Minute Mage: A Time-Traveling LitRPG

Chapter 2: Taking Inventory

Congratulations. You are now a Minute Mage.

Several things happened at once. The sword in my hands immediately dropped out, as if it were too heavy to hold. I remembered something about how Magic-Type Classes couldn’t use melee weapons, but I was too shocked to really process the information. I could also feel… something… changing within me. In my mind, it was like a door was opened – a door I had never even known was there until just now. Right at the culmination of this opening…

Due to achieving Level 0 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You have unlocked the Conjuration Stat.

-You have gained 1 Endurance.

-You have gained 2 Conjuration.

-You have gained 3 Stat Points.

-You have gained the Time Loop Talent.

-You may choose a Spell to learn.

I blinked, trying to understand the information I’d just learned. I’d unlocked the Conjuration Stat. Right. You needed it to properly cast Spells. All Magic-Type Classes got it. I’d get to learn a Spell. That made sense. But… Time Loop? I’d never heard of that. In fact, I’d never even heard of this ‘Minute Mage’ Class to begin with. Was there anyone else out there with it?

But just then, I felt another rising in my head. Another door being opened. It felt different, not like getting a Class. It was like–

Feat of excellence performed. You are the only person in the world with your Class.

You have gained the Trailblazer Title.

Only person in the world with my Class? What? How does that even happen?

I took a deep breath and looked at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a frontier forest. An exceptionally dangerous place that nobody should ever travel through unguarded. And my two escorts had just died.

I was alone.

I was also lost. I had no idea how far away society was, much less what direction it was in. Dorrn and Feiya had taken so many turns and detours when hunting that I not only wasn't sure where I was, but I also wasn't sure where my village was. I could easily look up to the sun and find my directions from there, but what direction was the village in? We'd left out the south entrance, sure, but I was also pretty sure we'd turned and gone east for a while, too, but then we turned again, and... Shit. Why couldn't they have just taken me in a straight line?! Why couldn't Dorrn and Feiya have–

Oh, gods. Dorrn and Feiya. I looked over at their corpses and swallowed, trying to keep myself from vomiting. The disgust at the sight, the shame of not being strong enough to save them, the stress of having my life resting entirely on my own shoulders now. Too much. It was too much.

Shaking my head and taking a breath, I tried to calm myself down. I was in a survival situation. As an aspiring adventurer, I knew how to survive in the wilderness. It happened every so often that a group of adventurers would be decimated during a job, and the lone survivor would have to make their way back home without a team or supplies, so basic information on what to do in circumstances like mine was common. Of course, that was assuming the lone adventurer was generally strong enough to survive the monster attacks in their location.

I forced that thought out of my head. Needed to focus on what I could do, not what I couldn’t.

Step one: take inventory.

What did I have at my disposal? Well, in my possession was nothing but the clothes on my back and a half-empty waterskin. In other peoples’ possessions, though…

Kneeling on the ground by the bodies of Dorrn and Feiya, I muttered to myself, "I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do. I need it more than they do," in a mantra as I rummaged through their bodies, fingering through torn and bloody pockets, removing backpacks from flayed skin, and many other disgusting things.

In the end, I didn’t have much to show for it. The Demon's claws were apparently razor-sharp, and had destroyed much of what the two of them had in the first place. Their backpacks were shredded and unusable, Feiya's waterskin had burst, and even the pouch of coins I'd paid Dorrn had been destroyed, most of the silver pieces either slashed up or lost in the mess of a battlefield. No getting those back, it seemed. There were maybe a single meal’s worth of rations between them – the trip wasn’t supposed to last more than a morning – and enough water in Dorrn's waterskin to fill mine up. Other than that, there wasn’t much of use.

Well, there were certainly lots of things that would have been of use to me had I not been stuck with a Magic-Type Class, such as the gigantic battleaxe I was no longer allowed to wield, but…

Wait.My Class. That was definitely another tool at my disposal. It said I got some Stat Points and a Spell choice, right? And there was that weird Talent and Title…

I hurriedly opened up my Status.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

10

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

0

Endurance:

11

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

0/50

Dexterity:

10

Health:

100/110

Health/Minute:

0.045

Conjuration:

2

Stamina:

54/63

Stamina/Minute:

0.384

Mana:

0/20

Mana/Minute:

0.36

Stat Points:

3

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

[Spell Choice Available]

Time Loop 0

Trailblazer

Well, that was certainly a big change from what I was used to seeing every time I pulled up my Status. Everything in bold was something that had changed since the last time I looked at it, and look at all of that bold text! I finally had a Class – even if it was one I didn’t really want – my Endurance went up, which increased my Health, Stamina, Health regeneration, and Stamina regeneration, I had a whole new Stat in the form of Conjuration, I had Stat Points to assign, a Spell to choose, a Talent, and a Title! Most people didn’t do anything worthy of a Title in their whole lives, and I got it at Level 0!

