Their decision to leave the Fungi Rift alone for now was met with a mixed response from the folks in the zone. Some were in complete agreement, while others were entirely against the idea of leaving a potential threat so close to home. Bernard found he didn't much care what everyone else thought. Maybe it was because he had been the one that had to go in, and he had been the one that was in the middle of the explosive mushrooms that went off. All he was concerned with was his level. Should I take Archer? Or should I just keep going with Warden? I won't get another feat for Warden next level, but if I wait I won't get a feat for Warden until I'm level ten.

Assuming I take two levels of Warden after a level of Archer. I wonder how many people just take the first level of a new class every time they level. Would each class give a first level feat? Actually, I should ask around about that. He wandered over to a group of people that had weapons and, he suspected, classes. "Hey, I have a question for everyone," he started, "this might be an invasion of privacy, but did everyone get a first level feat? I'm trying to figure out how all this stuff works."

A bearded man Bernard hadn't been introduced to yet shook his head. "I got one, but so far it seems like only physical classes get feats right away. The levels vary too, I got one at one and four." He pointed to a couple of people. "Jim over there got one at two and five. Carol didn't get one until three, but she's a magic user." He shrugged. "Oh, I'm Rodney, by the way." he stuck his hand out to shake.

Bernard took it. "Bernard. So how many people have we gotten that info from? Does the rarity of the class affect it? And how many people do we have now?"

"Including the natives? Something like sixty or seventy. More keep trickling in every day. We're not sure about the rarity though, and we don't have nearly enough people to work out solid answers, but every little bit helps. You should probably spend more time around here, get to know people. We can't have a leader that doesn't know what's going on."

Bernard snorted, he had considered it initially but didn't really see the value in it anymore. It was a quick turnaround he supposed, but so long as people didn't start clearcutting his forest he ultimately didn't care who was in charge. "Leader. Why would I want to be in charge of things? We don't have money, so I wouldn't be getting paid for all that extra work, and it would only take up time I could be using to get stronger."

Rodney grinned. "It don't matter if you want it or not, them natives listen to you more than anyone else, and you're the strongest person here. Or at least, widely recognized as the strongest. We'd have to have a tournament or something to figure out the actual strongest. I doubt anyone could deal with your armor and weapon though. Poison is a bitch and a half. It's not like many of the folk here want to be bossed around anyway. Your role as the boss amounts to telling everyone what you want done, and being the guy we point problems at for now."

"What if I told you I want a palace?" Bernard shot back.

"We'd tell you to suck eggs. When I said 'telling everyone what you want done' I didn't say we would do it. If it ain't sensible, we won't bother with it. You insisting on tree houses so as to not interfere with the folks with nature classes makes sense, so we've been working to make it happen. You're just going to be the guy that sets those kinds of goals."

Bernard gave the man an appraising look. "You are remarkably blunt about all this. How come this is the first time I'm hearing about it?"

"Because you're always out running around. Which is fine, we're going to need strong people to protect this place. Especially if more of these Rifts pop up. Speaking of which, we got word about another one off that way a ways." He pointed over his shoulder. It was pretty close to the opposite direction of the Shroom Rift. "Might want to check that one out soon. The people that reported it showed up covered in blood and screaming about gorilla crabs or something like that. When they calmed down they said they saw one come out of a Rift.

"Well, they described it as a black tear in the world, but we know that's a Rift."

Bernard sighed. "Alright, I'll get a group together to check it out in the morning."

"Oh, about that, you should really get a permanent team together. Find some people whose abilities complement your own and work with them all the time. We have enough classers that it should be possible to do now."

"Do we actually have anyone that still doesn't have a class?"

"A few, stubborn gits the lot of them, but we've been using that word for the people with combat classes lately. As much as we'll probably need 'em later, the people without the ability to fight just aren't that useful right now. Except the Brewmaster guy. He's been working on the local booze since he got here yesterday, and I have high hopes for whatever he manages to produce."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Bernard managed to part ways with Rodney after another few minutes of talking about which non-combat classes would be useful. He found a quiet, out of the way area to level. During the discussion with Rodney he ultimately decided to continue with Warden for now. He promised himself he would revisit changing his class at level ten, but with the option to build a team that could fill the gaps in his abilities he didn't have an immediate need for a ranged attack. If anything he needed a shield.

