Still sitting atop the rubble pile, Jaco considered the golden screen before him. While still in a state of shock just earlier, he had ignored the previous notification about available Classes. But now in the aftermath of his battle against the skeletal horde, he was strangely calm.
His body was sore and covered with aching injuries. His physical exhaustion was to the point where he’d probably fall asleep instantly if his eyes stayed closed for more than a second. Yet in terms of his mind and current mental state, it was completely composed and collected. Maybe it was due to coming down from the almost high-like exhilaration he’d felt while fighting. And from that, it acted as a sort of soft reset for his brain?
In any case, it could prove to be a good thing. At least it should mean that for the moment, he wouldn’t do something stupid while too panicked to think. But before anything else, Jaco took a moment to warily glance around at his surroundings. There was nothing in sight, except for a breeze carrying a cloud of ash across the desolate neighborhood. For now, at least, he seemed to be safe.
First, he wanted to see if he could will for those old Classes to reappear. It took a few seconds for him to focus. Then just like his Sheet, the System responded and instantly rematerialized the screen. This time, Jaco actually took a good look at each of his available Classes. They were Warrior, Scout, Martial Artist, Mage, and now Druid. He wiped more sweat from his forehead as he then focused on the option to expound on them, starting with the first on the list.
Warrior:
A Warrior focuses primarily on the use and mastery of various weapons and armor types to aid them in battle. Generally, their primary Stats to focus on are typically Strength and Endurance. However, some may choose to specialize in Agility instead.
Starting Equipment:
Shortsword (Minor), Roundshield (Minor), Chainmail Armor (Minor)
Class Abilities:
Fighter’s Perception, Minor Boost, Minor Slash, Minor Block
Stat Bonuses:
+5 Strength
+4 Endurance
+1 Agility
Wait, what? How the Hell does it even grant you that equipment? Does it just appear out of thin air or something? And what’s with putting Minor next to a bunch of stuff in parenthesis, like what is that even supposed to mean? Jaco asked himself.
He didn’t really know, but it did seem like an important aspect of the System. Perhaps it would become more clear after he picked a Class and could explore it further for himself.
Aside from that, the theme here was obvious enough. With both a sword and chainmail mentioned, it really did sound like something straight out of some sort of medieval fantasy. He wondered why the Angels who designed this stuck to that, instead of something more modern.
While a sword and shield were neat, he felt that his survival might have been more secure with something with more oomph. Like getting a bazooka and whatever Class that’d be associated with. But unless that was a surprise the System was saving, it seemed this fantasy game theme was the hand dealt to him.
Yet as the idea stuck around in his mind, Jaco’s eye twitched with annoyance. Unlike some video game hero, he wouldn’t get to save a fairytale kingdom and then live happily ever after. Instead, his reality was one of a Hellish apocalypse with billions already dead.
Jaco tried to shake his head and dispel that kind of thinking before his thoughts spiraled further. He dismissed the new notification and reexamined the Warrior Class. At the bottom of its screen, there was a simple button to accept the Class. For now, though, he still wanted to see what the other options had to offer him.
Scout:
A Scout focuses primarily on the use of ranged equipment when forced to fight, but prefers moving around enemies without being noticed. Generally, their primary Stat to focus on is typically Agility.
Starting Equipment:
Shortbow (Minor), Camouflage Set (Minor)
Class Abilities:
Hunter’s Intuition, Minor Sneak, Minor Enhanced Shooting, Minor Tracking
Stat Bonuses:
+7 Agility
+3 Endurance
Martial Artist:
A Martial Artist forgoes the use of both weapons and armor, instead pursuing mastery over their own body. Seeking both mental and physical perfection, their Stats are generally balanced.
Starting Equipment:
Handwraps (Minor), Gi (Minor)
Class Abilities:
Sixth Sense, Minor Unarmed Strike, Minor Meditation, Minor Defensive Stance
Stat Bonuses:
+3 Strength
+3 Endurance
+3 Agility
+3 Will
Mage:
A Mage focuses entirely on the use of arcane spells and tapping into the wellspring of Mana within. Generally, their primary Stats to focus on are typically Will and Spell Power. But due to the sheer specialization the arcane arts require, it comes at a detriment to one’s physical Stats.