I took a breath, trying not to get overwhelmed. First, let’s look at that weird Talent.

Time Loop - Rank 0

Type: Activated

Go 1 minute back in time, resetting your Health, Stamina, Mana, and other cooldowns – as well as the rest of the world – but preserving your memories and the rest of your Status.

This Talent activates at will, or automatically when you would die.

This Talent may only be activated once per day.

I read through the Talent’s effect over and over, verifying that what I saw was true. Going back in time? That was such an unheard-of effect that I almost didn’t believe it. Messing with time was just… not something the System did. I immediately started thinking of the various applications this Talent could be used for. The most obvious thing I could do would be redoing a fight, conversation, or anything else that went poorly. A single minute wasn’t a long time, so I wouldn’t be able to do anything crazy, but this Talent could definitely be used to devastating effect in the right hands.

And it was called “Rank 0,” too. Did that mean it would get stronger over time? I’d heard of some Classes that had a Talent that would get stronger alongside them.

My immediate thought with time travel would be going back and helping fix what'd just happened. Dorrn, Feiya – if I could save them, I'd be out of this mess. But the limits of the Talent were too restrictive. With the ability to only go a single minute back, the opportunity to go back far enough was out of my hands. Hopefully increasing the Talent's Rank would somehow make that effect less restrictive. Though I still had no idea how I would Rank it up.

Still, one of the interesting things it said was that it reset my Health and all that, but preserved the rest of my Status. That meant XP. So, if I killed a monster, went back in time, and killed it again, would that earn me double XP? And I could use this every single day? My mouth almost began watering at the possibilities.

I shook my head. I didn’t want to get too distracted before seeing everything. Next, I’d check out the Title, ‘Trailblazer.’

Trailblazer

You are the only person in the world with your Class, and as such, cannot rely on the findings of others to make your decisions. Instead, you must forge your own path.

If you do not already have it, you gain access to the Intelligence Stat. It will improve the information given to you by the System regarding your Class and what might become of it in the future.

Whenever you Level up, gain 1 Intelligence.

Well. That was interesting. I still wasn’t sure why I was the only person with Minute Mage, or what that Demon was doing out here in the woods, but this Title was certainly interesting. It made sense; when I was still planning on getting the Swordsman Class, I got a lot of advice from my teacher at the sparring grounds about what Stats to prioritize, what Martial Arts and Talents to choose when given options, and things like that. But if I was the only person out there with my Class, I wouldn’t be able to get any sort of help or information.

It looked like the Title didn’t do anything for now, but once I started Leveling, I’d get more and more Intelligence. And it seemed like the more Intelligence I had, the more information it would give me? I wasn’t sure, but it was something to look forward to, at least.

The Intelligence Stat itself was a bit of a catch-all for Crafting-Type Classes. Blacksmiths had access to it, for example, and it would help them identify metals, imperfections in their items, and things like that. For Enchanter Classes, it would give them access to higher-quality Enchantments. Since I wasn’t any of those, Intelligence likely wouldn’t help me with anything on its own – other than give me a bit of extra Mana – and I wouldn’t inherently get any from my own Class's progression in my Level-ups – just from the Title. Trailblazer would just give me one extra Intelligence every Level, and then give me information based on how much I had. Who knew how that would work.

I moved on. Now that I knew the effects of everything I already had, it was time to get something new. That “Spell Choice Available” had caught my attention, and I was excited about what my options would be. I hadn’t planned on becoming a Magic-Classer, but that didn’t mean magic wasn’t cool. I just liked sword-fighting more.

I gazed at my own longsword on the ground. I’d never be able to use it again. Minute Mage was at least better than being Unclassed.

To choose a Spell, though, I’d need to meditate. It was easy enough to view a Status, but changing one was a different matter entirely. Whenever making choices – assigning Stat Points, choosing Spells and Talents, or anything else – Classers had to sit down and focus for a few minutes to get into a mental state that would allow them to change things about their Status. But my surroundings. Well, they were less than ideal for that.

Really, I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. There were three corpses near me, and the couple minutes I'd been around them, trying to scavenge as much as I could, was already too long. The smell of the bodies would probably attract something soon. I didn't want to just leave the corpses of my two companions out here to be eaten – they deserved a proper burial – but I just needed to leave, for now. Maybe if I survived, I could give a eulogy to their families.

I couldn't help but have the thought of 'why not me?' I didn't have anyone to miss me. No parents, no siblings. These people, they had lives that they'd built up. I was only just beginning mine. I'd barely leave anything behind. But I set my jaw and closed my eyes. No helping it, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. I was here now, and I was going to survive.

