“Picking a Class can be quite the challenge, since you need to have made up your mind about what you want, as well as know the best way to get there.
Maybe your strengths lie in your skills with numbers, so the [Accountant] or rare [Mathematician] class would look the most appealing. But if you will be working in a business, then such classes might not do any good for helping you with what the business is actually about. How helpful is only being good with numbers to a bakery?
You might think that it would be easier to pick a Class for a combat-oriented role, whether you are hoping to become a soldier, mercenary, or adventurer. Simply choosing [Swordsman] or [Archer] based on what weapons you feel most comfortable should be enough, right? Perhaps when starting out, but what about when your class evolves? Would a [Monster Scout] or [Counter-Duelist] do better in a fight against a dungeon spider that has no sword to counter? How about in an open battlefield against a soldier?
Obtaining knowledge of the best Class to suit your needs is the first step. The second is to learn how to get that Class. The rarest and most powerful of them have all sorts of prerequisites that require a lifetime of dedication to achieve, so it’s best to start early. Or be like those who discovered them and get extremely lucky.”
-Chapter 1 of “Classes and You: Finding your Path through Life”
----------------------------------------
You can’t really expect me to make a choice with just a name. Give me the details! Click asked the voice in their head. It was time for another evolution, and the spider had no intention of picking anything based on instinct alone.
[System query received, producing result…]
[Listing result (1/4): Advanced Class Attributes]
Dungeon Web Spider
Type
Prerequisite
Species
Any “Juvenile Dungeon Spider” subclass
Attribute
Base
Per Level
Health Points
15
1.5
Body
8
1.5
Intellect
5
2
Soul
5
1.5
Skill Name
Description
Venom Gland
Secrete a toxic substance from your mandibles that can harm lesser creatures.
Silk Spinning
Secrete a sticky string that can ensnare weaker creatures.
Web Senses
Instinctively know the identity and position of anything on the web.
The class looked like a slightly upgraded version of the original Juvenile Dungeon Web Spider. A few increased attributes, and a new Skill in Web Senses. Why that wasn’t there for the Juvenile variant, Click didn’t know, but they weren’t interested in losing everything they had just for that.
Next
[Listing result (2/4): Advanced Class Overview]
Dungeon Hunter Spider
Type
Prerequisite
Species
Any “Juvenile Dungeon Spider” subclass
Attribute
Base
Per Level
Health Points
20
3
Body
15
3
Intellect
2
1
Soul
3
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
1.5
Skill Name
Description
Venom Gland
Secrete a toxic substance from your mandibles that can harm lesser creatures.
Silk Spinning
Secrete a sticky string that can ensnare weaker creatures.
Prey Detection
Instinctually sense the location of prey, and its movements.
Same as before, an upgraded version of the Junior variant. And it entirely focused on Body and Health Points, which Click wasn’t particularly interested in. No need to increase either of those attributes if there wasn’t any reason to get hit.
The [Spider Commander] tried to flex one of their legs, but the limb had gone limp. Well, maybe that wasn’t quite the case…
Next
[Listing result (3/4): Advanced Class Overview]
Dungeon Ambush Trapper Spider
Type
Prerequisite
Species
Any “Juvenile Dungeon Spider” subclass
Skill: Venom Gland
> Level 5
Skill: Silk Spinning
> Level 5
Attribute
Base
Per Level
Health Points
15
3
Body
10
2.5
Intellect
3
2
Soul
3
1.5
Skill Name
Description
Venom Gland
Secrete a toxic substance from your mandibles that can harm lesser creatures.
Silk Spinning
Secrete a sticky string that can ensnare weaker creatures.
Web Launch
Hold and throw your webbing.
It was the exact same as with the other evolution choices, but the prerequisites looked a little different. The Skill requirements had gone up from level 1 to level 5. Maybe it was to make sure every aspect of the evolution was being used to some extent. It would keep spiders who didn’t suit the evolution from continuing with it, which sounded like a nice workaround to badly suited instincts.
Click thought back to their own urge to chase bugs down, but shook those feelings away. They didn’t need the System to tell them what they were good at, they had a brain!
Next
[Listing result (4/4): Advanced Class Overview]
Dungeon Spider Commander
Type
Prerequisite
Species
Any “Juvenile Dungeon Spider” subclass
Intelligence
> 20
Skill: Command Subordinates
> 10
Attribute
Base
Per Level
Health Points
10
2
Body
5
1.5
Intellect
10
3
Soul
5
2.5
Skill Name
Description
Venom Gland
Secrete a toxic substance from your mandibles that can harm lesser creatures.
Silk Spinning
Secrete a sticky string that can ensnare weaker creatures.
Command Subordinates
Command subordinate members of your organization. They will follow your will as if it were an instinct.
Observation
Obtain System information about a target.
Was there ever any doubt? Click lifted their mandibles into a facsimile of a smile and made their choice. The prerequisites were quite demanding, but the spider had worked more than hard enough to meet them.
[Evolution choice selected: Juvenile Dungeon Spider Commander]
[Beginning Evolution…]
----------------------------------------
Back in the spiders’ white pillared home, nobody noticed as Click returned from the triumphant hunting trip.
The [Spider Commander] walked over to the nearest of their brethren and waved their arms in front of their eyes. It gave them a dismissive look and walked away. The next few spiders Click tried to interact with all behaved the same way.
Huh? Do any of them not recognize their new leader? They don’t even seem to recognize me as the second in command!
Click ran over to the next spider and began to jump up and down in front of them, even keeping themself in front of it when it tried to turn away. He was definitely getting somewhere, as the spider lifted a leg and-
Shove
Click flew back but caught itself as it landed. Their eyes burned with a blazing rage.
[Command Subordinates]!
The spiders that had previously ignored it all snapped to attention, their limbs flailing as they were pulled over to Click, as if they were mere puppets to the [Spider Commander]’s whims.
Their brethren bowed low, but Click could only see the first row of them. The spider immediately realized the problem.
Click released their control and walked up to the first of their brethren, to finally realize that they didn’t even come up to half of its height. The evolution had shrunk him and nobody believed his feat!
The other spiders gave a baleful look towards Click before slowly turning around and getting back to whatever they were doing beforehand. Click was grateful they didn’t try to take revenge for the embarrassment. But the [Spider Commander] would have to fix this.
Several minutes later, after making sure the area truly was clear of predators, Click came back home with the corpse of the [Alpha Hunter] dragged behind it. They had to find the original site of its death and dig through layers of soil and dung to retrieve it, but it was absolutely worth it.
The other spiders walked over of their own volition as Click climbed on top of the corpse of the tribe’s old leader. Several web spiders from up above also came down, motioning for their other brethren to join them.
Click raised its mandibles and front two arms into the sky. The other spiders did the opposite, lowering the fronts of their bodies down to the ground in deep bows.
It was official now. All hail Click!