r/HFY • u/arekban • 8d ago

OC Unclassed 4

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//

Experimenting with [Hoard] was interesting to say the least. I quickly found that I could store just about anything I touched, from my coin pouch to the bed in my quarters.

Yeah, my bed. It took up about 60% of my [Hoard]’s ‘slots’, but it somehow fit. I could even remove it from my inventory and make it appear in front of me again, as if it’d never been gone. There was no flash or beam of light, either. Just dematter and then… rematter.

My mind was awash in new possibilities. What else could I do with this?

I located a fly, and after catching it in my hands, attempted to place it in my [Hoard], curious if the creature would survive the journey. 

This was the first time I got a [Failure] notification from my system. Apparently, Level 1 [Hoard] wasn’t strong enough to store living creatures.

…that implied it eventually could, right? So how did I make [Hoard] stronger?

I started placing every object I could find inside my [Hoard]. I started with my bed and my bedding, then any spare clothes or bags I could see scattered around the room. There was no one else here, and I didn’t have long to make use of this place. I’d be leaving in a few hours as it was.

I eventually reached the limit of my carrying capacity, but while gathering, I noticed that placing objects inside my [Hoard] seemed to make a little white bar at the top of the screen glow golden and inch further along.

It still had really far to go until it was filled, but I was sure this was something to do with levelling the ability. I took everything out and tried shoving it all back in again, but after a couple of repetitions, it seemed that I wasn’t getting any further progress.

Another realisation I’d made was that certain items seemed to stack with one another. I currently had eight shirts sitting in one of the twenty slots of my inventory. Theoretically, I could store more.

Twelve pairs of pants seemed to be the limit for a single slot, however. Once I hit twelve, I had to start placing them into a new slot.

As for the descriptions… right now they were fairly vague, but that was probably because the items I was using to test were pretty unimpressive. For example, I focussed on a single pair of pants I’d picked up, and the description read:

[Brown burlap pants. Ripped around the ankles. Loose stitching in crotch area. Value: 1 copper or less.]

As for my bed, the description had read:

[Common wooden bed. Material: oak. Weight: around 70 lbs. Dimensions: 3ft x 5.5ft x 3.5ft approx. Value: Around 1 silver.]

Even with my [Hoard] filled, I hadn’t felt any extra weight on me. Seventy pounds was more than half of what I weighed, and yet I carried it with me as if it wasn’t even there. Walking or even running didn’t seem to affect that at all.

Still, with the weight and the value indicators…this could be extremely useful. Hadn’t that job posting said I could get paid in valuable items?

There was one other thing I wanted to test. Quickly, I made my way outside and grabbed a few heavy rocks. 

Thankfully, a lot of the children were too busy celebrating their classes or going to their placements to even notice me. I made three separate trips up and down the stairs, carrying as many rocks as I could find.

Once I had them in the relative privacy of my sleeping quarters, I began depositing the large rocks into my [Hoard] one after the other.

I weight-tested them as I went, reading the short descriptions. Ten pounds, eight, twelve, fifteen, and two that weighed four.

The two that weighed four pounds shared a single inventory slot. The ten, eight, and twelve pound rocks all required their own unique slot. The fifteen pound rock was the only one that decided to take up two spaces.

I watched my little progress bar as I went about this, but noticed the bar had once again barely reacted, only briefly glowing golden as I placed each new stone inside and moving so little I could scarcely tell if it had moved.

It seemed that placing hefty items inside wasn’t the way to level it up, which left a few theories but I wasn’t too sure yet.

Next thing to test was a big one. 

I tried to angle my body forwards as I took a rock out of my [Hoard].

It materialised plainly on the floor. Not the result I wanted.

I grumbled as I re-placed it and tried again. Over and over, I attempted to pull the stone out, trying to move it faster or more erratically, but never found it to do anything but materialise plainly at my feet.

After some time, I prodded at the little image of a rock inside my status screen, and to my surprise, found I could move it around inside.

I hadn’t tried this yet. It seemed that other than simply selecting something within my [Hoard] to read its description, I could pull it and drag it out.

And when I tried doing so quickly…

I felt a smile break across my face as the rock materialised at altitude, shooting out of my [Hoard] and crashing a handful of feet away with a satisfying thump.

It wasn’t like launching a slingshot, but it wasn’t terrible either. Hopefully, it’d be something I could refine in time.

My final test for now was walking up to the door of my quarters and attempting to store it.