Starting Equipment:
Wand (Minor), Spellcaster’s Robes (Minor)
Class Abilities:
Mystic Awareness, Minor Restoration, Minor Mana Weaving, Minor Arcane Spellcasting
Stat Bonuses:
+15 Spell Power
+4 Will
-3 to Strength, Endurance, and Agility
Permanent Stat Modifications:
+1 Boost to SpellPower per Level (Applied Retroactively)
-0.5 Detriment to Strength, Endurance, and Agility per Level
Wait so this really is a magic Class, like actual for real magic? Jaco asked himself. He then clicked on the bit about Stat Modifications, and the System did actually confirm something. These would be applied in addition to passive gain to his Stats just from his Levels already. So he wouldn't be losing Stats, technically, but the growth rate for those three listed would effectively be halved from here on out.
He wasn’t sure what else he expected, but seeing it on the screen made him almost giddy. The young man couldn’t help but smile a little as he imagined the chance to be a spellcaster. He took back his previous criticism of the System. A bazooka wouldn’t be needed if he was potentially the bazooka.
In his head, Jaco immediately disregarded the other Classes before it. In comparison to the ultimate fantasy of casting fireballs or bolts of lightning, who’d ever want to just swing a sword around? To that point, he dismissed the screen for every other Class but Mage.
Indeed, he did acknowledge the trade-off required for his physical Stats. And while that would be unfortunate, it could be worth the ability to have even stronger spells. At the very least, he could afford to lose a few Points in those Stats. Considering how much he’d already invested in them by now at Level 10, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. However, while the temptation was there to immediately accept the Class, he made himself wait. Because in what also potentially sounded like a spellcaster, the Druid still awaited his attention.
Druid (Rare):
From the first line of its screen, Jaco’s eyes widened. Just that was enough to already capture his interest. He quickly doublechecked the Mage Class, and confirmed that it had no such mention of its rarity.
A Druid is the protector of life and one who is attuned to the natural world. Generally, their primary Stat is Spell Power. However, they rely on being balanced across their other Stats as well to match the versatility of nature’s gifts.
Starting Equipment:
Staff (Minor), Ironwood Armor (Minor)
Class Abilities:
Natural Instincts, Minor Elemental Offense, Minor Plant Control, Minor Beast Transformation
Stat Bonuses:
+10 Spellpower
+3 Strength
+2 Endurance
+3 Agility
+2 Will
Permanent Stat Modifications:
+1 Boost to SpellPower per Level (Applied Retroactively)
“Well, this is just… wow,” Jaco muttered to himself. The young man leaned forward as he took an even closer look.
He read through the entire screen once more, and it really did seem amazing overall. Even when compared to Mage, it was still just on another level in practically every aspect. It had both better overall Stats, and much more interesting-looking Class Abilities. But something here was curious.
“Just how exactly did I unlock a Rare Class? It only appeared after I killed those Skeletons, but is that really all it took? Shouldn’t it have been something more related to life or… Druidy? Maybe it’s also because I’m a gardener, but that still doesn’t feel quite right for the timing. Hmm.”
Jaco rubbed against his chin as he thought about it for a bit longer. If he had to make an assumption, it’d be that there were plenty more undead out there. And that whoever survived the initial wave of death were probably out there, struggling against them. Would any of them who killed enough Skeletons or other undead have unlocked this Class? Even if they had to have also been a gardener, farmer, or so on, it still felt like too many potential Druids for it to be considered Rare.
But maybe there was something else the System took into account. In any case, he definitely wouldn’t turn down this option granted to him. It was clearly the best among the Classes currently available, so picking it was the obvious choice. After taking a moment to mentally make sure he was certain of this, Jaco accepted the Class.
Class Gained: Druid!
With that notification, an updated version of his Sheet then appeared in front of him.
