Maybe Esperanza exaggerated a little bit when she thought that none of her class choices were particularly better than the others.
Or rather, there was one class choice in particular that she felt that she would never have taken unless she had taken leave of her mind.
[Voracious Maw of Endless Hunger]
Be what your instincts had always called for, be the maw that devours all. All that exists, exists only to be devoured by yours truly.
Gain +80 Body -40 Mind +10 Soul upon Evolution
Gain +15 Strength +5 Dexterity +10 Constitution -6 Sanity per level
Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level
Gain [Soul-Consuming Voracious Bite] Skill upon Evolution
Gain [Endless Hunger] General Skill upon Evolution
Do you want to become a [Voracious Maw of Endless Hunger]? Yes/No
The class was self-explanatory, and was clearly an upgraded version of the bestial path she had been offered back at the second tier, complete with the sizable hit to the Mind stat. Esperanza thought that she would have never taken such a class, unless it was under extreme circumstances where such a class was the only way out of an existential threat to her.
Given the fact that she has [Respawn], basically never.
She quietly shook her head even as she mentally scratched off the class out of her list of choices. Given the pattern, she might have similar classes on offer even on her higher tiers as well, it would seem, as the source of the class was her very own inhuman monstrosity of a new body. It was not the worst thing, though the fact that her class choices were effectively reduced to four was a touch annoying.
Since it was her second time around, she had not bothered to consult Oldies about the class choices. She knew that Oldies would simply tell her to choose what she felt was right. For a bunch of possibly eldritch gods of chaos that desired to end the world, they were quite a stickler for free will and making one’s own choices, to say the least.
Besides, from the other choices she had, chances were that she would consult them after she made her choice to ask about her new skills instead anyway.
The second choice on her list was something more interesting, to say the least.
[Oracle of Forbidden Deities]
One who speaks for those long forgotten and forbidden by most of the world, its mouthpiece in the mortal realm. Speak the Words of Power with the blessing of the Old Ones!
Gain +10 Body +15 Mind +25 Soul upon Evolution
Gain +5 Constitution +10 Wisdom +10 Willpower +5 Intuition -10 Sanity per level
Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level
Gain [Word of Power: Silence] Skill upon Evolution
Gain [To Speak With Power] General Skill upon Evolution
Do you want to become a [Oracle of Forbidden Deities]? Yes/No
For the time being, Esperanza chalked up the second class she had on her list with a firm maybe. The class sounded like it would depend on Oldies’ power quite a bit, being their mouthpiece and all that. She wasn’t sure if she liked that entirely, but it was at least not as revolting a thought as the bestial option before it, to say the least.
The stats offered by the class definitely leaned more towards the Soul, which was what she was already rather focused on, so that was a definite plus. The skills seemed to be of the more magical-ish sort. Probably something like forcing those that heard the word to obey it if she were to guess? Hopefully it had some way to differentiate between friend and foe or those could be awkward.
Esperanza personally found the next option on the list more… intriguing compared to the first and second.
[Chronicler of Departed Souls]
Death is not the End, but just another Beginning. Chronicle the lives of the departed, so that their lives would be remembered for an Eternity, that they may continue to exist beyond Death.
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Gain +10 Mind +40 Soul upon Evolution
Gain +5 Intelligence +5 Wisdom +15 Willpower +10 Intuition -5 Sanity per level
Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level
Gain [Soul Manifestation] Skill upon Evolution
Gain [Soul Sense] General Skill upon Evolution
Do you want to become a [Chronicler of Departed Souls]? Yes/No
It did not take a genius to put two and two together to see that the class was clearly one that synergizes with her [Soul Storage] ability. She was uncertain on the scale of what the class offered, however. Was [Soul Manifestation] something that would allow her to bring back the dead to the physical world? To manifest them to a new body or maybe possess a dead body? Or was it something that just allowed her to maybe converse with them instead? It could likely go either way, or somewhere in the middle.
As for the class itself, it did not seem particularly suited for direct combat – but then again, so far none of Esperanza’s classes seem to be optimized in that direction anyway – and instead looked and sounded like something she’d peg for a supporting role instead. Her own second tier class had also leaned in that direction, though Esperanza managed to hold her own in combat so far simply because her body was quite useful for that purpose and that she started with a sizable lead on it.
Then again, Dali and Gordy had grown in power – and size – rather noticeably as they gained levels, so in an indirect way Esperanza was already more than pulling her weight in actual combat, since the two could be considered as part of her capabilities. Even so, some small part of her does wish that she could take an even more active and domineering role in the fighting they would inevitably have to go through in their future.
Which was just about what the next class offered, as far as she could tell.
