Sam was exhausted, and every muscle within her body complained with ache. That final attack to kill the Minotaur had taken everything she had, maybe even more, to accomplish. She still wasn’t even sure from where exactly she had drawn the control necessary to condense her Mana as much as she had. It was a feat Sam wasn’t sure she could repeat even after taking the time to rest.

But a well-earned rest wasn’t something that fate apparently had in store for them. At least not currently. For it was almost immediately after their victory that Jaco had warned them of an incoming horde of undead. They apparently only had minutes at most, so Sam had used that time as best she could.

She had simply closed her eyes and focused on the use of Minor Restoration. As far as Abilities went, it was a rather simple one. A Mage just had to concentrate and enter a state that was somewhat like meditation. Within it, they were able to speed up the recovery of their Mana. It wasn’t a huge boost in its regeneration and couldn’t be used in stressful situations like active combat. But it was certainly better than nothing in a pinch.

Less than two minutes later, the horde was upon them. Undead swarmed in from every direction. The army was easily larger than the one that had attacked the camp. Big enough that escaping in any direction but upward would have just meant meeting the horde sooner.

And while Jaco might have been able to use his wind magic to carefully hover them into the air, he hadn’t dared. Not when a true Demon had earlier been spotted in the skies overhead, when none of them would know when it might emerge from the fort or if it could spot them from there if they flew.

Sam looked around. She saw a whole range of undead. Most common were the weak, basic Skeletons, of course. But there was easily a smaller army’s worth of Warriors and Mages as well. Along with plenty of Ghouls, and another kind that was most concerning of all.

Lesser Revenant (Undead)

Level: 32

The Lesser Revenants were the least common type present, at least as far as Sam could tell. But as she looked in all directions, she could already count dozens mixed in with the other Skeletons. Each one had a level in the low 30s.

Sam swallowed. It’s okay, they’re not an actual threat to us. If they’re the strongest ones here, then Jaco can already deal with them with his eyes closed. Just need to stay close to him and assist with my magic, while he deals with the majority of them with whichever Abilities of his have the widest attack area.

On any other day, the sight of so many undead both weak and strong would have given her a heart attack. Even now, she still couldn’t deny that she was nervous. But the knowledge of how strong the Druid was and what he was capable of acted as a large comfort.

As she had that thought, said Druid sprung into action. The moment one side of the horde entered his range, he swung his staff. Sam felt Jaco channel an extremely large amount of Mana through the weapon right as he started the movement. Mana that was then quickly imparted into the air he waved the staff through.

An almost invisible arc shot out toward the undead. It started just as small as his swing had been. But with each foot it traveled, the arc grew wider and wider. By the time it reached the first of the army, it had already grown to be the length of a school bus.

It was like a wave of second death slammed right into the horde. Every Skeleton unfortunate enough to be in its path soon found itself bisected through the upper chest. Even as it met the Skeleton Warriors that had armor and often wielded shields, it still cut through them like a knife through paper. It was a completely smooth cut that didn’t seem to be impeded in the slightest.

Within just those few seconds of Jaco waving his staff, what had to be hundreds of undead had already been slain. Even if there were still thousands more, Sam couldn’t help but release a held breath. Her eyes darted over to where a golden screen had been, before it was dismissed so that it wouldn’t be a distraction in the face of the horde.

When they had the chance to stop, Sam would be able to begin her Class Evolution. She couldn’t help but ask herself what it would bring. As she looked at all the slain undead, Sam just wondered if it would allow her to do what Jaco had just done.

Not to be too badly outdone, the Mage turned around and aimed her wand at another group of undead to her right. A bolt of arcane power formed in front of it, and then was sent flying. The moment it made contact with a Skeleton, it exploded. At least a couple dozen undead were wiped out from the blast. Something that Sam still took pride in, even if the explosive form of magic was extra costly for her Mana. Kill notifications quickly rolled by, but she had the System tune them out.

From her left, there was a glowing blur of movement. Sword in hand, Evelyn also got to work and started to cut down the undead. Sam didn’t exactly know how her post-Evolution Ability worked. Only that it briefly turned the former Chosen into a high-speed streak that was able to attack before her target even knew what hit them.

