my trust."

"And how do I do that?"

Pepon shrugged.

"I don't know, but don't worry! I have a feeling you will get a chance soon enough. After all, it's not too long until that psycho strikes..."