"So tell me again just what a [Swashbuckler] is and does? I've heard of them before, but you don't exactly get to meet them everyday here in Rhir." One of the guardsmen, a tanned man who went by the name Qum Miao asked the young man, taking a long drag from his tankard.
Max considered this. He had given a little bit of thought before coming to his choice in the dungeon for which class he wanted to become. "Swashbucklers are a lot like knights, in a way. We don't exactly have large groups- orders that we tie ourselves to, but we try and live by a code of ethics, and try and uphold that code. My code is that I'll try and fight against forces that would cause injustice and harm."
Qum leaned forward and slapped Max across the back. "That's pretty cool. You know, I've always wanted to be a [Knight] myself. Something about fighting for the King and the betterment of the country always stuck with me as a kid, and that's why I'm here, defending from monster attacks before they reach the walls."
If there was one thing that Max could do well, it was gaining knowledge and using it to ensure his survival. Right now, he had the guards' trust, especially since he had spent the past couple of days helping them defeat a few of the monsters that came out of the Antinium Hive. He'd gained 2 levels in his [Monster Hunter] class, and by using his [Monster Appraisal] skill, he'd given the soldiers some solid information on learning their weaknesses and figuring out the patterns of attacks.
The soldiers had warmed up to him very quickly after he'd helped them kill what they'd called an Arkora. It had been a flying fish with tentacles and poisonous gas had spilled from its mouth.
Regardless, Max had been helping the guards fight monsters and they'd come to respect his abilities as a [Monster Hunter].
"Tell me about the walls," Max asked his new friend, "There wasn't a lot of books on them in my hometown, and I'm interested in them."
Qum took a bite of his food, before pointing towards the horizon. "There are 4 walls, though I've heard some rumors that they're trying to build a fifth one. Fortifications were being made, towers and the like, you know how it is. But apparently the King rescinded the order or something, and there hasn't been much progress recently. Anyways, the Walls help keep out the monsters, or Demons, from approaching our society. Fat lot of good that did us recently, with the Demons able to march a whole fucking army up to the castle itself."
He took another drink, and swallowed, before continuing. "The Walls are pretty defensible, and have some enchantments and shit that fight off the forces of darkness. There were some rumors amongst the guards of a couple of [Heroes] that got summoned, but apparently they turned out to be a couple of kids with little experience actually holding any weapons. There were a couple that were strong, a [Knight] boy and a [Mage] girl, but the real interesting fellow was some sort of [Jester], some sort of [Clown] or something.
Max had started to look around camp, looking for more information once Qum had veered off topic, but his attention snapped back at the mention of clowns. That wasn't something that he'd thought that he would hear about in this world.
"A… [Clown]? Did I hear you say that right?"
Qum wiped his mouth with a napkin and grunted. "That's right. Poor fellow went insane, I heard. But he had all sorts of crazy ass powers, like teleporting all across the battlefield and stealing the enemy's weapons right from their hands. Scary fellow, if you ask me. Definitely not someone you'd want to meet, given his insanity. I heard the royalty fear interacting with him. But anyways, back to the walls. We're close to the Fourth Wall. There's a couple of villages near it, shame what happened to Karaz a few months back, it got hit with Demons and the guards on duty were slaughtered. The only thing that drove the demons back was actually that insane clown dude."
Max stood and paced, something that he did a lot while he thought. It certainly helped his muscles move, and he didn't want to remain sitting when he had already finished his food. "That's certainly interesting. You said that the [Clown] went insane?"
"Aye, eyewitnesses said that the dude's eyes had that glint of madness that only those poor souls who gain the [Insanity] condition have. Dude went mad and slaughtered the Demons while bleeding out and had broken bones. They apparently showed up on scene of the [Clown] rocking back and forth over the dead bodies of twenty or so Demons, with this manic grin on his face."
"That sounds a lot like something from home, crazy [Clowns]. I…" Max trailed off. He wasn't about to reveal things about my world to some random stranger, that's how you start falling down the rabbit hole. A rabbit hole that led to bombs and world wars. But crazy clowns was definitely an Earthen concept, not something that happened naturally in a fantasy based world. "Usually those guys end up as some sort of criminal, murdering people left and right."
