Chương 67: Stacked Deck

Vasil turned his head slightly.

"What is on your mind?"

"You mentioned you've never tried to level up," I said, poking at the last bit of cabbage on my plate.

"As I said before, to get experience you need to do things that actually give you experience. Apparently, just having you shove stuff inside me does not count. And I cannot go out and kill people, being a small frog with no offensive skills. Your class determines your path, and since I cannot fight, that is out."

"Maybe you should try joining my party," I suggested.

"See if you get a slice of the pie when I… you know, kill things. Shared experience is a thing. I've heard of craftsmen joining hunting parties for some easy levels, since crafters have a harder time gaining experience. Or it's slower, at least."

"It is slower because it is less dangerous," Vasil said.

"The system seems to reward reckless behavior. High risk, high reward."

"Well, hanging out with me is basically nothing but risk. Look, we don't know if we're ever going to be able to turn you back into a human. If you're going to be a [Frogbag], you might as well level up and be a bit more useful. Not that I'm saying you aren't useful right now, but..." I trailed off, looking at him.

"You're not useful right now." Vasil just stared at me.

"I am a bag."

"You know what I mean," I said.

"No offense, but you're not a very useful bag. Your mouth is very small, so we can't really store a lot inside of you. For a limitless storage, you're pretty limited. And besides, you say 'I am a bag' like it has to define you as a human being. I mean... as a human frogbag? A frog… bag? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, you could be so much more! Maybe." I waved my hand in the air for emphasis.

"I mean, who knows what kind of cool skills you might unlock? You might even get a bigger mouth! We could store chairs in you!"

"Chairs?" he asked.

"Yeah! So we don't have to sit on the floor when we're out and about. Maybe even a bed, so we don't have to sleep on the floor either. I'm doing this for you, Vasil! What if by gaining levels you actually evolved into some muscular frog man? That would be sort of human!" Vasil was silent for a long moment, probably trying to visualize himself as a muscular frog man carrying my furniture.

"I am not sure 'muscular frog' is the peak of human evolution, Hecate."

"It's better than living your life as a coin purse," I countered.

"I think being a muscular frog man is probably better than being a regular human as well. I mean, you could swim better, jump better. And we could still store stuff in you, but you'd have a bigger mouth. You know, actually, once you level up you should look for a stretchy mouth skill so we can stretch you. I mean, it's all up to you, of course, but that's what I'd do." Vasil went silent, then let out a small sigh.

"I suppose as long as I am stuck in this form, I might as well try to level up. I admit... I am kind of curious what kind of skills a [Frogbag] might have." I grinned, feeling a surge of excitement.

"See! Now we're talking! The possibilities are endless. You better start thinking of a build, Vasil! If you can't be a man, be the best damn [Frogbag] this world has ever seen!" Vasil didn't look nearly as excited as I was, but he didn't argue. I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out the party interface while Kasia finished the last of her food. I didn't want to ask Vasil how it worked, because I didn't want him to think I was stupid.

This was all stuff they'd explained in school after all, but I was probably sick that day. It can't have been because I wasn't paying attention. I was a model student. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Eventually, I figured it out. I actually just had to think "Invite Vasil to party."

[You have invited Vasil to join your party] [Vasil has accepted your invite and has joined your party] As soon as he accepted, his name, a health bar, and a mana bar popped up in the corner of my vision. There was no barrier bar.

"Wait," I said, squinting at the empty space where his barrier should be.

"Vasil, do you have mana?"

"I do," he said.

"Then why don't you have a barrier?" I was genuinely confused.

"Don't you start with at least one point in all stats?"

"I suspect it is because I am indestructible," he said.

"A barrier is redundant if I cannot be damaged. It doesn't really matter to me." I frowned.

"But everyone gets that base point. Did you at least get an extra point in another stat to compensate for losing the barrier?"

"No."

"No?" I felt a surge of indignation on his behalf.

"That seems completely unfair. You should get a bonus or something if they're going to strip away a whole stat line." Vasil looked at me, unbothered.

"Life is unfair, Hecate. And so is the System." I huffed, crossing my arms.

"Well, I don't like it. Why does everything always have to be so unfair? I think everyone should get the same start as everyone else."

"That is just not how it works. We do not get to make the rules. Sometimes I am not even sure the gods make the rules. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but there is no point complaining about fairness. You have to take the world as it is, not how you want it to be. Complaining has never helped anyone." He paused for a moment, then slightly inclined his head.

"Work with what you are given, and take what you can—preferably without hurting anyone innocent. Besides, you didn't really get a fair start compared to everyone else either, did you?"

"Huh?"

"You have a class handmade for you by not one, but two gods," Vasil said.

"How many people do you know who have that?" I went silent. I looked down at my hands, remembering I could literally summon my revolvers from them now. I'd been so busy complaining about fairness that I'd kind of forgot the fact that I was an anomaly myself. Maybe I had been unfairly advantaged. Here I was, playing the game with a stacked deck, whining about the rules, despite them having been bent in my favor not once, but multiple times.

"I guess," I muttered.

"Tell me," Vasil said "What did you do to deserve that?" I opened my mouth to answer, but I couldn't think of a reason. I thought about my life back home, everything before the class selection. Had I done anything noteworthy? Not really. Was I particularly kind or helpful to others? I supposed I wasn't particularly unkind, but I certainly didn't go out of my way to help anyone. Not bullying people was the bare minimum of being a person, not some grand act of virtue. Was I generous? No.

If anything, I'd been a tad selfish. The more I looked back, the more I realized I hadn't been a saint, I'd just been... there. The only thing about me that was better than most was that I was pretty and I had amazing hair. But that couldn't be the reason why I was favored by the gods, could it? Surely they wouldn't be that shallow. And plenty of other people were pretty too. Not as pretty as me, obviously, and they definitely had worse hair, but it wasn't exactly a unique achievement.

"I... I don't know," I admitted.

"Exactly," Vasil said.

"Fairness works both ways." I sat there in silence and thought of Perry. My mother, like Vasil, had told me many times how unfair the world was, but I'd never really thought much of it. It was just one of those things people said when you didn't get what you wanted. But I understood it now. I may have to accept that the world wasn't fair, but just because it wasn't fair didn't mean I couldn't give Perry the justice he deserved.

If I had to live in a world like this, I was going to make damn sure I exploited every advantage I could get. It didn't really matter why two gods felt like making a class for me. Maybe they thought it was funny and wanted to see what I would do. So far, it hadn't been very funny at all. From the moment I got this class, my whole world had been turned upside down, and somehow Perry had to pay for it with his life. The gods probably didn't give me this class out of kindness. Not if this was the result.

It felt less like a gift and more like a setup. If they wanted to give me a stacked deck and watch me play, then fine. I'd play. I'd be the most unfair thing this world had ever seen. I looked at Vasil sitting on the table, watching me.

"If the world is unfair, Vasil," I said, "then I'm going to make sure it's unfair in my favor from now on."