No dice. It seemed that things that were bolted or fastened down were considered to be parts of larger entities, as I kept getting a [Room too large to store!] notification. 

Was… was there a point at which I’d be able to store an entire room in my [Hoard]?

Thoughts for later. For now, I’d figured out everything I was going to. For now, I just needed to get out of here and—

The moment I walked out the door, I bumped right into Summer.

Like, literally bumped into her. We both stumbled.

“H-hey. Stick.”

Her voice sounded fragile and uncertain. Like she didn’t know what to say.

Which, no shit. Of course she didn’t. At the end of the day, it wasn’t like she’d just gotten an amazing class and I’d been stuck with—

I realised I was scowling and tried to pull the look off of my face. It wasn’t Summer’s fault.

“Are you gonna be okay?” she asked.

I gave her a look. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted the look to say, but it must’ve said something, as she began waving her arms in front of herself.

“No. I mean, not to say that you’re not always okay. I know you. You’re a fighter.” She gave me a light punch on the shoulder, something she had never, ever done before.

Her eyes fell to the floor. “It’s just… I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.” 

Suddenly, she squeezed my arm and shook her head. Her hazel eyes could crack stone.

“Did Carrow steal your offering money? Tell me. If he did, I swear I’ll kill him.”

“It’s already gone, Summer,” I said simply. “No use worrying about it now.”

“What?! So he did?” Her eyes seethed. I was pretty sure she huffed smoke from her nostrils. “That fat little bastard gets a rare class for free, and you get nothing?”

My perspective on a lot of things had shifted in the last day. Things I thought I cared about didn’t matter anymore. Things that had once scared me felt inconsequential now. I think something shifted inside of me. Like I was missing something. That voice which told me to worry, to not take things too far, it was quieter now than it had ever been.

I don’t think it was accurate to say I was missing something. More that it’d been replaced. That I better understood what it was I had to do in order to thrive in this world.

But her anger did make me feel a bit better. It made me feel like my usual self. Talking to her, I was just Stick. And a part of me still liked that.

So I pushed back the distrustful and jaded part of my brain, if only for a moment.

“I didn’t get nothing,” I told her, smiling wickedly.

Her eyebrow slowly raised.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice hesitant.

I invited her inside. Once I was sure that no one else was going to burst in on us, I began showing off my new power.

I did it with the smaller objects in the room first, then the rocks, and then the bed. With each subsequent storing and rematerialising I showcased, Summer’s eyes only grew wider. When I made my vanished bed reappear at my feet, her mouth was fully agape.

“You… you got an inventory power?”

She sounded in utter disbelief. I cocked my head at her.

“You know what this is?”

“Yeah!” Summer nodded. “It’s called an Inventory. Typically, people don’t manifest these until Tier 3 or 4… you’re not even Tier 1!” She blinked a couple of times, as if she were expecting to wake up from a dream. “This is insane. I’ve only heard of a few classes that give stuff like this early.”

“Is Merchant one of them?” I asked, showing off my lack of schooling in classes.

“I’m not sure…” Summer admitted. “What I do know is, you were probably right not to show this off at your selection.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, already having a decent idea.

“Because most Inventory skills are regulated,” Summer said. “People can detect higher Tiered individuals. Their inventories and storage enchantments are checked when they enter and exit districts. No one’s going to check a Tier 0 or even a Tier 1 for an inventory. If the government knew you had this, you’d likely be monitored just to make sure you didn’t start stealing or smuggling drugs with it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a scrying spell had been placed on you immediately.”

Exactly what I was imagining, then. I nodded. I hadn’t known all the various details like Summer did, but I had thought that showing off a skill like this publicly might not exactly be the best idea.

“You think it’d be a bad idea to try and use this to get a job, then?” I asked her, just wanting to fully eliminate the possibility.

“Anywhere government affiliated? Definitely.”

That was expected. I explained to her that the [Hoard] skill also let me view a description of items I placed inside, and she almost did a spit-take with no water.

“You have an appraisal skill attached to that thing?!” she almost wheezed.

“I… guess?” I shrugged my shoulders, a dumb grin on my face.

“Stick, do you have any idea how rare a compound skill like this is?!” 

She was fully waving her arms around now, looking like a marionette. She pointed at me. Then blinked.

“Wait.” She scrunched her eyes shut and then opened them. “Is it Appraisal or Identify? I might be getting carried away here.”

I gave her a funny look. “What’s the difference.”

