Bariton had finally become an awakened, but his livelihood hadn’t really improved too much. He was a failing bard, having only the stories he’d heard from other bards to that day. And they were terrible in this day and age, especially as other bards had picked up originality.

  But Bariton didn’t have this originality stuff. So he turned towards the classics, spending day and night practicing. The effort was great, his hands were usually stained red in his own blood from the strings tearing his hands open.

  He didn’t want to go beyond the peeling of his own skin, but he knew there was a necessity for it. He didn’t have talent, he didn’t have creativity, he didn’t even have skill yet. Which is why he had to practice, and practice hard.

  The blood kept flowing down making small puddles, and he felt himself getting light headed, but the music still wasn’t enough. It would never be enough it seemed, but he had to make it enough.

  He knew he had to, as he collapsed with the darkness taking him. He always had strange dreams when that happened, about becoming a bard great enough to have fans, and being able to have a choice in a lover; one that was tall, had brown hair, and beautiful red eyes.

  But whenever he came to, he was always slightly more dejected that the dream never seemed any closer and only looked farther and farther off. And yet he went back to playing for the new day demanded it. He couldn’t keep leeching off these kind inn owners.

  46 - Awakened

  When Bariton woke up this time, he found himself in someone’s arms. He automatically tried to push them away, and they did back off, but his vision was blurred. Black vignette was covering the sides of his vision and he was tired.

  He wanted to sleep for longer, on the cold stone floor. But he felt he was needed outside. The ground was shaking ever so subtly, and his vision hadn’t come to yet, but the system was always pushy like that.

  [Quest Created]

  He didn’t have the energy to read all of it and just waved away the notifications. He blinked away the blurriness, which didn’t work as well, but he noticed that he was with Judine and a different, more blurry guy.

  He slowly sat up against the stone wall. It was cold, and it reminded him of ‘home’, or more specifically his worst times against the sewer wall. “Hey, Judine.” He felt his voice fighting to be heard. He could tell how difficult it was to speak.

  “Would you be mad at me if I died?” His question was probably too morbid for right now. But he really wanted to go back to sleep. And that seemed to be what awaited him there.

  “I wouldn’t…” Judine started, but she had more to say like always. “But I think Clara and Shammus would be pretty mad. Pallad and I would just be more on the side of sadness.”

  Bariton let out a weak laugh that devolved into a wheeze. His health was declining and the system was practically yelling at him to stand and fight. He thought of his eyeglasses, and blinked to see the door back.

  “Oh, you know I can’t go through there…” Bariton speaks out into the gray world. He couldn’t tell if Judine was still due to fear or being paused in time. He was so weak right now. “You’ll have to come out to me.”

  The door creaked open, and the System stepped out of it. “You won’t die here Bariton, but I could give you that quest reward a bit earlier…” Bariton looked up at the System, his face probably painted with confusion. Or pain. Bariton hurt quite a good amount, but it was more of a dull ache.

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  A strong dull ache, but still an ache nonetheless. It sucked. He didn’t wanna speak, but the System sure as hell wanted to. “So, I’ll tell you. The secret to your godhood. Or, one of them.”

  Bariton made a confused sound, he wanted sleep, not this lecture. “I will grant you a small amount of my power. Only temporary, mind you. But I’ll tell you something. Your dream is awfully close, just look better at your surroundings.”

  As the system snapped, he could’ve sworn he saw a different notification for just a moment. But his body filled with power blurring the lines of the notification, but Bariton knew he actually saw it. His vision returned as the notification was seared into his memory.

  [Vitality Devourer -> ???]

  It was odd, but he could feel his everything. He was healed back to full health, but he’s never seen a notification like that before. It was curious, and he was about to speak but then he remembered the threat the System made.

  He bit his own tongue to prevent the secret from slipping out, but he began to play his lyre. The sound was perfectly clear, and he loved it. Judine looked actually soothed by his playing, and he wasn’t just repeating what he heard before.

  It was a collage of everything he’d learned, but also a mix of himself was in this song as well. He never noticed how much beauty he hid inside himself, and what music truly was saying. The people of the town looked up towards the castle.

  His senses were mixed with them, and he noticed a new notification.

  [Unique Class Evolution; Jack of All Trade -> Demigod of Music]

  That was one he was unused to seeing. His last class evolution was before even the tower; having been done in a back alley that he had to fight against. Jack of All Trades was useful, sure, but it didn’t allow him to do anything like this.

  He was able to cast his own senses alongside his music, and he saw Shammus struggling. Pallad speared into a wall with some kind of metallic rod. His bleeding was bad, but he wasn’t dying soon. Shammus on the other hand was pinned by an opponent with four eyes.

  He saw the barrier in the sky shatter as Clara descended from it. He couldn’t manipulate anything despite seeing all, so he kept playing and stood up within the cell. Judine simply looked at Bariton in awe.

  “What are those wings made of?” Judine brings her hand forward, and that’s when Bariton points his musical senses at himself. The lyre is loud, and yet it sounds the same no matter where Bariton moves his senses.

  He looked at his wings, they were green and were made of scales drawn onto the air straight from a music sheet. He had six of them, the top two being in Treble clef, the middle two being in alto clef, and the bottom two being in Bass clef.

  As Bariton began to move, musical notes flowed, playing like a symphony. And Bariton smiled a little bit. “Well, let’s get going Judine. Thank you for savin’ me.” Judine nods in her own little way of saying you’re welcome and the strange man followed her after.

  He waved the two off, and Judine had turned around when the odd guy stopped following. “Versaille? Are you not coming with?”

  “Why, I’m not getting in the way of our deal.”

  Judine seemed to understand this odd guy- Versaille his name must’ve been, with that statement. Bariton simply just tilted his head remembering that Versaille was one of his main torturers. But he let it slide as the music changed in tone. There was much more bass in comparison to the other ones.

  So he let it shift back into a major scale. The sound of freedom rang out throughout the castle as he and Judine ran forward. Bariton wasn’t interested in killing the guards entranced by his music, and Judine didn’t seem too willing to kill the innocent.

  As Bariton crashed out a window, his music flowed more freely, with the song of freedom playing out towards everything. He let his music flow into his party members. He could tell that the magic of this music was strong, and would probably give his team similar bonuses.

  Clara and Judine had to face the Queen for now, and with how the other battle went, he had to push towards the duo that was dying. But as his music flowed into them, the wounds were repaired. Bariton gives four-eyes a shit-eating grin as he landed beside Shammus.