General Info:
Species: Human
Level: 10
Class: Druid
Stats:
Strength: 39
Agility: 27
Endurance: 37
Will: 20
Spell Power: 20
Unspent Points: 5
Class Abilities:
Passive: Natural Instincts
Active: Minor Elemental Offense
Active: Minor Plant Control
Active: Minor Beast Transformation
In that same instant, two items seemingly materialized out of thin air. A long staff made of gnarled wood appeared between the young man's hands. And over his clothes, a set of wooden armor was placed over most of his body, save for the space around his joints and above the neck.
The smile from before was now a toothy grin on his face. But it wasn’t just the Sheet that brought this influx of joy from the young man. Rather, it was the rush of what felt like pure power coursing through his being. Not only did Jaco feel stronger in a way beyond physical strength, he was also suddenly far more aware of his surroundings. All of his senses seemed to have been heightened.
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He could detect a stronger scent of ash and burnt wood in the air than before. He looked up at the debris pile of what used to be his closest neighbor's house. Even from where he sat, he could swear that the finer details on its broken bricks were now visible from a distance. It couldn’t quite be described as super smell or hearing, but it was definitely a drastically notable difference.
But before dismissing his Sheet again, there was something he needed to do. Jaco still had Unspent Points from reaching Level 10. He went ahead and dumped them all into Spell Power, increasing it to a new total of 25. Once that was done, he stood up and waved away the golden screen. Now he wanted to give these new powers a test run.
“Might as well start from the top and make my way down. So how would Natural Instincts work?” Jaco asked himself. Perhaps it would be like other aspects of the System so far. Where if he simply focused on something, it’d appear. That was at least worth a try.
The young man pictured the name of the Ability within his mind’s eye. He glanced around but didn’t notice any immediate difference. Furrowing his brows, he wondered if perhaps he still wasn’t focusing hard enough on it. Jaco closed his eyes and tried to further deepen his concentration. A few seconds later, there still wasn’t anything new.
“Alright then, maybe not. Hmm, it is a bit different from the other ones. Unlike the rest, it doesn’t describe itself as Minor. Maybe it’s what dictates my heightened senses? Unless that’s just something that Druids just get as part of the Class itself?”
Jaco decided to move on for now, and return to Natural Instincts later. If he didn’t figure it out now, perhaps its purpose would become more apparent on its own. So next on the list, Minor Elemental Offense.
He once again attempted to mentally focus on the Ability. But this time, he felt an immediate response. From within his chest, Jaco felt something begin to tug.
Suddenly, he felt more aware of the air around him and the water that soaked him. He could even sense the earth at the bottom of the debris hill. Inside his stomach, the temperature rose as heat started to build up. As his focus shifted to this heat, an image of roaring flames appeared in his mind. The young man stepped down, deciding to aim his attention toward the ground for now.
The dirt seemed to call to him, and the tugging felt stronger as his feet reached the ground. From deep within himself, Jaco could just tell that this was a sensation he could choose to manipulate. Letting out a breath through his mouth, he reached for it.
His will enveloped the earth, becoming even further attuned to both the solid ground and chunks of rock. He tightened his mental grip, and willed for the ground to move. In response to the new Druid’s will, a section of earth broke away from the ground and began to slowly drift into the air.
“Holy shit it worked!” Jaco exclaimed, and subsequently broke his focus. The hunk of dirt had only risen by a few feet, before immediately dropping back down with a thud.
But even just from that momentary action, he felt different. Compared to how energetic he felt before, a noticeable bit of that energy was now gone. It wasn’t quite the same as physical exhaustion, however. No, it was something else. He could just inherently tell without knowing why. While scratching his arm in thought, he then realized the most likely answer.
Well if this System is based on a fantasy game, then spellcasting should have its own resource bar. If I had to guess, it’s probably something like Mana. Since the Mage did mention Mana Weaving as an Ability, that would fit. Satisfied with that idea, Jaco nodded to himself.
But unlike a video game, there seemingly was no numerical resource bar that he could see. Even after taking a spellcaster Class to gain Spell Power, that hadn’t been added to his Sheet.
So rather than something convenient, it seemed he’d have to manually keep track of it by just feeling it out. In that sense it wasn’t that different from knowing when he was getting tired, but it’d be important for him to remain vigilant. He didn’t want to waste it all on trying these powers out now, only for another horde to immediately attack him.