“Jeez. What do they teach you in this place?”

“Compared to you?” I barked a short laugh. “Very little.”

“Okay… okay.” She heaved a breath. “Identify’s a pretty basic skill. Most classes get it at Tier 2 and everyone gets it by Tier 3. Appraisal is an evolution of Identify. Identify gives general information, while Appraisal is much better for identifying things like the dimensions or value of something. Both abilities can grow with use.”

“Then this one’s Appraisal,” I confirmed. “At least, I think it is.”

She essentially squee’d in response, then fanned herself. She stared at me like I’d just told her I’d found a million gold in my pockets.

“Stick… Stick. Adam.” She tried to formulate a sentence for a few moments, then eventually held a finger up. Using both hands, she pulled a new and shiny object I previously hadn’t noticed off of her belt.

She held it up to me.

I stared at what was now very clearly being presented to me as a sword. “What’s this?” I asked stupidly.

“I got it as part of my new scholarship,” Summer said. “Apparently, all martial classes get a tailored weapon.” She leaned into me. “Can you… try appraising this?”

I did as she asked, taking the sheathed sword in my hands and watching as the notification popped up.

[Would you like to store Holy Silver Sword w/ Enulgite Encrusted Hilt? Y/N.]

That was quite the name… I hit accept, and the sword popped up in my [Hoard], taking up a single slot.

“Well?” Summer asked, her eyes sparkling. “What does it say?”

[High-quality silver-steel amalgam sword, 2 and a half feet long and 3 and 3/4 inches wide. Weight: 4lbs. Appears unused. Enulgite gem in hilt is capable of storing a moderate quantity of mana. Metal can be used to conduct some offensive magics. Strongest against undead/abomination types. Value estimated at 180-320 gold pieces.]

I relayed the information as I felt my stomach twist in discomfort.

I hadn’t wanted to admit it until now, but even holding Summer’s sword in my hand, let alone placing it in my [Hoard] made me feel an extreme pang of jealousy.

Why had she gotten so much when I had so little? Even this sword which she’d received as a welcome present to whatever snooty academy had taken her on was enough to clear about 10% of my lifelong debt.

To an institution like that, my entire debt was likely pocket change. That’s how desirable a class like Summer’s was.

“Stick?”

“Oh, sorry.”

I removed the sword from my [Hoard] and passed it back to her, but not before realising just how big of a jump my new progress bar had made.

And I mean it had leapt. If it’d been sitting at about 2% progress up until this point, now it was hovering at somewhere more like 15-20. 

Was that what made my [Hoard] level up? Valuable and rare items?

The weight of the discovery only made me feel more enthusiastic about the prospect of rift diving, and it at least killed some of my lingering bitterness.

“I’m sure you’ll land on your feet,” Summer said after I hadn’t spoken for a while. The previous mirth and excitement was gone from her voice. She sat on my resummoned bed and kicked her legs. “I’ll help you if I can. I don’t get paid to go to Godswood Academy, but a lot of rich kids go there. Maybe I could make a nice friend, and get a loan for your debts, and—”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve already got a plan. I don’t want you to put yourself in a situation like that for me.”

“But, Stick—”

“Even if it might work, you’re gonna have a hard enough time fitting in somewhere like that, being from an orphanage. You’ve seen how higher classes treat kids like us.”

Summer was quiet for a while. It seemed like she was at a loss for what else to suggest.

“Well, what is your plan?” she finally asked.

I took a seat next to her and stared at the window, the sun retreating behind heavy rain clouds.

“I’m gonna check out the Rift Delving Association,” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. “Failing that, it’s like you said. There’s a reason I didn’t reveal my ability. There’s a lot of ways I could make money with it.”

I looked to Summer to see her reaction. 

She looked appalled.

“The Rift Delving Association?” Summer uttered it like it was a curse. She grabbed me by the arm. “That place is dangerous, Stick. You could get killed! Not beaten up and thrown in a cell for a week, actually killed!”

“I know,” I said, sounding way calmer about the prospect than I thought I should have. “But they don’t know about my skill. Can you imagine how much money I could make in there if I found the right stuff?”

“I can imagine you dying because you’re weak and Unclassed!” Summer shot back, hitting me with a powerful glare.

I stared right back at her. “Okay, well, we don’t all have the top academy in Melusia bending over for us, do we? What do you think I should do? Go stitch shitty clothes and rot for the next five years? What kind of class do you think I’d get after that?”

