Tia gave him an explanation on the situation regarding the other dimension players. They came to their world for three different reasons.
The first was to monopolize rewards. Established clans sent their lower-level members through the rift in order to monopolize early rewards and use that wealth to lay the foundation of their clan. The average level of their members was 15 to 25, putting them way above the natives in terms of power.
The second group were the recruiters. They’re mostly from wealthy clans that also came to Earth to expand their clan by recruiting talented natives. They send their members that they have trained before even getting awakened, making them the strongest force from all the other dimension players that came to Earth.
The last reason was to take refuge. The majority of the other dimension players that came to Earth weren’t even all awakened players. They came to Earth in hopes of living a better life, or just manage to survive.
Tia’s group was part of the last reason. She was from a group of jungle goblins who specialized in crafting, not combat. That made them an easy target for the other races. Tia herself was one of the only three people in group with a combat related class, making them relatively weak even here on Earth.
Hence her offered deal with Syrus. They will help him early on and in exchange, he will protect them in future.
That leads to another vital peace of information Tia gave him. Not everyone was given the option of choosing a “Unique” class. The criteria for awakening with that option was entirely different from the “Good Samaritan act” the standard awakening required. Someone granted the Unique option was chosen by the system to play a specific role. What that role was is a mystery, but there’s no mistake that people with a Unique class tend to become the strongest in their world.
“How did you know I had a Unique class?” Syrus asked.
Tia pointed at Gluttony. “No such unit has been documented to look like that.”
“Unit?”
“Unit is what we call summoned creatures,” Tia answered. “Less of a mouthful.”
Syrus nodded. “Well, I’ll accept your deal.”
“You will?” Tia seemed surprised.
“Did you expect me to refuse?” Syrus raised an eyebrow.
Syrus saw the clear benefits of the deal. The native players have yet to take action, so this would give him a good lead. This also secures a small force in the future that could help him with his goals. Even if they’re weak now, everyone has role to play.
Tia nodded. “I’ve seen how your people react to mine. They see us as something no different from monsters, so I was prepared to offer everything.”
“Everything?”
Tia gestured to herself.
Syrus didn’t know what to say. Although the idea didn’t come to mind, Syrus didn’t dismiss the possibility of people forming those kinds of relations soon. Considering what’s to come, it won’t take long.
“... I’ll keep that in mind,” Syrus said. “What I need right now is mana stones. Preferably higher ranked ones.”
Tia nodded. “We have two high-ranked mana stones left from the ones that we used to fuel the ship we used to get here. Do you require help inside a rift?”
“Sure.”
------
There was one thing Syrus couldn’t confirm from Tia, and that was the term “Chosen”. The only thing she knew was that they were people specifically chosen by the system to play a role. Any more details were a mystery to her as well.
“I’ll handle most of the fighting,” Syrus said. “Only intervene when necessary.”
Tia nodded as they entered a rift. With Tia accompanying him, Syrus didn’t need to sneak in since OD players were allowed to enter restricted areas with rifts freely.
Once they were inside, Syrus summoned Gluttony and checked his stats.
Gluttony Class: Vanguard Stats: Strength: 53 Constitution: 66 Agility: 21 Dexterity: 22
After consuming all those mana stones, Gluttony became significantly stronger compared to when Syrus first saw him. He definitely made the right choice sacrificing raw power for growth potential. Additionally, thanks to high-ranked mana stones from Tia, Gluttony obtained a skill.
Taunting cry – Increase the user’s resistances and aggro all enemies within range.
A skill fit for a tank. “Let’s get started.”
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The environment inside the was a giant cave system and the monsters were giant worms. Thankfully, Tia provided Syrus with a spear and a shield for Gluttony. With how narrow the tunnels were, there wasn’t a need for Gluttony to use his skill yet. But Syrus expected that to change soon.
As for Tia, she had her own sword and shield. She wore leather armor that covered everything but her face and ears.
The process of the hunt revolved around Gluttony holding back the works, while Syrus stabbed them from a distance.
“Can’t Gluttony handle them by himself?” Syrus grumbled. His summon already overwhelmingly high stats compared to him, but Tia insisted that Syrus personally deals most of the damage.
“If you don’t participate in the fight, the experience gained would be lower,” Tia mentioned. “It’s a waste considering units don’t have levels. Please bear with it until you reach the first class progression.”
Syrus nodded. Tia explained to him that the first class progression was at level 10, currently, he was level 8. In the first progression, he’ll gain 10 stat points distributed by the system and potentially a new skill if he had enough Spirit points. The next progression would be at level 25.