What should have followed was a massacre against the undead. One where the Druid would likely have slain well over a thousand of his own while Evelyn and Sam could have split however many were left.

But then something unexpected occurred. From the corner of her eye, Sam saw movement. And when she turned, her jaw went slack with disbelief.

The seemingly almost indomitable Jaco had fallen to his knees, with one hand pressed against the ground, the other pressed into the side of his head. Sam quickly ran over to his side after processing her initial shock.

“Jaco, what happened?! Are you okay?!” she yelled out. When she moved to an angle where she could see his face, she saw that it was twisted into a grimace of pain.

“I… don’t know. Just got really dizzy all of sudden. I… fuck.” The Druid squeezed his eyes shut as he seemed to be fighting through another wave of whatever was happening to him.

The undead were still coming. So at that moment, Sam made a quick decision. She yelled out Evelyn’s name, and carefully pulled Jaco from the ground. Supporting his weight with her frame, she wrapped her arm around his back as they stood up.

The trio were then forced to make a retreat. Jaco’s part of the horde had been cut down the most, so with that as the best starting point they had, they turned that way and made a run for it. Rather than simply decimate the undead, they cut a narrow path through the horde. As Sam supported Jaco, Evelyn was largely forced to do the work on that front.

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It was a task she was well-equipped for, as she quickly slashed their way through. Even with Jaco and Sam moving slower, the good news was that they still managed to move faster than the horde. Especially as the more Skeletons were forced to crowd in a single area, the more their own kind restrained their mobility.

It took them more than a bit to escape. And the whole time, Sam just silently prayed that a Demidemon or super powerful undead didn’t show up as they ran. Tense minutes passed as they continued to cut their own path out. So much time had gone by that Jaco no longer needed her assistance and was able to move on his own, something which then quickly sped them up by a noticeable degree.

He did try to turn around and channel Mana to use an Ability. But the moment he did so, Jaco grabbed the side of his head again and stumbled. The good news was that he didn’t fully collapse like before. But the bad news spoke for itself, as they were still forced to continue their retreat.

Fortune did seem to remain somewhat on their side, however, as they managed to avoid the stronger undead so that Evelyn and Sam didn’t have to try and fight them. And nothing extremely powerful had showed up by the time they finally broke through the end of the horde.

Even then, they weren’t home free yet. The trio then zigzagged through the streets of the city, trying to move in a random pattern to throw off the undead army. After about twenty minutes of doing this, Jaco then pointed out a small building down the street.

It wasn’t tall at all, only about two stories. Though it seemed to be in better condition than a lot of the remaining urban structure, it was still in pretty bad shape, to the point where Sam couldn’t even tell what it would have been for before the Apocalypse. But shelter was shelter, and so they then entered the building.

“Alright. Should be safe here for a while,” Jaco began as they walked in. “It doesn’t sound like the horde is switching directions to head this way. So at least in the meantime, we should be good.”

Evelyn frowned. “Maybe we should just stay here and rest? I don’t think we should head out there anytime soon. Not until that hornet’s nest of monsters calms back down.”

Sam glanced between the two of them, but said nothing. Instead, she just tried to find the comfiest-looking spot to sit down. Something that required a pretty low bar for what was considered comfy, considering the bits of concrete and glass everywhere. Once she had a seat, Jaco had a few moments of thought, then started to nod.

“That’s probably for the best. I’ll head to the top of the building and keep watch for now. That way you guys can get some rest without needing to keep one eye open.”

Sam looked at him, now from across the room. “Do you want one of us to let you know after some time has passed? To swap out so you can get some rest too?”

Her thoughts went back to just earlier. When he had suddenly been overcome by bouts of weakness. Was that really something that could be so easily ignored without any sleep? Even if he didn’t show that weakness now, Sam had her doubts.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I slept not too long ago back at the camp. With the way my body is, I can probably go weeks or even more without any sleep. Just sitting back and relaxing should be all the rest I really need,” Jaco insisted.

With that, the Druid quickly made his way back outside. Sam only heard a muted thud of something hitting the roof just a second later. Since the building itself wasn’t very tall, with his Stats, she wouldn’t be surprised if Jaco had simply jumped up to the top.