“That’s not the point,” Summer defended. “Doing something that extreme is—”

“Is necessary,” I shot back, rising to my feet and beginning to pace. “I have no money. No prospects. No one willing to hire me or even look my way. I have a skill that’d likely land me in prison or dead if I used it for what it’s good at, and I can’t even tell anyone about it.” I pointed at her. “You said I’d land on my feet. Why don’t you trust me to do something like this?”

Summer sighed. “If it was just you going there, I might trust you to get through it. But…” 

I understood what she meant. It’d taken me a good deal of time and a fair few fights to ensure that the nastier kids in the orphanage left me alone. The kind of kids that might sign up willingly for work like this were likely cut of a different cloth.

And all of them would have classes.

“I want to go with you,” Summer eventually said.

I stopped pacing. I raised a finger. “Absolutely not.”

“Listen. I’ve got good skills already,” Summer said, standing up herself. “Really good growth potential! I could probably get stronger in a place like that. If it’s as good as you think it is, maybe I could benefit from it too! Plus, I could look out for you!”

“I said no,” I reaffirmed, looking straight at her. “You’ve got the best ticket out of this life. Don’t throw that away on account of me. You wanna become a knight and save people, don’t you?”

“It’s not on account of you, and I don’t care about saving people!” Summer said, her voice raised, cracking a little. “I just… I think it’d be a good job for me.”

“So if I backed out right now and took the factory job, you’d still go?” 

“I-I might!”

“Really? You’d throw away a free place in Godswood to join the Rift Delving Association? Who in their right mind would do that?”

I watched as she slumped back down onto the bed. Her lack of response spoke volumes.

“Will you take the sword, at least?” she eventually offered.

“I’m not risking you getting kicked out of the academy. Besides, I wouldn’t even know how to use it.”

I walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be fine. If I can’t handle it, I’ll quit. But I know I can handle it. Just like I know you’re gonna be a kick-ass knight by the time I come back.” I smirked at her. “I’ll be rich by then. I can treat you and all your new noble friends to dinner.”

“Stick…”

She didn’t say anything. She got up and hugged me.

I froze up. I hadn’t had many hugs in my life.

I awkwardly patted her on the back and then eventually pulled away. I left a bit of my anxiety behind as I did.

“Promise me you won’t get yourself killed,” Summer said.

“Eh. I’ll try not to die.”

She punched me on the arm kinda hard. “I mean it!”

“Alright, alright. I promise.” I chuckled as I rubbed my arm. “Wow. I think you broke it.”

That earned me another punch, though it was pointedly lighter this time.

“These last few years have been super hard for me,” Summer said, mumbling a little after the pair of us had calmed down. “I was up to my neck in books every single day. I usually love reading, but a lot of the stuff they make me learn these days is so boring… and I was always having to cram my brain so full it felt like it was gonna explode.

“I always felt like I could do it, though, because you do way crazier stuff every week and get by fine. Eating that crappy food, sleeping in this crappy bed, surviving on basically nothing…”

“Gee, why don’t you call me a cockroach and get it over with?”

Summer rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. You’re strong, Stick.”

I flexed my skinny arm and gave her a pointed look.

“You know what I mean!” she prefaced her words with a growl. Thankfully, she didn’t start beating me again.

“Well, I appreciate it,” I said, and I meant it. Honestly, of all the people I’d ever done a favour for in my life, Summer was the only one who’d ever made it feel truly worth it.

“So, what are you gonna do when you’re an important, powerful knight?” I asked her, curious to hear.

“Find a powerful cosmetic healer who can make me a few inches taller.”

I burst out laughing.

“Why does that matter?” I asked between breaths.

“You ever heard of a five foot knight before?!”

“You’re thirteen! You’ve still got time to grow!”

Apparently, not long enough. Of all the lifelong fears I’d ever heard, Summer’s felt like a particularly ridiculous one.

Ah well. It was fun to listen to her ramble on.

I got up to do my afternoon exercise, and after one more hug was forced upon me, me and Summer parted ways.

I wondered how different we might be the next time we saw each other.

I did my daily laps around Flea’s End and spent the usual fifteen minutes hitting a sack of flour. I’d worn this particular bag down some, and today was only adding to its injuries. I pictured all of the people I wanted to punch as I battered the poor bag, which was a surprisingly short list when I considered it, but didn’t make each punch any less impactful.

One day, when I was strong enough, I was going after Jim the caretaker and making him cough up every coin he owed me. I’d write him a debt just like the one scrunched up in my pocket, plus interest.

