*Core*

“So what do you plan to do for your next class?” I asked, through Specy, Hailey who had managed to settle in despite her distaste for me and the undead. Between her and Susan I was getting a better picture of how this world worked, it was quite interesting honestly.

“Honestly I am not really sure.” Hailey said, without looking at Specy, still she was otherwise quite polite. “It will be a bit of a pain, but I will probably go for the soldier class for its utility. Honestly, I think you underestimate the difficulty to level and gain classes. Even with my parents power leveling, it took twelve years to reach where I am now. Each level took a whole year, and Su had it even harder with her rare class!”

“Its true,” Susan agreed. “You can gain experience by combat and killing for any class, but you only get a tiny portion if you are not utilizing your class correctly. A mage can gain experience by killing with a sword, but it will be far less than if he used magic to do it- and classes like Bards do not even gain experience directly, but based on their supporting of others.”

Wow, that is rough. And this was with help and training. Still, I do wonder…

“If you can gain experience from dungeon monsters,” I spoke my thoughts out loud. Well, at least as ‘out loud’ as I can. “Why could I not just let you kill the respawning monsters and gain experience?”

“I would not gain much,” Hailey shrugged. “It just would not be worth it, not unless you had really powerful monsters. I do not think that Specy here would be enough to really matter.”

“But a soldier could gain experience via that method?”

“Possibly?” Susan thought about it for a bit, “I doubt it. I cannot say for certain, but I heard that if you repeat actions too much you get less experience for them. Can’t say if it is true though.”

Of course, another example of game balancing. Well, I will have to put that idea away for now, but I am not giving it up. These kids do not know what real power leveling is. In a lot of popular multiplayer games a lot of gamers become experts at doing that and can max their friends in hours! If I could do something similar, considering the state of this world I would have incalculable value.

Ah, well, it would just be too easy. That said-

“A piece of advice,” I was speaking to Hailey. “If such a thing exists, you should go for a thief class instead.”

“What!?” Hailey turned angrily to Specy, “why would I do something so shameless?”

What is with that reaction? Well, I suppose a thief is a thief- it would be odd if people just accepted that class in normal society. Nevertheless-

“A Ranger is essentially a ranged warrior that focuses on stealth and mobility in a natural environment,” gaming logic finally has a use, all the mothers in my world would die of shock. “A soldier is someone who fights on the front line, which has little crossover with what you have. A thief will likely have skills and abilities that focus on stealth and will help you in urban environments as well. And I presume that the thief class will eventually lead to the assassin class, correct?”

“You would ask me to become an assassin!?” Wow Hailey hates me now, which is not really a loss.

“Well you do not have to kill innocent people,” I said, wishing Hailey could hear my sarcastic tone. Susan could, and she was frowning at me slightly. “The point is that it would work well with the skills you already have- but hey, that is just my advice.”

“I can see why you would say that,” Susan sighed. “But I do not think you understand- those are both illegal classes, just having them is enough to be punished. Thieves by branding and assassins by execution, wanting those classes is terrible- no good person would.”

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“Whatever, I am going hunting.” Hailey said suddenly, stood up and left.

“I will be back later Core,” Susan got up and followed Hailey out, the spirits accompanying her. “She will come around, I think.”

Well, if she does or does not it really is not my problem- so whatever…

*Susan*

“Hailey slow down!”

Keeping up with that woman in the forest was a lost cause if she did not want to be caught. Thankfully, Hailey slowed down and let me get close, I had to take a second to catch my breath!

“Why did you leave so suddenly?” I asked as I managed to recover, “he really is not a bad guy- he just does not know anything about the world outside his dungeon.”

“I know that!” Hailey snapped angrily, “but look, it is clearly suspicious that he is suggesting things like that!”

“You are overthinking things,” I could not help but laugh. “He will grow on you!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Hailey said noncommittally. “But I do not thi-”

She stopped suddenly, straightening up and listening. I could not hear anything, but the ranger class was an advanced version of the scout class- it really was not surprising that Hailey had better sense than me.

In a blink, she drew an arrow and fired it into a seemingly random direction in the forest. Seemingly random until a muffled grunt in the distance sounded instead of the thunk of an arrow hitting a tree trunk. Hailey moved quickly through the forest in that direction, and I struggled to follow behind her. Actually, I am really envious of the spirits who can just float through things and over others- I do not have many clothes to ruin you know!

Regardless, I reach Hailey to find her crouching over a dead goblin- no, that is a goblin scout. Hailey looked at me, and I was already frowning. Goblins might be a common nuisance, only a danger to people without a combat class, but a goblin scout would only appear under certain conditions. Those conditions were, first, a large enough tribe and second, a leader for that tribe. And out here in the wilderness, a group like that could grow to become a problem.

My frown turned to a smile, “want to go take a look Hailey?”

Hailey chuckled quietly, “I thought you would never ask.”

Goblins are not much of an issue after all, or they wouldn’t be- except that my prediction was wrong. I thought they could grow to be a problem, but looking at the camp in the valley below me I had to admit they were already there.

“Shit!” Hailey breathed, “the guild is not going to want to send another force out here so soon, especially not for shitty goblins!”

It was basic economics after all. Dungeon cores were valuable and that offset the cost of the subjugating force- but goblins never had anything worth looking at twice. Out in the middle of nowhere, no one would want to deal with them until they had to- until they had grown large enough to hurt people before they finally were brought down! However…

“I do not really see a problem Hailey,” I smiled. “Surely you are not afraid of a few goblins, right?”

“The two of us cannot face that many Su.”

“Two?” A mental command had the spirits float behind me. “They are just goblins, if you take out the occasional goblin shaman I do not think we will have anything to worry about.”

Hailey did not want to work with the undead, but she did not want to leave the goblins alone either. In the end, she agreed.

I walked openly towards the goblin camp, and the goblin guards reacted exactly as I expected. Goblins and goblinkin are not kind to women, regardless of race, but unlike the larger goblinkin they were not often strong enough to follow through on their desire. But with their seeming advantage, they left their posts and rushed for their chance without thinking- and were attacked by the spirits who struck them from the shadows and undergrowth.

No alarm was sounded, and I sent my spirits to sweep into the camp. Eventually, cries of alarm were raised, but it did not matter. The goblin’s crude clubs could do nothing against the spirits and to make matters worse, I was singing. All the spirits were buffed in strength and speed, and the normally weak spirits were now far stronger than before and easily slaughtered the goblins before them.

A goblin shaman, with a large gnarled staff topped with an animal skull that was taller than the goblin itself, appeared and began to cast- but an arrow through the throat put an end to that. The goblins saw that happen and threw down their weapons and ran- much to my suprise.

A few minutes later Hailey and I were staring at the empty camp, where was the leader?