I trudged out of the river, past the stonebed, and onto the soft grass. Laying down, I turned to look at the stars when I began laughing. Bubbling and slow at first, it grew into something less restrained with time.

  Did I really just do all that?

  Just this morning I had been gearing up to work with risk analysis, and in the evening I was fighting golem-like constructs, monstrous toads, and wolves. And I received an inheritance from something akin to a god. I'd even received 5 levels worth of stats!

  Still laying down, I opened my status.

  Listing available Paths...

  Path of the Warrior:

  Fighter

  Path of the Hunter:

  Ranger

  Path of the Mage:

  Apprentice conjurer

  Path of the Healer:

  Acolyte

  Path of the Rogue:

  Thief

  Unique path detected:

  Previous holder: The Titan

  Path of the Warforged:

  Ironwrought summoner

  My laughter stopped. Summoner? I thought this would be some type of warrior archetype? What the hell does 'summoner' mean?! I sat back up with furrowed brows. There still wasn't much point in not picking it. The Titan had liked me, and he saw no issues with me choosing the class. Surely he wouldn't lead me astray by giving me a unique path, would he?

  I shook away my doubts and chose the Warforged path. The system warped and presented my new status.

  Name: Jackson Weller

  Level: 4

  Class: Ironwrought summoner

  Title: Inheritor of the Warforged

  Stats:

  Strength: 7

  Agility: 14

  Vitality: 16

  Endurance: 13

  Intelligence: 4

  Wisdom: 7

  Free stat points: 2

  Stamina: 130/130

  Mana: 40/40 (Regen 70/h)

  Skills:

  Active: Summon armament. LV1.

  Passive: Weapon mastery:

  Shortsword. LV2.

  Spear. LV2.

  Shield. LV1.

  Passive: Appraisal. LV1.

  Spells:

  Active: Summon familiar. LV1.

  Profession: N/A

  I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. A lot had changed, mainly the fact that I had gotten skills, most of them passive, and among them something called appraisal. I threw a glance at a nearby tree, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "How does this work?" I muttered to myself.

  Thinking I'd realized the crux of it, I stood up, walked over to the tree, and reached out my hand. "Appraise!" I shouted with gusto and way too much expectancy. Nothing happened, and I felt the realization of what I'd just done seep into my bones. Luckily, no one was here to see me. I looked around once more to confirm that was still the case, but only the dark of night lingered around me. There was no telling who hid in the dark, though, and seeing as no one started laughing, I assumed I was still alone.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Assumed until I heard a crack. I whirled around and drew my sword, pointing it into the darkness and slowly backing away toward the river. At least there the moon lit my surroundings well enough. Once my feet touched stone and nothing had attacked, I glanced down at my blade and let my mind wander to the skill.

  [Arming sword]

  Common (Low grade)

  The explanation scribbled itself over the blade with see-through letters. "Huh... That'll be useful." I glanced over at my shield and confirmed that appraisal marked it as Low grade as well.

  I wished I had been able to bring the stone spear. It would be interesting to see if there was anything special about it. Clenching my jaw, I mourned the loss of a perfectly good weapon. Then my heart lurched.The bow! I realized.

  Back when I got dragged into the trials, I hadn't worn it. What good would a bow do when you were having a bath? I'd left it with my other stuff before the wolf first appeared. My mind spiraled. If I lost Trish's bow I'd be in deep shit. A weapon was like a person's lifeline right now, and although she hadn't been too keen on keeping it, I doubted Aya felt the same.

  Scrambling along the stone bed, I looked for the weapon. It took me the better part of half an hour to spot it, hidden below a scattering of rocks. I sighed a sigh of relief and picked it up. Just like the sword and shield, it was low grade too. I pulled the string taut just to see if there was any damage. The system chimed.

  Weapon mastery acquired.

  Bow. LV0.

  I raised an eyebrow. Did I unlock more masteries as I used other weapons?

  Time will tell... I slung the bow over my shoulder and looked back toward the woods. No way was I going to travel through it like this. There were both beasts and robed assholes roaming around. I'd have to wait for daybreak at least.

  Yawning, I sat down on the grass edge of the stone bed—not close enough to the trees that I was blind. I was tired, but my heart still beat with excitement. There were more skills to test out.

  The weapon mastery ones were pretty self-explanatory. So were the active summoning skills, but when I thought of them, I received more information than before.

  Summon Armament. LV1.

  Bond with an armament from the Warforged arsenal. The level of the skill determines how many different armaments you can call upon. Current: 1.

  Choice available.

  Summon Familiar. LV1.

  Bond with a familiar from the plains of the Ironstep.

  Choice available.

  I focused on Summon Armament, and a long list sprawled into my vision. There were things like greatswords, hammers, axes, pikes, and many more niche weapons that I had no idea what they even were. I already had a weapon in mind, though. After scrolling for a bit, I found it. The section for spears.

  Although my time in the trial had been short, I had liked using a spear, and with the choice of being able to summon one, all the detrimental points about it being long and uncomfortable to walk with meant nothing. I scrolled for a moment before I found one that I liked. It just said "Spear," which was fitting, since it was unassuming in almost all aspects: a long, thin, wooden grip and a tip with a short, two-sided edge. The bottom of the spear also had a small tip, about as large as a thumb. It probably wasn't made specifically for fighting, but it was nice to have the option.

