The Graceless

"Oliver remember, we will see each other soon."

"I promise."

A beautiful fairy said this to me as I looked at her, everything was blurred but the detail of the woman in front of me was clear. As she faded away I felt a scorching pain in my heart.

"Come back."

"PLEASE, come back."

I yelled as loud as I could, for some reason I wanted this mysterious fairy to stay with me, but soon I couldn't see her.

"COME BACK," I yelled again as I sprung up.

"Oh it was a dream," I sat there breathing fast as I looked at my surroundings. It was hard to make anything out as my vision was blurred, but after settling I was able to make out certain things. I seemed to be in a wooden cabin, the room I was in was quite small. I found myself slouched on a bed made from wood-like material and was half-covered in some sort of silky cloth. My left arm was covered in the same silk that I was laying in acting as a bandage. In that instant, I remembered the events that happened. As everything was coming back I held my head in pain. I soon realized it was anger, not pain.

I wanted to forget about it, but I couldn't. Yes, I want my revenge but right now it's not what I should be focusing on. I need to survive and I need to get stronger. I opened my menu to check how much my stats increased. 50 levels is a significant level increase so they must have made a huge difference.

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Level 62

Race: ???

Elements:???

Mana:75,000

Stamina: 46x3

Strength: 89x3

Intelligence: 186x3

Charisma: 240

Defence: 81

Agility: 35x3

Luck: 57

Magic Power: 0

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"Holy shit", I thought as I looked at how much my stats had increased. All my stats have been multiplied by almost 5 times. I also noticed that I have no health bar, but the dragon did. I can only assume that only monsters have a health bar. Regardless this increase is insane; I wanted to test my abilities.

In my excitement, I lost my balance on the bed and fell off falling through the floor. I sat up after being disoriented by the fall. I opened my eyes to see a woman standing before me. As she turned around to look at me I noticed big black wings attached to her back. She had very dark red hair, completely messy and unkept, hands were claw-like and were connected to her wings. Though her face was human the rest of her body resembled a bird.

"SEYE EO RNOMEY FE NOOF, EO AFNEY LOOML TO SAFWEY O FO SEFS," she yelled at me in a foreign language. I continued to admire her beauty while being confused by her gibberish yelling.

"SEYLLO AFNEY EO LOSEYMOML O FEY EO SOFAFM"

"Oh wait, you're human. Sorry, I instinctively started yelling in Harpanian. Anyway, what was I saying?" She said in a tone severely contrasting her previous one, likely after reading my confusion. In a heartbeat she refocused and returned to her old speech mannerisms. "oh yeah, YOU BROKE MY ROOF YOU SHINSTER, YOU BETTER FIX IT," she continued to yell complaining to me about how I broke her roof and how long it took her to build it.

"Umm excuse me," I cut her off as her yelling was getting tiring, "Where am I, and what are you."

"What do you mean what am I, you don't know what a harpy is?"

Realizing it seemed to be common knowledge I had to come up with an excuse, "Sorry I hit my head really hard in my last fight, thank you for picking me up, by the way, I am grateful." She seemed to be a talker so hopefully acting grateful will distract her.

"OH of course," she said with extreme pride and confidence. "I always help people in need, since ya lost your memory if you beg me I might answer your questions," she closed her eyes and slowly opened one to make sure I was still considering the offer.

*sigh* "I beg you, can you please answer my questions."

"Hehehe, since you begged, I have no option but to comply with your request."

"So where am I?" I said as I rolled my eyes.

"You are on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Harpania."

"What language were you speaking?"

"As I said before you buffoon, Harpian."

"So are you a harpy, why are your wings black?

"Aren't harpy's wings usually blue?" I thought to my self.

Horror filled her face as I asked my question, she completely changed, she became quiet and stared at me with fear.

"You really don't know, haha how much memory did you lose," her voice shook with fear.

"No, I really don't."