As they proceeded deeper into the cave system, Syrus remembered something. “What’s your class?” he asked Tia.
Tia raised her short sword and round shield. “I’m a level 19 swordsman.”
Analysis failed to work on her, so this was the first time Syrus heard a normal class. It made him wonder how strong she was compared to Gluttony. “Can you beat him?” Syrus pointed at Gluttony who was leading the way.
“Currently, it’s possible,” Tia answered. “I have more skills and I’m no stranger to fighting monsters with higher stats than me.”
They arrived at an open area with a muddy floor. This time, there were a significantly higher number of worms present compared to the tunnels were they only encounter one or two at a time.
“I will need to intervene this time,” Tia said, raising her sword and shield.
“No argument here,” Syrus stepped back.
Gluttony took the front and used taunting cry to aggro the worms towards him. They stayed closed to the entrance to avoid being surrounded. Syrus stayed out of the fight, allowing Tia more freedom to deal with the worms.
Using Analysis, Syrus could see that the worms were around level 5 to 8. If they manage to clear this cavern, he would definitely reach level 10.
“HAH!” Tia exclaimed as blue glow surrounded her body.
She charged through the worms swarming Gluttony and began cutting them all down. At the rate she was going, things would end quickly.
------
Ethan cycled through his skills as he cut down the last corrupted python. All the monsters that would appear in the first integration were altered version of animals on Earth.
If the native players knew this, they would have grown faster. But the OD players intentionally hid this information to control the growth of the native players since once the second integration happens, monsters from other dimensions will appear. More challenging monsters for native players to deal with, making them rely on the OD players even more.
Before regressing, Ethan was too weak to defeat the monster in second integration. He was forced to watch as the people he cared about was ripped to shreds by the monsters. But this time, he’ll protect them all.
Ethan began heading back. With the boss monster dead, the rift would close the moment he left.
When stepped out of the rift, he saw a group of soldiers. They were on guard, but they weren’t hostile. Ethan just had to show them his license and he was allowed to pass. It helped that the rift closed right behind him, so they could begin working on clearing the area.
While he was heading to his scooter, he heard one of the soldiers talking on their radio. Another rift had been closed nearby, which confused Ethan since the OD players were intentionally not clearing rifts.
Once he heard the location of the rift, he drove off. It didn’t take him long to find the area, and saw that soldiers were already clearing up. Ethan tried looking for whoever cleared the rift. His eyes landed on a goblin and a guy with short black hair. He seemed to be part Asian considering his facial features.
He looked slightly familiar, but Ethan had yet to acquire an appraisal skill, so he could check his name and level. One thing was certain though, Ethan didn’t remember the man before his regression.
------
“It all went to magic,” Syrus commented, referring to the stats he gained from the first progression. All the stats he got from level up put into Spirit.
“That’s to be expected considering you’re a summoner,” Tia stated. “You’ll need magic to use spells.”
“How does that even work?”
Syrus failed to understand the concept of magic that came with the system. There was no stat for mana, nor did he feel it when summoning Gluttony or even when using Analysis.
“Skills and spells are different,” Tia started as they got into his car. “Skills use your stamina, boosted by your constitution stats, while spells use mana, boosted by the magic stat.”
“How do I learn magic?”
“Studying,” Tia answered. “But first, you need to get a mastery skill.”
Syrus remembered the last part. The question was whether he should learn spells or make another summoned creature focused on magic. But first, he needed to focus on Gluttony. And his newest skill could help with that.
Evil crafter’s guide – grants the user information and requirements on what they plan to create.
What he wanted to make now was gear for Gluttony. To be precise, he wanted to make gear. One that could grow alongside him and is one full set instead of separate gears. He also wanted to make it so the armor could take different forms depending on the user.
The only possible inspiration he could think of was a symbiote inspired suit. The only problem with that was the material. Since Gluttony was made using a free use of his skill, he didn’t know what the skill actually required to function.
“Symbiote armor,” Syrus muttered as he activated Evil crafter’s guide.
Syrus felt his skill activate and scanning his mind for the details of the armor he wanted to build.
Potential material requirement: metal slime cores, parasite core, mimic core
Potential energy cost: 100% stamina, 12% vitality
Looking at the listed requirements, it was clear making the armor won’t be happening anytime soon.
“Same time tomorrow?”
Tia nodded.
Syrus drove off, deciding on making one more stop.