With that in mind, Jaco continued to carefully test out this Ability. He once again tried to move the chunk of earth. Now knowing exactly what to expect, he managed to maintain his concentration. While keeping it floating in the air, he could feel that it was slowly but surely draining his Mana. But rather than just allow it to drop straight down, he wanted to try something.
Exerting his full will over the chunk, Jaco attempted to throw to the side with as much force he could muster. Even without any prior momentum, the lump was immediately sent flying in his chosen direction. His target was a partially destroyed wall across the street. Bits of dirt and rock exploded out from the impact as it smashed into the brick wall.
With that, the Druid next wanted to try the other elements he’d felt before. However, the results of these tests didn’t go quite as well. When he first tried to manipulate the air, it just slipped out of his grasp before he could get a firm grip of control. Water was a bit better, but still almost as difficult to maintain.
He could at least draw the water out of his clothes. However, he still dropped it after just a few seconds of trying to keep it in place. As for fire, it simply didn’t pan out at all. While Jaco could build up heat within his belly, he couldn’t force it out. And even just trying to keep that internal fire going ate through his Mana faster than anything else so far.
Perhaps if he found an already active flame, he could try controlling that instead. In a similar vein, Jaco did sense that he could also try to create earth, water, and air directly from his body rather than using what was around him. Unlike fire, however, he didn’t know where to even begin with those beyond just feeling that it was possible.
With a sigh, Jaco decided that perhaps that was a good point to move on. At the very least, he had a decent grasp at controlling the earth around him. Now it was time to take Minor Plant Control out for a spin. Luckily for him, he knew exactly where there were close by plants to try it on.
He walked around the ruined yard of what used to be his garden. Everything he’d been growing closer to his home was now covered in the rubble pile. But the plants further out were still alive, even if covered in a layer of ash and soot. As he did for the elements, Jaco tried to project his will into one of the buried herbs.
Feeling more of his Mana being used up, he felt a connection established with the plant. He could sense that he could spend even more Mana, however. He wasn’t quite sure what would happen, only that it was possible to give that energy directly to the herb. Curious to see what that would do, Jaco decided to try it.
From underneath the ash, something shifted. Then pushing itself free from its burial, the plant broke out. Jaco severed the connection, and manually parted more of the ashes with his bare hands.
“Oooooh.” What he revealed was not just a plant that had moved, but grown. Jaco could say for certain that it was definitely bigger and taller than when he tended to it just earlier today. But like feeding his internal fire, however, the action had chewed through a good bit of Mana.
He then reestablished a connection with the herb. Through it, he was able to do more than just make it bigger. Jaco found that compared to his rough control over earth, he could manipulate it to a finer degree. He was able to control both individual leaves as well as bend and move the stem itself. Even each of its roots could be moved, though that was harder with all the dirt surrounding them. Satisfied with this result, Jaco decided to go ahead and get to the last Ability on his list, Minor Beast Transformation.
When the Druid focused on this power, it wasn’t like the others. Rather than reach out for something external, he felt that it was entirely within himself. When he concentrated further, a series of images and concepts flashed through his mind.
Through the perspective of some tiny animal’s eyes, he could see clearly in a forest at night. While in another’s perspective, no hole or crack in a wall was too small for him to get into. Then finally from a third, he felt the wind rushing past him as the ground below seemed small and far away.
Jaco decided to fully shift his attention to that last vision. To the idea of true freedom through the power of flight. When he did, he immediately felt a large amount of Mana disappear. So much at once, it actually took the wind out of him for a second. Yet he didn’t let that dissuade him. Instead, the young man continued to keep his focus trained on the vision of flying through the sky. With his eyes closed, he maintained complete concentration on his goal.
A split second later, there was a shift. Jaco could sense that the spell had run its course, and opened his eyes. When he looked down, he did not see a fleshy pair of human hands and fingers. In their place, there were now bird-like talons. Each of these new talons looked to be at least a few inches long and slightly curled into sharp points.