The guard stood as well and led the [Swashbuckler] over to the fire pit as he continued the conversation. "I can definitely see that. Crazy ass clowns, whatever they are. But yeah, so we're near the Fourth Wall, it's the north-most one. It isn't perfect, of course, too often monsters and Demons are able to get past it, but nobody's ever pushed past the First Wall, so at least we have that going for us."
One of the other guards, this one a man with a scar on his chin, piped up, "Stop overloading the kid with information!"
"Fuck off Bansonn, I'm 22!" Max shouted to the soldier. The other guards around the fire pit laughed at Bansonn's expense, and Max continued with, "I asked him about it myself. If you really are that averse to learning then maybe you should get some earplugs!"
"Don't tell my guards to fuck off, Caiden, or they'll pour water on your face in the middle of the night."
Max turned and nodded at Licia. He held some degree of respect for her; she was pretty good at getting the guards to do what she wanted, and she had a really good skill, one that let her telepathically talk with her soldiers and give them orders. It had a small range at the moment, but her ability to organize her units and give them cohesive orders in the middle of combat meant that she was an invaluable asset on the battlefield. She was hoping to level up and actually join the brigades to take on the Demon forces come the end of summer.
"Duly noted, captain. I'll make sure to sleep lightly tonight, just in case." Max smiled at the rest of the company. "And don't you dare try anything with me, I sleep with my rapier in hand, just in case of night time attacks!"
Bansonn swore, "Damnit captain, don't just tell him what I'm planning on doing!" He gave a grin before continuing, "But seriously, you ask a lot of questions, does wherever you're from really not have information on Rhir?"
I gave a shrug. "Yeah, Laconia doesn't exactly have a berth of knowledge on this area, and I'd really rather be up to date on the locale if I'm gonna be stuck here for a while."
"Where is Laconia anyways?"
Well, Max couldn't tell them that he was from a place called New Hampshire, right? He thought back to what he'd heard of recent planet news and made up an answer.
"It's close to the Order of seasons, off by the Kallinad lands."
One of the other guards, a woman [Sorceress] by the name of Mersa piped up, "Oh, then you must be proud of Wil, for winning the right of a question of the Titan! That was crazy, how he sailed an army of ships almost fifteen hundred miles in ten days without anybody noticing!"
Max had heard a little bit about the games from the guards, but this new information was a little mind boggling to him.
"He did what?" Max regretted his words the instance they left his mouth, and saw a couple of the guards look at him strangely.
"You must have heard about that, right? Wil Kallinad sailed an army of ships all the way to Daquin from the Order of Seasons. You must have known about it, since you say you lived nearby."
Max scrambled for an answer to cover for his earlier mistake. "I was a little caught up in a large… Hunting trip. You know, hunting monsters and what-not. And then the whole teleporting mishap. I had no idea that he had pulled off something so astounding!" The young man didn't really have to feign being impressed at the accomplishment, since it certainly was something.
"Oh yeah. He didn't win the game itself, that went to the Lizardgirl, but he impressed the Titan with his strategy and apparently was offered a Question."
"And he really made it past Tulm the Mithral without getting noticed? What an absolute baller!" Max had heard enough gossip to know at least a little about the politics and events of the other continents. It was how he was going to fake his persona of being decently knowledgeable while also giving him the ability to learn more.
Mersa looked at him weirdly, simply asking, "Baller?"
Max gave her a grin. "It's a term based off a game from my hometown, where you use a ball and try and score points with it. It just means that he's impressive."
Two of the guards that had been looking at him weirdly shrugged and resumed their own conversations, while some of the others had been drawn into this one. Or at least, they would have, had a short horn blast not been sounded at that moment.
One blast meant a monster threat from the dungeon. Max had gotten startled the first night when he'd awoken to the sound, and had stumbled about confused for a minute or two before he had started helping the guards.
This time, his hand was on his rapier in an instant, and he rushed, along with Licia and the other guards, to meet up with those engaging the beast.
'Guards, what kind of beast are we facing up against?' Licia called into the minds of all of those who had taken up arms, including Max, since he'd volunteered his services while they were caring for him.