I fled from the scene, trying to remember any landmarks I'd seen before but finding none. The forest that was once gorgeous and full now felt disorienting and claustrophobic. All of the thick trees somehow looked the same, and so different I couldn't tell where I was at any time. I'd occasionally come across the long-dead corpse of a Rabbit or some other animal, reminding me of how everything out here wanted nothing more than to kill me. The once beautiful sound of leaves crunching under my feet now felt painfully loud, and the once nice, warm heat felt blistering now that I knew I'd have no solace from it.

Eventually, I found a small, unnaturally round alcove in a hill. Probably the remnant of someone casting a Spell that launched a boulder or something else that flew fast and hard. At least, it seemed like someone shot a circular object into the hill. That would be the only thing that could've left a perfectly circular indention in it.

However it got there, I was just glad to find something that resembled shelter. I sat down, closed my eyes, and focused inward. I'd be totally defenseless until I got my one Spell. Until then, I was just a swordsman who was physically incapable of holding a sword. I scowled again at my shit luck. Swordplay was beautiful. The interlocking of blades, the infinitely-complex mind games of feints and counters, the test of raw strength and willpower than went along with it. I'd studied it, fallen in love with it. And now it was gone forever.

Shaking my head, I tried to clear my mind. I couldn't meditate while angry – that went against the entire point. After about ten minutes, I was there. I could tangibly feel the Spell choice – and Stat Points, for that matter – waiting for me. I tentatively focused on the Spell.

Choose one Spell to learn:

Holy Strength

School: Alteration, Divine

Type: Activated

Cost: 15 Mana

—

Choose yourself or another being you are physically touching. For the next 10 seconds, the chosen target gains 5 additional Strength.

Firebolt

School: Fire

Type: Activated

Cost: 30 Mana

—

Shoots a small ball of fire that travels up to 30 paces, exploding when it collides with something. Deals up to 75 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being.

Noxious Grasp

School: Poison

Type: Toggle

Cost: 3 Mana/Second

—

While active, any being you are physically touching loses 10 Health and 5 Stamina per second.

…Hm. Upon looking at the three Spells, I suddenly realized how difficult it was to make a choice that could be the difference between life and death. I had to think short-term for this; if I chose something that didn’t do as much as I needed it to right now, I’d die. I could only have a maximum of 20 Mana, which made me immediately think that Firebolt wasn't an option. But then I remembered that I still had 3 Stat Points that I could distribute freely among any of my Stats. Each point of Conjuration increased maximum Mana by 10 – I knew that much from common knowledge – so I had potentially 50 Mana at my disposal.

Since I couldn’t immediately eliminate Firebolt, I instead looked toward Holy Strength. Without the ability to hold any sort of melee weapon, adding to my Strength was of dubious use, to say the least. I could still punch, but I felt like that wouldn’t be utilizing a Magic Class to its fullest. I wasn’t a Melee Class anymore, and I never would be. I had to keep that in mind. Even if I used 45 Mana to stack three casts of Holy Strength on myself, I would still only have 25 Strength, which still wasn’t enough to beat a high-Level monster, especially when I was without a weapon, and even more especially when that boost in Strength only lasted 10 seconds.

So, the choice was down to Firebolt versus Noxious Grasp. The latter was risky; Noxious Grasp only dealt damage to things I was touching. Not being able to deal damage at a range would make it difficult for me as a Magic Classer. But then again, most magic users had someone on the front lines to keep the monsters away from them. I didn’t have that luxury, so I would probably need some way to deal with a monster that got up-close.

I liked Firebolt. It was a Spell that Wizards and Sorcerers also got access to, and it was very popular among them for a reason. Solid damage at a decently-far range was a useful tool in any mage’s belt. That said, when looking at how it would immediately help me…

At most, I could have 50 Mana saved up at any given time. With that, I could cast Firebolt once, which would deal up to 75 damage to an enemy, depending on my accuracy. With Noxious Grasp, however, I could use 50 Mana to keep it active for 16 seconds, which – if all 16 of those seconds were spent with me in physical contact with an enemy – would deal 160 damage, plus drain away 80 Stamina. Now, holding onto a rampaging monster for 16 straight seconds without dying would be challenging, but I really didn’t like the concept of having absolutely no way of dealing with anything that had more Health than a Level 3 Deer. At least with Noxious Grasp, I’d have a chance of killing the monsters that roamed the forest. A single Firebolt wouldn’t do anything more than annoy them.

With that in mind, I selected my Spell.

You have learned the Spell Noxious Grasp.

After that, I needed to choose how to allocate my Stat Points. Judging by the whole line of thinking I’d had with myself about the Spells, I felt like that was pretty much already done for me. I needed to be able to deal damage above all else. The best way to deal damage was with more Mana, and the best way to get more Mana was more Conjuration.

You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.