  I chose it, and the system responded.

  With a thought, I tried to summon it like I used Appraise, but nothing happened. I thought back to the Titan; he'd punched the air to summon the dagger. With that in mind, I punched into empty space and thought of the spear. Light warped and allowed my hand entry into some place unknown. When I withdrew it, I held the spear. "Nice," I muttered and heaved it up and down.

  [Spear]

  Summoned (Low grade)

  It was slightly taller than me, sturdy, and nicely balanced. Just by laying it on my finger, I could balance it without issue. The tip meant for stabbing was as long as my hand and looked wickedly sharp.

  My status hadn't changed much, apart from my stamina getting sapped of 40 points. I hadn't really paid attention to the two resource pools. Neither of them depleted just by moving around, although I did feel the impact on my overall energy when I summoned the armament.

  I turned my eyes to the next skill. Like the choice between armaments, I was presented with a long list of familiars, and I suddenly found myself facing a problem. The summons cost mana, a resource I had devilishly little of.

  Chewing on my nails, I mulled over the different options. I still had two free stat points to spend. If my assumption was correct, and you received ten mana per intelligence point, then that would bring me to a total of 60 mana. Most of the familiars cost way more than that to summon. There was no doubt a bear or wolf would be useful in a wide variety of situations. The question was whether the investment was worth it. I'd have to reinvest stats heavily, and I had no idea if it was even possible to steer your improvement like that.

  Besides, throwing points away wasn't something I was keen on doing. Mana didn't seem very important to me at the time, so I would rather not invest in it. Instead, I resigned myself to one of the less flashy familiars.

  The available options were as follows: a cat, a steppe mouse, and some kind of bird—an Ironsteppe Raven. A cat was agile and could climb, a mouse small and good for sneaking. Then there was the raven. I really didn't know what a familiar was useful for, but a bird sounded like a better deal than the other two. A bird could fly, after all.

  With that, I made up my mind and chose the raven.

  Choose summoning call.

  I rubbed my chin. "Hmm." Calling out the skill was a handy way of summoning, but it also announced that something was happening to those around me. A more discreet way of summoning was probably better. Thinking along those lines, and sticking with the whole bird thing, I chose whistling as my call.

  The Ironsteppe Raven cost me 35 mana to summon, and 1 a minute to keep summoned. I just about managed with my stats. Even if I kept it active, my reserves would refill with time, as long as nothing happened.

  Overall, I was satisfied with the choice.

  I pressed my lips together and whistled. Light contorted into a whirlpool, and the raven flew out, landing on my shoulder. I stretched my arm out, and it got the gist immediately, climbing onto my wrist so that I could get a better look at it. It was more gray than black, almost looking like the mountainside near the altar, and its eyes were a shiny yellow that cut through the dark of night.

  Choose a name.

  "A name, huh?" I chuckled and scratched the bird under its chin.

  It chirped happily and leaned into my fingers. Would Hugin or Munin be too on the nose? Probably.

  Maybe something relating to my new class then? "How about Iron?" I asked, and the bird flapped. "I'll take that as a yes."

  Bond formed.

  Familiar: Iron.

  I waved my arm, and Iron hovered in front of my face, waiting for a command. "Wake me up if something approaches." Iron chirped and flew off into the night sky, melding with the dark.

  Soft grass tickled my skin as I lay down. Normally, something like that would keep me awake, but not this day. I'd been forcing myself to keep my eyes open while experimenting with the skills. Not even the cold could keep me up.

  Sleep came as easily as it did quickly.

  When I woke up the next day, I felt refreshed and content. Rubbing my eyes free from sleep, I sat up with a yawn and took in my surroundings. The sun stood high in the sky and bathed me with its warmth. It seemed like I'd slept in—for the first time in what felt like forever.

  My body was light, and my mood unbreakable. Was this how freedom felt? I whistled Iron down from the skies. He tore down from the skies like a comet and landed on my shoulder.

  "No issues?" I asked. Although I didn't expect an answer, I could somehow feel that the night had been calm, as if Iron's thoughts were linked to mine. I smiled and rubbed him under the chin. "Good."

  The others were probably wondering where I'd gone. I was surprised Aubrey hadn't come looking already. She struck me as the kind who looked after her own. I dismissed the thought with a shrug. Maybe Aya had told her not to. I'd know soon enough anyway; I had to return the bow after all.

  Before then, though, I decided to take another rinse in the river. Cold water washed away all the grime and dirt from the previous day. I'd almost forgotten about my wounds when the pink-tinted water coursing through the stream reminded me.

  Pressing my fingers against the gash, I didn't feel anything. Even with my new stats, there was no way I would have healed just like that. Must have been the Titan's doing. Honestly, it was the least he could do after torturing me like that.

  I donned my tattered pants along with the shield, sword, and bow.

  "Keep a lookout from above, would you?" I asked Iron, who flapped away without complaint. It was time to return to the others.