Congratulations! You have reached level eight in your class, Arboreal Warden!

Nothing else came up, as expected. Level ten and up were big question marks, because he had no idea if Aegis kept to the same pattern or if it changed at certain levels and ten seemed like a likely break point. A yawn interrupted his train of thought. He would leave figuring out the ins and outs of Aegis to Tomorrow-Bernard, Right-now-Bernard was going to find somewhere to sleep.

*****

Much to Bernard's consternation, Henry ended up in his team. He refused to call the organized groups of people that were forming to explore the area more safely 'parties.' As valuable as a healer could be, most of the other adults flat-out refused to allow a child to accompany them on jaunts through a monster infested jungle. It didn't matter that the kid was a better combatant than most of them as well as a healer.

That left Bernard stuck though. He knew all too well that if nobody let Henry go with them the kid would run off on his own. So the only way to keep him from recklessly risking his life was to let him tag along. On dangerous, life threatening trips. Other than Henry, it was Margaret, Leo, and Peytah. Bernard was genuinely surprised at Leo's willingness to continue going on these dangerous outings and couldn't stop him from asking about it. The answer was almost painfully nerdy.

"Are you kidding? I need to get stronger! I have the opportunity of a lifetime here! I could be the first person to study truly alien worlds!" He continued for a while, but Bernard was unable to follow the rest as the man rambled about strata, fossils, and a number of other things he didn't understand.

They were on their way to the second Rift. This one was closer, and they left after a hearty breakfast of mixed vegetables he didn't know the name of. The area had been cleared after the survivors reported the attack and Rift, so their trip was mostly uneventful. Mostly, because there were a few voidlings that either spawned nearby or wandered in, and Bernard forced a sidetrack to deal with them. It got Henry and Peytah a level though, so nobody complained.

When they reached the Rift, they were just in time to see one of the 'gorilla-crab' monsters come out of it. It was a good five feet tall, and easily over four hundred pounds. It thumped its chest like a gorilla when it saw them, but instead of the meaty impact of fists they heard the loud clack of chitin hitting chitin. It was almost like a junebug hitting your windshield at seventy miles an hour, only louder. Its face was hairy and ape-like and as best they could see the only shell pieces it had was the claws and chest.

"Probably so it doesn't damage itself with that threat display." Leo whispered to them.

"I thought you were a geologist."

"I am, but animals are interesting too."

"I'm only interested in how quickly that one dies."

"Boys." Margaret interrupted. "Focus." She shot whips of razor-edged water at it just as it was finishing its chest pounding. She managed to cause deep lacerations on its arms and legs, but only scratched the chitin where she hit it.

"I really, really, hate armored enemies." Bernard grumbled as he moved to intercept the infuriated beast's charge. "And I think I really need to get a shield."

A claw skipped off his armor, but hit hard enough to wind him and bruise his arm and ribs. "Oof, this thing hits like a truck." Bernard grunted as he bashed it with Thistle.

"Been hit by many trucks, old man?" Henry asked as he drove his fist into the back of the monster's head. "It would explain why you're so ugly."

"New plan, we feed the kid to the crabilla."

"That is a horrible name." Leo said with a groan. He wasn't doing much, and Margaret had stopped after her initial attack. Which was the plan of course, but it still somehow got on Bernard's nerves. He knew that they were saving their energy for the Rift itself, but having someone stand back and watch you fight to the death with a monster was more frustrating than he realized.

"Well nobody else named it, so that's what we're calling it now."

The fight dragged on far longer than Bernard anticipated. The crabilla was incredibly harder to put down than anything else they fought so far. It ignored the injuries piling up long after they looked like they should be fatal, and seemed completely immune to Thistle's poison. By the time it finally ended, Bernard felt like he had just spent an hour inside a toddler's rattle. Or a maraca. It hadn't managed to get through his armor, but each time it hit him it nearly sent him sprawling.

Congratulations! Your group has slain a level 13 voidling!

"That was way more work than it should have been." Bernard said. He sprawled out on the ground to catch his breath.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad, I didn't even break a sweat." Margaret said with a deceptively sweet smile. "Are you ready to go?" She hefted her coil of rope in Bernard's direction.

"Why did I agree to let you stay on my team again?"

"Because I'm pretty and useful."