Your Conjuration value is now 5.

I opened my eyes, blinking and breathing deeply as I felt the changes course through my mind. Increasing a Stat didn’t only change the numbers on your Status; Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity – what were called the ‘physical Stats’ – changed your body, with Strength making you more physically powerful, Endurance hardening your body and increasing your constitution, and Dexterity limbering your joints and helping your reaction time. The other Stats were different. So far, I only raised Conjuration, but different Classes had different Stats, like the Crafting Classes’ Intelligence.

Conjuration helped one’s Mana control and their ability to quickly cast Spells, and I was feeling that effect now as my Conjuration more than doubled in an instant. I had never cast a Spell before, but I was suddenly pretty confident in my ability to.

I got to my feet and checked my Mana total. It was currently sitting at 6/50, so I didn’t have the Mana to spare to just cast things for the fun of it. Instead, I decided to go find something to test my newfound powers out on, and hopefully get some XP in the process. Though, really, I just needed information. If I got into a fight barely knowing how my abilities worked in practice, and suddenly had to rely on them to survive, I was sure to die. So I needed to at least get a baseline understanding of them.

It didn't take incredibly long to find a small animal in the surrounding woods – a furry, fox-like creature called a Wood Spirit. They were relatively harmless at the lower Levels, which this one seemed to be. By this point, my newly-improved Mana regeneration had helped my Mana creep up to 11/50, which I felt would probably be enough to kill the Wood Spirit. So, I snuck up behind it, careful not to alert it to my attention, and then leapt forward. I crashed into the beast in a wild tackle, quickly grabbing and restraining it while it snapped its jaws at me. But I kept away from its face, leaving it with no way to damage me.

I focused inward, finding the energy to cast Noxious Grasp. I took a moment to calm myself, trying my best to ignore the struggling animal in my arms, and slowly, methodically, drew out the magic from my mind. It was a completely instinctual process, letting myself be guided by the System, but after a few seconds, I found my body crackling with energy, awaiting my command to activate the Spell. I readied myself, and then did so.

I immediately felt my body tense as an energy – Mana, I realized – was drawn from my very being. It took a constant, concerted effort to keep pushing this Mana out while also focusing on maintaining the Spell effect. I looked down at the still-thrashing Wood Spirit and realized that I could literally watch the life drain from its body as the Spell damaged it. Its muscles atrophied, its skin sunk down and I could soon see a rib cage through its fur. A bit of smoke poured from my skin while the Spell was active, I realized. It was a small enough amount that it dissipated once it got a foot or two away from my body, but it was still strange to see it happen. The fumes seemed harmless enough, though.

After a couple seconds of mental effort, the Wood Spirit stopped moving.

You have struck Level 1 Wood Spirit for 31 damage and drained 16 Stamina over the course of 3.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

9.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.

You have slain Level 1 Wood Spirit.

You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 3.

I shut off Noxious Grasp, which was thankfully much easier than turning it on, and mentally stared at my System notification. I had gotten XP! For the first time in my life, that number wasn’t 0. I steadied my breathing and looked up into the sky. It was darkening quickly – probably approaching midnight. If it was getting close to tomorrow, then I could use something else I had access to. I still had more things to test. I looked inward yet again, this time letting the System guide me toward a different power that it had given me. I took ahold of it, activated it, and–

And then I was back, creeping behind the Wood Spirit, having traveled exactly 1 minute back in time. I stared at the monster in front of me, walking around like it had never died. It worked! I did it!I could feel that my Mana was back at 11 instead of 2, but I certainly remembered casting Noxious Grasp. I’d really traveled through time. Before I got distracted, I leapt forward, grabbing the Wood Spirit and killing it once again.

You have struck Level 1 Wood Spirit for 31 damage and drained 16 Stamina over the course of 3.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

9.3 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 2.

You have slain Level 1 Wood Spirit.

You have earned 3 XP. Your XP is 6.

I checked my XP total. Yep, 6/50! I’d gotten double XP by killing the same monster twice. It really worked.

I stood up, brushing the dirt off my pants and relishing in the possibilities. Being able to go back in time like that was… powerful. At the very least, it would help me Level up way faster than any normal Class would, and if used to its fullest, it could turn an unwinnable battle into something trivial.

I’d have to be smart about it, though. The Talent said it could be activated once per day, and I could feel that cooldown ticking downward internally. It didn’t mean that once I activated it, it would be shut off for twenty-four hours. Rather, it meant that once I’d use it, I’d just have to wait until the next day to use it again. So that meant I only had – I checked the ability – 1 hour, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds until midnight, when I could use it again. I’d just hide out and work on making a shelter to sleep in while I waited for it to refresh.

Surviving out here would certainly be a challenge, but the Class was beginning to grow on me. I was starting to think that it might actually be possible to survive.