Alright, then. But before I can rest…

Now that there weren’t any new emergencies, Sam leaned against the wall. It was finally time to do the thing she really wanted. A previous notification then appeared directly in front of her.

Available Class Evolutions:

Arcane Sorcerer

Spinner of Mana

Elemental Adept

Advanced Mage

Sam’s eyes lit up upon seeing the golden screen again. As she stared at it, her heart beat quickly inside her chest. Not from the earlier adrenaline of combat or the exertion she’d needed to flee from the horde of undead in the end, but from the pure excitement of actually starting the process of evolving her Class.

There was so much energy bubbling up from inside her that she even felt tempted to get up and start pacing around. Sam ultimately forced herself to remain sitting, though, and took a deep breath to try and calm back down.

Without further ado, she then started from the top of the list.

Arcane Sorcerer:

This path is for those who seek both true mastery and further power within their arcane might. These Mages advance their skill in casting spells while only continuing to grow in their potential to wreak destruction from afar.

New Class Ability:

Charged Arcana

Upgraded Class Ability:

Minor Arcane Spellcasting to Lesser Arcane Spellcasting

Passive Abilities:

Destructive Conduit

Stat Bonuses:

+25 Spell Power

Permanent Stat Modifications:

+2 Boost to Spell Power per Level

Sam rubbed her hand against her chin as she quickly read through the text. And as she took in everything that was written on the golden screen, she unconsciously pinched her bottom lip between her fingers.

This process was playing out more or less exactly how Jaco had described his own path to choosing a Class Evolution: four options, new bonuses, and so on. When he’d talked about it during a meeting back at the camp, he had been pressed to give as much detail as possible. Jaco had been their only ally at that point to attain one at that point, after all. So he had effectively acted as their only source of detailed, reliable information on the subject.

At the same time, however, there were already some notable differences. Specifically on the numerical side of things. When Jaco talked about his own Evolution, everyone listening had taken particular note of the numbers.

If Sam’s memory served her correctly, two of his options had offered 45 points for the Stat Bonus and an increase of +3 for the Stat Modifications. The other two had been different due to one apparently being listed as Rare, and the other offering far more Stats as a trade-off for less exciting Abilities. Or at least that was how Jaco had seen it, anyway.

Yet hers only showed a +25 Bonus and +2 Stat Mod. Both of which were still good. But she couldn’t help but frown a bit. Was this just an exception, or another lesson on just how much more of an advantage a Rare Class like Jaco’s brought?

Putting that aside for now, she looked at what else the Evolution offered beyond just numbers. And yet even for that she was… whelmed. Not overwhelmed by something amazing, not underwhelmed by something terrible. It just looked okay overall.

Shaking her head, Sam decided to go ahead and look at the next one on the list. Maybe her mood was still impacted by the close call with the Minotaur. If Jaco hadn’t basically exploded its arm off, it would have grabbed her. If it had snared her by the head, that monster might have easily squashed it like a grape.

To quickly distract herself from that mental image, she figured that moving on to what the rest of the Evolutions provided might be a good idea.

Spinner of Mana:

A path for Mages who seek flexibility and mastery over the tapestry of Mana itself. Their strength lies not in raw power, but in an ability to shape their magic into any form, eventually limited only by their imagination.

New Class Ability:

Lesser Mana Construct

Upgraded Class Ability:

Minor Mana Weaving to Lesser Mana Weaving

Passive Abilities:

Magical Stability

Stat Bonuses:

+25 Will

Permanent Stat Modifications:

+2 Boost to Will per Level

Sam found herself a bit more interested in this one. The Mana Construct Ability actually did seem quite intriguing, depending on exactly what kind of constructs it meant. Though the Stat gains were still lower than hoped. So sadly, at this point, it seemed like that was just the way things would be.

I should probably just look at the rest, and then think about them all at once. No point in worrying about them one at a time if the next one throws my previous thoughts out the window. Better to consider them all in each other’s context at the end, Sam decided.

When she then looked at the third option, however, that idea just as quickly got thrown out in her confusion.

Elemental Adept (Uncommon):

Uncommon… Sam thought as her pulse began to race.