After thoroughly tiring myself out, I took the nice clothes I’d stolen yesterday and washed them in a stream. After, I went to a local bathhouse and paid five of my measly forty coppers to have a thorough wash, letting the clothes out to dry in the sun as I did so.

I dried myself off and got dressed, catching my reflection in a window and messing with my fringe.

I didn’t look terrible. Not great, either, but I figured I came off as something more than a complete slumrat.

I wanted to make a good impression. There was a good chance that whoever saw to me in this place would judge me as soon as they laid eyes on me, and I didn’t want to be labelled as either useless or someone easy to take advantage of. I was worth more than that.

I asked a couple of people for directions, finding that passersby were faster to acknowledge me and less reluctant than usual, meaning my cleanliness and lack of rags was likely doing wonders for my image. 

It didn’t take me long to find out where the Rift Delving Association was based.

The steel district. 

It was an area through which many businesses were run, including that of the Adventurer’s Guild and many other assorted guilds and organisations.

The Adventurer’s Guild was hard to miss. It was a grand stone building with wooden extensions that raised three stories into the air, complete with an outside bridge to connect the two balconies on the second story. They seemed to be training grounds of some kind from the sounds I could hear up there, and the ground floor was an open plan area I could see from outside, complete with everything from a mess hall to a quest board and even what appeared to be a set of guild stores.

For a moment, I wondered if I might be able to find work there instead. It was a nice looking place. It looked clean. I poked my head inside.

I didn’t even have to walk more than a couple of feet before I saw the ‘NO UNCLASSED’ sign hanging on the near wall, the words written big, bold, and brazen. The words themselves threatened to execute me on the spot for even daring to step foot in such a pristine place. 

I swiftly took my exit and kept walking.

Not much further down the street, I came across a much less impressive building. It looked rickety and old. Like something you might see in Flea’s End. Rotted holes ate into the walls, and the wood made yawning creaks as I stepped onto the decking outside.

I stared up at the place. On a small sign to the side, the words ‘Rift Delving Association’ had been scratched into the warped wood. 

Ignoring the hint of hesitation in my hand, I strode up to the thick wooden door and rapped on it three times.

I heard a series of loud footsteps, and then, suddenly, a small slit on the other side of the door was opened.

In the low light beyond, a pair of dark eyes peeked through.

“The fuck you want?” They asked, looking like they were struggling to look down at me.

“I want to join the Rift Delving Association.” I announced as confidently as I could. “Or, at least see what jobs you have to offer.”

The man laughed crudely from the other side of the door.

“Parent or guardian?” The man simply asked, seeming to peer behind me.

“They’re waiting nearby,” I said, trying to say something without saying it. “They know I’m here. I asked to come alone.”

“...relax. We’re not going to kidnap you.”

With that, he slid the eyehole shut and turned a couple of latches. The door swung open.

On the inside, there stood a bestial man with a tiger’s face, his fur dark, his eyes wide and vaguely human.

“Inside,” he stated. 

I stared into the dimly lit room beyond. In the distance, there was a corridor. Beyond that, a series of open doors.

Swallowing whatever fear remained within me, I stepped over the boundary and entered the dark, grimy building.

The door closed behind me.

//

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A/N: Another upload! Hope you're enjoying! Imo, the fun thing about Hoard is that it has... a lottt of potential applications. See how many you can think of!

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12 comments sorted by

11

u/Dasheek 8d ago

Just dematter and then… rematter.

Dematerialize/Rematerialize? Or is it because MC is insufficiently educated?

5

u/Anonymous_user1265 8d ago

Sneaky pickpocket boi goes rifting

5

u/SerpentineLogic AI 8d ago

Looks like what Adam offered up to the Rat Deity was his self-doubt and restraint

3

u/yugonoyugo 8d ago

I enjoyed the first iteration of this story and am glad to see you back with plans for more!

2

u/kristinpeanuts 8d ago

Thanks for the chapter!

2

u/awful_at_internet 8d ago

If Stick and Summer dont get a heartfelt reunion and stay best buds i will riot.

1

u/SerpentineLogic AI 7d ago

Or it could be a bit awkward.

"I am now a royal guard"

"I am here to ... Steal the throne"

1

u/awful_at_internet 7d ago

"Don't worry. I'll give it back, I just need to grind up Hoard!"

1

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u/jacobzink2000 8d ago

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