She got an answer, and then informed the rest of them, 'We've got an incursion of 7 Mantoris coming through the eastern tunnel entrance. All guards with metal armor, form a shield wall. Archers, aim for their bodies and legs. Max says the legs are weak and without support they can't fight well. They rely on sound to see, and with your heavy armor hurry with the formation before they catch anyone.'
Max remembered his fight with the Mantoris, or the scythe armed creature with horse legs down in the tunnels after his fight with the dragonling. He'd relayed all of the information he had on the monsters that he'd fought down there, and they'd shared what knowledge they had with him as well.
It took him and the guards a minute to reach the location of the battle, and the Mantoris were already engaged with the formation. Luckily, with Licia's ability to talk into the minds of the soldiers, they'd quickly snapped to the formation, and it looked like they were holding the line well, though the Mantoris looked like they might break the wall.
"[Reinforced Shield Wall]!" Licia yelled, arriving on the scene. Instantly the wall of shields snapped together more tightly, and the Mantoris that had been attempting to break though got an arrow to the chest, making it cry out in outrage.
'Reinforcements, pincer around the sides of the Mantoris. Focus the legs and tails. Archers, cease! Casters, slow them down! Leave not a single one alive!'
Max followed a group of soldiers to the right of the phalanx, before converging on the group of Mantoris. He lashed out and cut off the tail of one of the beasts as it attempted to cut at the guard to the right of him, and the guard used the moment to decapitate the off balance beast.
Another Mantoris came for Max, but suddenly it was rooted to the ground with literal roots that rose from the ground and ensnared its legs.
Max swiped at the creature's arm, and drew blood. His allies converged on the immobile beast and cut it down.
Within the minute, the battle was over. No more than a couple of spells and a single skill had been used.
"Good show, boys and girls! And good insight on how to fight these beasts Max, or we would have lost a guard or two! Usually it's a lot harder to take these things on." Licia said as the soldiers returned to camp.
"All thanks to my [Monster Appraisal] skill. If I hadn't gotten it after fighting the dragonling down there, I'm certain the one I fought would have killed me."
"Since you were only level 6 when you came out of there, I don't doubt it. I've lost good men and women above level 20 to these bastards. It sure is useful, that class you have. One that specializes in hunting monsters? Those are pretty uncommon."
Max sat around the firepit once again, and a couple of the other guards piped up. "Yeah, that class sure is unique! It would be really nice to have a class and skills that's specifically for fighting monsters!"
Murmers of agreement could be heard from the others, and Max just gave them a smile. He didn't want to tell them that he had a thought in his head since killing his first beast down in the dungeon that he was hunting monsters, and had somehow gotten the class based off of a video game from his world. How were you supposed to explain the concept of a game where you pretended to be an adventurer who explores, when there were literally adventurers in this world?
"I got lucky, I suppose. I was fighting so many monsters that I had this errant thought that I was like some sort of hunter who killed them specifically, and it turned into a class for me. I really don't know what else to tell you."
Licia spoke up, "It's known that you'll gain classes based off intent and cultural norms. That's why some people get [Warrior] classes and some get [Fighter], even though it's basically the same thing. It's also why specialized classes can exist, like [Fencer], instead of just [Swordsman]. If you layabouts really wanted to get skills that would help you kill monsters, and you did it enough, you'd gain them."
That was new information, but it confirmed what Max had hypothesized. Classes were gained on the basis of both meeting the requirements, as well as intention and the situations one found themselves in. That begat further investigation, such as whether Max could craft scenarios where he could get specific skills. Like, if he put on weights while fighting with the intention of increasing his speed with them off, like Rock Lee from Naruto, would he gain a skill that did that?
These were the kinds of questions that he thought of that he kept quiet about. It would seem weird that a young adult would have questions about the levelling system, especially since he had barely any levels when he first joined them. He'd at least explained that he'd had a class consolidation, which had explained his overall low levels, but he still didn't want to raise any questions amongst the guards that he couldn't answer.
After an hour of joking with the other guards, Max started to head back to bed, before he heard the sole blast of a horn sound, and he gave a sigh before turning and running to help the others stop the monster threat.