VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 55: An Education in Pain

For nearly ten minutes straight, Belladonna beat this adorable girl to a bloody pulp. It was mildly surprising that she had asked for this, but it would be lying if she said that she wasn’t curious as to the reason why.

Besides, she wasn’t doing it for entirely altruistic reasons. Before this girl had arrived, Belladonna had been milling around this dungeon entrance for over an hour, searching for people to party with.

There literally dozens of people barking out for different classes or roles to be filled, and while DPS was always insanely common, it was still needed. Especially to fill numbers.

But every time they asked about her class, they turned up their nose at it.

’Never heard of it’ they would say. ’Sounds utterly useless’ They answered when she would tell them about her class. ’Ugh, just another maso-class. Go back and remake your character, no one wants to carry those.’

Maso-class. It was a term that came up often, especially when she told them the general details around her class, mainly the fact that she had to actually study the runic language as part of her class progression.

She didn’t get her skills handed to her easily like Warlocks or Warriors, hers came from intense studying and could take weeks before she blossomed into something actually viable.

So naturally all they saw was a liability, some useless class they would have to carry through the dungeon like a sack of dead weight.

She was not the only ’Maso-class’. The girl in front of her, that she was happily beating black and blue, was another one of the unfortunate souls that decided to take one.

The mere fact of this beating being required by the girls class was part of the reason why they were called Maso-classes, as they often required a lot of pain and suffering. But it was also because they were tedious and took a vast amount of effort, with no guarantee on return.

People had tried Maso-classes in their droves, but they had found it not worth the investment. It wasn’t just a case of putting in the time. Comprehension was innately part of these classes, so if you didn’t have it then all your time was utterly wasted.

You would have to be a masochist to willingly choose these types of classes, knowing the risks and the high likelihood that your character would become useless. The skill ceiling was just too high for some, but it never stopped some from taking the challenge nonetheless.

So, admittedly, Belladonna was using this girl as a slightly willing outlet for her pent up aggression towards these idiots who constantly turned up their noses at her, only focusing on instant returns. Even if she couldn’t fully blame them for their decisions, it didn’t mean it didn’t still annoy her.

"Alright, Alright! Stop please! My skill is at its limit!"

Belladonna’s fist halted just before it could obliterate the pretty girls perfect jaw, before her fingers uncurled and she offered her hand to let the girl up. She happily took it, pulling herself to her feet and brushing herself off.

A single raised eyebrow from Belladonna made Vestra laugh softly, before she put away her wand without healing her latest injuries, and began to explain.

"Before you ask, no I’m not a healer. That’s the usual assumption. I am, in fact, a Divine Mage."

"Divine Mage?" Belladonna hummed slightly, impressed by the gaudy title, "But what is that? Is it something like a Cleric side path?"

Vestra twisted her face as she rolled the question back in fort in her mind with literal tilts of her head. She took a few moments to really think about it, before finally answering,

"Yes and no. Like Clerics a Divine Mage follows a god. But while a Cleric worships them and receives their power in exchange, a Divine Mage seeks only to learn from them. It’s closer to a basic mage, with more influence in the magic path from a certain god. Death Magic from the Death God, Fire Magic from the Sun God, that sort of thing.

The goal is to see the gods as the end result. To study their path and follow in their footsteps to become their equal in magic, rather than worship them. Although, even if we are trying to best them, we still do get a little assistance from the gods.

If we impress them, they will give us guidance and imbue us with certain spells. My current spell [Placebo] is one such gift from the god I follow, Syvli. Lady of the Lost and guide of departed souls. She resonates well with me as a Mist Wraith. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Oh... and I also have the basic mana bolt... In case you were wondering."

The passion of describing her class petered off at the end as she was reminded of how others reacted to her ’Maso-class’, making sure to add that she wasn’t entirely useless just so this girl didn’t lose interest in her after they had started to hit it off.

But Belladonna didn’t even think of it, she was just enchanted by the description of Vestra’s class and how it interacted with the lore of the game. It also helped that she had studied said lore in her midnight study session, and recognised the titles of Vestra’s god as the Goddess of Illusions, amongst other things.

Subtly tapping her temple, Belladonna studied Vestra with an amused smile, which made Vestra feel ashamed as she thought that Belladonna was laughing at her instead. But really, Belladonna was just amused by what she was doing.

Vestra’s body glowed with magic, as she had covered herself in illusions. Her injuries hadn’t disappeared as if they were illusions, her spell must have cast some illusion over them to trick the injuries into healing by making her body think it was fine.

Dismissing her mana vision, Belladonna nudged the little illusionist softly, making sure not to break the illusion on some of her injuries.

"So, you wanna team up and help me take on this dungeon? Maybe we can trick one of the bigger groups into taking us on to fill numbers."

Vestra’s sunken eyes lit up with overwhelming joy. Her mouth hanging open as she struggled to find the words to speak, before eventually nodding her head quickly.

"Well then, It’s nice to meet you partner. You can call me Belladonna." She said with a warm smile, holding out her hand.

Vestra’s eyes snapped to Belladonna’s hand, before she practically lunged for it and shook it eagerly with two hands.

"Vestra Le Fay. But please, I insist you call me Vestra."

"Well alright Vestra," Belladonna said with a laugh, letting the girl frantically shake her hand, "How about we go infect one of these bigger groups with our weird Maso-classes?"