"You see, there are 9 races. Each race is born with two elements and each race specializes in one magic which means they will always be born with that specialized element. Their other element is determined by a physical embodiment of that element. For Harpies, their specialized element is wind and their second element is determined by the colour of their feathers. But though every race specializes in an element, they also have a counter element. If the creature is born with a counter element it renders their magic power useless, meaning they can't use magic or they can use very little. Harpies' counter element is Dark, since I have black feathers it means my second element is dark, which means I can't use magic."

"But why did you look so scared when I asked you about it? Does it really matter that much that you can't use magic."

"WERE YOU BORN YESTERDAY," she yelled with frustration, "MAGIC IS EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD."

She took a deep breath to calm down and continued her explanation.

"People or creatures born with counter elements are labeled as The Graceless, they are shunned by all societies and all kingdoms. They gain no respect from anyone and are usually isolated by their own race."

This was not too far off from our current society's interpretation of race, I thought to myself as I sat there in dismay. If I remember correctly my magic power was 0. Does that mean I have a counter element or is it because I was transported here and wasn't actually born here?

"There are expectations though, the only way a creature can use magic if they have a counter element is if they are a half-breed."

"So if you are a half-breed of the counter race then you can use the counter element."

"Yep, not only can you use the counter element, for some reason half-breeds have double the magic power of normal beings. But half-breeds are extremely rare and only happen once every 5 years."

"But what if-"

"NOT ONLY IS THEIR MAGIC POWER DOUBLED," she cut me off as I was about to speak, "But they can also use both of the corresponding race magics."

"Wait, what's race magic?"

"Weren't you listening, you shinster."

"But you nev-"

"Shhhh, be quiet when I am speaking," she seems to be back to normal I whispered under my breathe, "Since you are incompetent Ill re-explain what race magic is. Every race is born with unique magic that no other race can use. For example, Harpies race magic is flying magic, no other race can use flying magic and you don't need flying magic. But half-breeds can use both race magics that they belong to."

Before she could continue explaining I cut her off asking a question I've been wondering.

"You said that a race's second element is shown by some type of physical embodiment, so what is that physical embodiment for humans?

"Good question my disciple."

"What since whe-"

"What did I say, no talking when I talk. Now, humans and dwarves are an exception. Dwarves have a specialized element being earth, but humans are the only race that specializes in no magic. This means that they can use any element but not as effectively as the other races. For a human to determine their elements they have to use a magic cube at the magic center in a town. The cube will split into two colors which determine the human's elements. A human can only use the cube at the age of 10."

This question and answer question session were extremely helpful, but I couldn't help but feel as though this was just some sort of exposition meant for me and the people watching the live stream. I chuckled to myself at the realization.

"HEY why are you laughing at me, how dare you laugh at your teacher."

"No no, sorry, continue," I said as I was pulling myself together."

"Nope I'm done, I answered your question."

"THEN WHY DID YO-, never mind, thanks a lot this has really helped."

"Of course, it is a teacher's job to teach their students."

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say "teacher", I said with the intention of sounding sarcastic.

I got up and walked towards the door to leave the cabin, I opened the door, and right, as I stepped out, was grabbed from behind and pulled back inside.

"OW, WHAT WAS THAT FOR."

"Are you stupid human, look where you were about to step."

I crawled towards the door to look at what the Harpy was talking about, as I peeked out the door I saw a huge forest. I looked down and noticed that we were more than 100 meters in the air.

"Unless humans can suddenly fly, you would have died. This is why I am the teacher." She said with incredible pride as she started to throw me a cheeky smile.

"Well, how am I supposed to leave then?"

'You don't, only I can get you down, which is why I want to cut a deal. If you help me around here for 14 days, I will bring you down. In the meantime, I will teach you more about this world since you seem to be born yesterday. Deal?

She held her claw out trying to shake my hand. I looked behind me to see the towering trees and the endless forest.

"Deal."