[Nightmare Without Form]
Embrace the fluidity of your form, liberate your body from the shackles of fixed forms. Be a Nightmare given Form, yet without a Form to call its Own.
Gain +40 Body +5 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution
Gain +10 Strength +15 Dexterity +5 Constitution +5 Perception +5 Intuition per level
Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level
Gain [A Form, Yet Without A Form] Skill upon Evolution
Gain [Extreme Shapeshifting] General Skill upon Evolution
Do you want to become a [Nightmare Without Form]? Yes/No
It was obvious that the class was a physical combat class that clearly evolved around more extreme forms of shapeshifting from what she could see of its description. The Body focus along with the names of the skills choosing the class would grant certainly hinted heavily on that, though she was not too certain about how the class emphasized formlessness so heavily.
Esperanza quite liked being able to look at least somewhat human again as she was, so she wasn’t sure she’d enjoy being a mostly amorphous, shapeless thing like how she was in her first tier again, as that was what the class seemed to hint at. The bit about “without a form to call its own” was what made her worry in particular, as the class descriptions had been rather apt so far, as far as she could tell.
Those worries made Esperanza temporarily strike off the class as well, at least unless she decided otherwise later on. The previous two soul-based classes looked more attractive to her compared to this one, at least. Of course, she wouldn’t make her decision without taking a good look at the last available class first.
[Arcane Abomination]
Most of those who walked the part of the Arcane learned to wield it. You are not one of those. You are the Arcane made Manifest, your very existence a paradox that should not have ever existed, both a cause and effect of the decay of the world around you.
Gain +50 Mind upon Evolution
Gain +20 Intelligence +10 Perception +10 Wisdom per level
Gain +4 Mind per level
Warning: All Body and Soul stats will be converted and assimilated into the Mind stat.
Gain [Elemental Force] Skill upon Evolution
Gain [Extreme Mana Manipulation] General Skill upon Evolution
Do you want to become a [Arcane Abomination]? Yes/No
The final class on offer was… rather unexpected.
In some ways, it was most likely at the very pinnacle of Mind-based classes that Esperanza could get on the third tier. It was rather extreme in many other ways, though, like how it would convert and assimilate all her other stats into Mind stats, and that it would likely change her into some sort of arcane being rather than whatever she was right now.
That said, the final part of the class description set off many warning bells in her mind. The system directly warned her that it would turn her into what was basically a part of the world’s decay, one that would further that decay. While Oldies did ask for her to destroy the world, she strongly doubted that they meant for her to do it in this manner.
Besides, there was another, more immediate worry than that. If she were to turn into some sort of source of decay that was so strong it would even spread the world’s decay further, what would happen to the children with her? Or to Ani and the other warriors who had volunteered to help her out? Even the children left behind in Agur-Bas, given some time? It was something that made her decisively nope out from even thinking about choosing the class, even if it looked like a very powerful one.
Of course, that narrowed her choices down to three classes. [Nightmare Without Form], which she was at best ambivalent towards, as well as [Chronicler of Departed Souls] and [Oracle of Forbidden Deities]. This time around, it was not as easy a choice as back in her second tier, where one class had an obviously higher grade than the others.
Quality-wise, the three classes she was choosing from were equal to one another, just with different focus. Her own build was already leaning heavily towards the Soul, so [Chronicler of Departed Souls] and [Oracle of Forbidden Deities] would have been the natural choice, though the idea of being more capable of engaging in physical combat does appeal to her still.
Even amongst the two soul-based classes, she was undecided. The two classes both had their own merits and demerits to her mind, and with both being of equal power, it was difficult to pick between the two of them.
On the one hand, the [Oracle of Forbidden Deities] seemed like it would offer her more direct options, but at the cost of a greater reliance upon Oldies, which could be either a good or bad thing, depending on how one looked at it. While Oldies had been up front and honest with her as far as she could tell so far, the way the class description clearly put her into a subordinate position to them didn’t really jive with her all that much.
There was a difference between working together and being a subordinate to another, after all.
In the end, it came down to whether Esperanza found it to be an acceptable price for more direct ways to influence things or not. It was a question that only she herself could answer in the end, so she wracked her brain thinking about it even while she absent-mindedly ate dinner together with the elated Progenies who were still comparing their new classes with each other as they ate.
None of them interrupted her thoughts by talking to her. They respected her – some part due to how they still see her as someone to be worshiped as a messenger from their deities, while also because she had personally helped them in their time of need – too much for that, and she was grateful for the quiet she was afforded.
In the end, that was what helped her make up her mind, as she let out a sigh and decisively made her choice, come what may.