In the heart of winter, the House of Granger was unusually quiet. Their father and the knights had left on a business trip, leaving the seven brothers behind. Snowflakes swirled outside the mansion's tall windows, and the hearth's warm glow cast long shadows across the polished wooden floors. The absence of their father's commanding presence and the knights' disciplined footsteps made the mansion feel both peaceful and strangely empty, as if the house itself were holding its breath. Leaving Zeke in charge, as the eldest brother, the responsibility of keeping the household in order now rested on his shoulders.
Danir hesitated, staring at his grimoire as he sought guidance from his brothers. "Which jobclass should I choose…?" he asked quietly.
Zeke leaned forward, calm and reassuring. "Danir, if you're confused, start by excluding the options that don't fit you. For example… remove BladeMagus from the list."
For a moment, the room was serious, each brother's eyes watching him with concern. Then Alec, ever the mischievous one, smirked and leaned over. "Seven is the lucky number! Hahahahaha." He tapped the BladeMagus option, the very jobclass with the highest death rate—a hundred percent—suddenly looming over Danir like a shadow.
Danir's shoulders slumped. His eyes widened in horror, and his heart sank.
"Alec! Why would you do that? You're going to get him killed in the future, you idiot!" Zeke scolded sharply, his voice a mixture of anger and worry.
Zebion, Caspi, and Ulfzar shared anxious glances, each silently hoping Danir wouldn't spiral under the blow. Nezcar, in his usual detached manner, leaned against the wall and said nothing, his eyes wandering elsewhere.
"I didn't do anything wrong! I just said seven is the lucky number. It was instinct!" Alec argued, his pride bristling.
"But from what you just did, you just marked him for the dead! You're supposed to be his elder brother!" Zeke snapped again, frustration searing his voice.
"That's exactly it! I'm always wrong, right? I'm always the one at fault! You all—our father, you elders—always think you're right, don't you?!" Alec roared, slamming the door behind him. He disappeared into his secret hideout, leaving only the echo of his fury behind.
Danir froze. Tears welled up, but he couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't even blink. The weight of Alec's action pinned him in place, petrified and alone in his fear.
Zeke crouched beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, little brother… don't worry. That's exactly why you don't show your grimoire to anyone. My intentions are pure—I never expected Alec to do that. Forgive him. You're safe, okay? We'll protect you. I promise. We're all here for you."
Danir's sobs trembled, but Zeke's steady presence gave him the smallest spark of hope.
For the first time since the incident, he felt a glimmer of reassurance—he wasn't completely alone in this dangerous, magical world, but still, he couldn't stopped overthinking about him on becoming and accepting himself for having his jobclass as the BladeMagus.
Days passed, and the time for their departure to the Adventurer's Academy was drawing near. The brothers spent their remaining days in the house of Granger. Danir had finally come to terms with his fate as a BladeMagus and already moved on from what happened as he had already forgiven his brother Alec who's haven't returned in the house yet since the argument between him and Zeke. Now, Danir's thoughts were consumed with one thing: how to master and manage his newfound jobclass.
"I guessed, it is what it is. (Took a deep breath) So let's have to take a look, uhmmm..." Danir whispered.
Danir checked his grimoire and went into the library of the Granger mansion to study everything he could find about the BladeMagus jobclass.
The library was vast, almost rivaling the one in Eastgate Town. Rows of reading desks were neatly arranged in parallel lines, each polished to a shine. Danir sat at one of the desks, opening both his grimoire and a guidebook on jobclasses simultaneously.
"GRIMOIRE OPEN!" he shouted, and the grimoire shimmered into existence before him.
The first page displayed his full name—Danir Springfield Granger—his race, Human, and his jobclass, BladeMagus, currently at level zero. Below that were his status bars: Blood Points (BP), essentially his health, showed 500, while his Mana Points (MP), Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Intelligence all remained at zero.
The following pages, from the second to the eighth, were blank, each labeled "No spell acquired yet." Danir frowned, flipping through the pages, confused and frustrated. Even the guidebook, spanning over a hundred pages of jobclass explanations, offered little help. On page 167, he found a section about BladeMagus.
"Nothing useful here either! It's all the same!" Danir muttered to himself, exasperated.
"He learned from the book that the BladeMagus was a perilous path—its starter attributes all zeroed out, and the only way to acquire magic was by defeating creatures with magical entities.
Unlike other adventurers whose magic unlocked naturally as they leveled up, BladeMagus required careful planning and dangerous combat just to gain power.