But Jaco didn’t inspect them for long. Instead he rolled his shoulders, hoping to feel a pair of wings attached to his back. Yet when he did so, he felt no new limbs covered with feathers. When he reached around with his talons to doublecheck, he couldn’t feel anything at all sticking out.
“Oh, well that’s…” Jaco trailed off. Disappointing, it was disappointing.
While the talons might have been kinda of cool on their own, they felt like a participation trophy compared to the main prize he had desired. He had imagined himself actually turning into a bird, or at least growing out his wings. Instead, the shift to his hands was seemingly the only change.
But maybe it’s just a taste of what’s to come? And then I could somehow get wings or fully transform in the future.
Jaco remembered that this was an Ability described as Minor. If there was a Minor, then surely there had to be a Major version out there. Maybe if he Leveled Up more and somehow discovered how to get that upgrade, he could increase its capabilities.
But to achieve that, he’d need to find a way to get those Levels. As the young man had that thought, he quickly decided on a course of action. The horde of Skeletons from before surely weren’t the only ones in the area. If he just looked around and explored, there was a good chance he’d be able to find more.
If Jaco could then properly apply his Abilities, he could likely deal with them quite easily. If he threw a large chunk of stone, he could potentially crush multiple with one shot. Being able to do so from a safe distance, it’d be the best way to test if using Minor Elemental Offense to kill the undead will increase its Level.
Now far more confident in himself than just half an hour prior, Jaco walked away from the ruins of his former home. It was time for him to go skelly hunting.
However, he didn’t make more than a few steps before freezing in place. To say a chill suddenly ran down his spine was an understatement. It’d be more appropriate to say that the icy hand of Death itself had just ripped his bloody spine straight out of his back. Barely a second later, he spotted a large amount of movement just down the street from him.
“Oh fuck!” Jaco cursed under his breath. He snapped out of being frozen and immediately moved for safety. He dove for the pile of rubble, hiding behind it for cover. Luckily, his enhanced vision let him see the incoming threat before they could have seen him. Or at least, that’s what he hoped.
The young man peeked from around his hiding spot. As they steadily came closer, he took a better look at the approaching group. What he saw made his eyes bulge with renewed terror. For there were dozens of undead, but not the same kind as Skeletons or the charred corpse of his neighbor. But even worse was what led them.
It was a huge monster, one that had to be at least three or even four times taller than any of the undead. Between its human-like hands, it carried a large, double-sided axe. But while its arms and midsection were like that of a giant man, the rest of its body was not.
Everything below the waist was furry legs that ended with hooves. While above its shoulders, there was the head of a bull with giant horns. As he stared at it while the group approached, something appeared above the heads of both the huge creature and each of the undead that followed it.
Ghoul (Undead)
Level: 18
Ghoul (Undead)
Level: 22
Ghoul (Undead)
Level: 19
Each of the Ghouls averaged around Level 20. As for their leader, however…
Minotaur (Demidemon)
Level: ?
Demidemon:
A type of creature enslaved by Demons and made into their thrall.
Well fuck me then! Jaco internally screamed as his head snapped back. He knew just enough about Greek mythology to recognize the Minotaur’s name.
As the unholy procession continued down the street, Jaco dared not breathe when they were at their closest point to him. He knew that if he even shifted an inch and drew their attention by making a pebble fall, he’d die. Rare Class or no Rare Class, he knew that his death was that certain.
Even when they passed by and turned their backs to him, he still didn’t move. Only when they had been out of sight for several minutes, did Jaco finally come out of hiding. From here on out, he’d now know that this group existed, and potentially even more like them. Whenever it was physically possible, he had to stay out of their way at all costs.
Though the tidbit from the System did beg the question. If he couldn’t even see the Level of this demonic slave, then what the Hell was an actual Demon like?
For now, he couldn’t just stay a sitting duck forever. His original plan was still in place to find more Skeletons to kill. He’d need to do so while being careful of the more powerful monsters, but it was still necessary for him to get stronger. At Level 10 he stood no chance even against the Ghouls, but if he could gain enough Experience Points to get to Level 20, then he at least stood a chance. Resolutely nodding to himself, Jaco set out to do just that.