Tales of An Nam

chapter 10: the costume men

News spread widely on social media, so the upper-men had to undo the wrong of the ex-leader. Some leaked news claimed the big corpus would disband the Pokemen to execute a political correction, but only waited for official details for such a declaration. Aftermath of the chaotic skirmish left thoughts to everyone in the Pocket Men. Several members had already been injured, and the rest had fled the scene, disappearing into the city as ghosts. In the end, some quitted; resigned or just hung around while the party lasted.

The mercenaries remained in the hospital for days, skipped school in the crucial time of their last semester. The sect dealt with the boys' hospital fees for free, luckily; yet, they had to deal with the wraith of worried-sick parents. Indeed, the doctors knew all their names since their frequent visitation, even knew subjects the boys needed to learn to pass the last exam of the semesters. Master Phong felt a sense of responsibility from the last commotion, so he caught his eyes on the boys' studies and performance at school. Days later, the boys received tutors to make it before the exams.

At a green space located within or adjacent to a hospital facility that architectures specifically designed to provide patients, visitors, and staff with a peaceful and calming environment, Thần sat on a white bench.

"You never tell me about this unholy creature!" the ghost criticized; still shocked after the commotion. "What are you hiding?"

"I don't know!" Thần hugged his face with blurry memories of the new appearance, darker than black. The boy tried to remember the commotion that day, but failed. "What's happening to me!"

The boy noticed travelers who were passing by murmuring a discussion about him. Obviously, it posed a "common" phenomena for a lone boy just talking to himself amidst a garden with flowers, trees, fountains, and sculptures. Thần stretched the injured body with both hands hanging behind the bench, looking up at the bluish sky beyond the horizon, drowned in thoughts.

The ghost noticed the act; sat next to the host for a moment. In the beginning of dawn, mankind discovered a being of the ancients, casted by spirits of the void which sought to punish the damned. When the being casted a curse on a man, their body became one with the void, forcing it impossible for one to control or be aware of the conscious mind. Yet, one would become one with the void of many. Albeit the devastating curse, some could maneuver the power of the void at will. That power boosted those who rely on their combat abilities, such as fighters and rogues, tremendously in combat, yet they would go rogue if their emotions escalated out of hand. Therefore, the void power posed a significant hindrance for characters who rely on their skills as craftsmen or performers, as they would lose control and unable to regain consciousness. The curse also posed psychological effects on the character, causing them to feel anger and rage most of the time. The ancients tried to break the curse, yet it posed a difficult and dangerous task, requiring one to venture on a quest or seek out the able-man to lift the curse. Hence, the ancients finally found an option to the cure, lifted the curse by performing a specific ritual which perhaps they called it selecting a "class". A "class" presented special character archetypes to differentiate their characters in combat. Since the First Guardians triumphed over the war, classes became a staple of missions and campaigns as such. Special missions and campaigns relied heavily on the class system to encourage efficiency, especially with harder enemies and world events.

Each class presented its own unique set of fighting skills vital to confront missions and campaigns. Harder missions required more advanced tactics, so each class specialized further into subclasses, opening up even more skills.

The First Guardians announced a total of nine classes in total, such as: Slayer, Fighter, Gunner, Mage, Supporter, Thief, Knight, Lancer and Agent.

Take Dipsey for an example, the ghost described, the man specialized in gathering intel and assisted men in real time combat. "Agent" would match his classes and further down the line, he could opt for his next subclass as time would tell. Another prominent example, Lâm loved fighting hand-to-hand combat and inflicted his inner anger on the enemies. "Fighter" would match his class and further down the line, he could opt for his next subclass. As for An Thần, the ghost could see many potentials; but, in reality, a man could follow one class to master down the line. "Mage" fitted Thanh Thuận with his ability to cast 'Qi' on the armband; and, "Gunner" fitted Khải Minh with his accuracy on the sling-shot.