The guidebook did, however, describe ways to increase attributes without fighting:
100 push-ups = +1 Strength
100 sit-ups = +1 Strength
3 km run = +1 Speed, +1 Endurance (applies to battlefield running as well)
100 squats = +1 Speed, +1 Strength
100 squat thrusts = +1 to all attributes except Intelligence
Still, these workouts alone could not provide experience points (XP) to level up; XP required killing monsters or other magical creatures.
Leveling up also increased BP, MP, and damage: strength added to carrying capacity and weapon damage, intelligence boosted magical damage and mana pool."
All newborns, before choosing their jobclass, began with 10 BP and zero in all other attributes.
Danir sighed as he absorbed the information. The path of a BladeMagus was daunting, but it was now his fate—and he had to find a way to master it.
"The book explained that all Commoner jobclasses had their own unique way of growing BP, MP, and attributes, except for Healers, who were a special case as they could accompany adventurers on quests that they somehow level up while support their party members in the battlefield even though they didn't killed any of the enemies.
Commoners began with 100 BP upon choosing their jobclass. Each level up granted +20 BP, +20 MP, and +50 points distributed among the attributes they were allowed to raise.
Healers, however, were more exceptional: they started with 100 BP and 500 MP, and each level up increased BP by 50, MP by 100, Intelligence by 100, and all other attributes by +10.
On the other hand, Adventurer jobclasses had different rules for leveling up, reflecting the challenges of combat:
#1. Knight-Paladins, starts with 500 BP, 100 MP and +150 BP, +20 MP, +100 Str, +50 Spd, +50 End, +5 Int per level up.
#2. Enchanters, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +50 BP, +150MP, +20 Str, +20 Spd, +10 End, +100 Int per level up.
#3. Gunslingers, starts with 300 BP, 50 MP and +20 BP, +20MP, +200 Str, +20 Spd, +20 End, +20 Int per level up.
#4. Archers, starts with 300 BP, 50 MP and +20 BP, +20MP, +200 Str, +20 Spd, +20 End, +20 Int per level up.
#5. Clerics, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +50 BP, +150MP, +10 Str, +10 Spd, +5 End, +150 Int per level up.
#6. Mages, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +50 BP, +100MP, +5 Str, +10 Spd, +5 End, +200 Int per level up.
#7. BladeMagus, 500 BP with no MP, and +50 BP, +50MP, +50 Str, +50 Spd, +50 End, +50 Int per level up.
#8. Wizards, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +50 BP, +150 MP, +5 Str, +5 Spd, +5 End, +150 Int per level up.
#9. Tamers, starts with 200 BP, 300 MP and+100 BP, +100MP, +50 Str, +50 Spd, +50 End, +50 Int per level up.
#10. Summoners, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +20 BP, +200 MP, +10 Str, +10 Spd, +10 End, +200 Int per level up.
#11. Priests, starts with 100 BP, 500 MP and +100 BP, +100MP, +10 Str, +10 Spd, +10 End, +150 Int per level up.
#12. Skivers, starts with 250 BP, 100 MP, and +100 BP, +50 MP, +20 Str, +100 Spd, +10 End, and +20 Int per level up.
#13. Brawlers, starts with 500 BP, 150 MP, and +200 BP, +50 MP, +100 Str, +100 Spd, +50 End, and +50 Int per level up."
"So BladeMagus gets a flat +50 to each attribute per level up… I guess I need to start working out now." Danir muttered to himself.
Winter was slowly fading, and their father, along with the knights, had finally returned home. With only three days left before they entered the academy, Danir began his training in earnest that very morning.
He started with a 3 km run from the townsquare back to their house, completing three laps and gaining +1 Speed. Without pausing, he then did 100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 sit-ups, and 100 squat thrusts, working from morning straight until brunch, completely forgetting about breakfast. His exercises took place in the family's sparring area.
Unbeknownst to him, Jared and the knight-paladin Yuri were observing from a distance. They admired his relentless work ethic and were astonished that a seven-year-old who had just unlocked his jobclass was already undertaking such grueling tasks.
By the time he stumbled back home, utterly exhausted, he took a bath and devoured his meal like a hungry beast. Later, when he opened his grimoire to check his status, he saw the results of his efforts: +4 Strength, +3 Speed, and +2 Endurance.
With 4 Strength, he could now deal 4 damage when wielding a weapon, and his BP had risen to 504, though his MP remained at zero.
On the other hands, Alec had not returned yet.
The rest of the brothers—Zeke, Zebion, Nezcar, Caspi, Ulfzar, and Danir—retired to their rooms, exhausted, ready for a well-deserved night's sleep.