As races go, Lowe thought - a little more than a bell later - it was a remarkably slow one to the Dungeon’s Core.
Almost as soon as Nuroon and Gral were out of sight, the Dungeon appeared to properly instance all of the delvers away from each other in a relatively suspicious manner. It was almost as if it had been hoping for some sort of explosive confrontation between the different parties and, now that had not come to pass, it was sulkily enforcing its proper rules. Lowe wasn’t sure if it was healthy that he was anthropomorphising a Dungeon, but he couldn’t think of many other ways to explain what was going on.
Especially as it had, at the same time, significantly ramped up the number of mobs. There were suddenly so many bad guys dogging their steps that Lowe was very grateful indeed that the worst of them were now benchmarked to his more modest Level 25. After the emotional turmoil of his experiences with the Essence of Silent Thought, he did not think he had many more voluntary incinerations of Level 33s in him. As it was, the combination of him tanking and Karolen supplying the damage was more than enough to deal with the succession of common-or-garden Dungeon bad guys that came their way.
“That’s my fourth level-up,” Preece called out, somewhat sheepishly. Lowe assumed that considering his previous occupation, he felt a bit of a heel passively being power levelled in this way.
“Good for you! Just the two for me,” Karolen said, wiping her gore-stained blade on the corpse of a Level 24 Moleman. “Not to mention an absolute shedload of gold.”
“Careful,” Lowe said, “you’ll start sounding like Gral.”
Karolen shot him a look. “That’s uncalled for.”
Lowe checked his own stat sheet and was pleased to see that he’d hit Level 26 himself. Whilst that wasn’t great news for the rest of the party—the difficulty of the whole Dungeon would tick up a little more as he’d moved up—he felt this would be more than offset by Preece starting to be able to actually help in the battles. So, the going was slow, but as they were making solid gains, he wasn’t too concerned. Lowe sensed they might need every last bit of XP they could gather if they were going to have a chance once they reached the Dungeon Core.
He was pleased for Karolen and Preece, who were talking excitedly about the new Skills their Classes were offering them as they ranked up. Unfortunately for Lowe, there were no extra threshold bonuses for reaching Level 26, so he only had one new Progress Point to play with. He was aware that people spoke about the painfully slow climb from Level 25 to Level 30, which was where all sorts of exciting evolutionary options manifested. That thought gave him another hit of sadness - he wouldn’t be getting any of the traditional Level 30 Class goodies, would he? - but he squashed it down. Lowe recognised that his experiences with the Essence were making him feel more than usually raw about such things.
Without really thinking too much about it, he dropped his Progress Point into Intelligence, bringing it up to 296. He didn’t think he’d get anything especially noteworthy when it hit 300—not like when he Ranked it up at 200—but you never knew. He was just about to close the screen down when the slight change to the description on Roll with the Punches caught his eye.
Name: Jana Lowe
Level: 26
Class: ***Removed***
Primary Attributes:
- Strength: 120
- Dexterity: 90
- Intelligence: 296 (+30)
- Wisdom: 238 (+20)
- Charisma: 60
- Constitution: 75
Secondary Attributes:
- Perception: 95 (+15)
- Willpower: 99 (+25)
- Luck: 63 (+5)
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Health Points (HP): 1150 - Regeneration Rate: 2 HP/min (natural); 15 HP/sec (via *Roll with the Punches*)
Mana Points (MP): 400 - Regeneration Rate: 1 MP/min (natural); 2 MP/min when Mana falls below 10%
Stamina Points (SP): 550 - Regeneration Rate: 5 SP/min
Skills:
1. *Roll with the Punches* (Passive) - Rare - Level 50 (Rank-Up Available?)
Converts 10 MP to heal 15 HP per second.
- Activation depletes 5% of the maximum mana pool.
- Cooldown: None.
2. *Grid View* (Active) - Rare - Level 43
Records events with perfect recall of details.
- Mana Cost: 50% of total MP.
- Cooldown: None.
3. *Slugger* (Active) - Rare - Level 42
Next melee attack deals triple damage.
- Cooldown: 10 minutes.
4. *Medic!* (Active) - Rare - Level 15
Heal a companion at a 2:1 MP to HP ratio.
- Cooldown: None.
5. *Mental Fortress* (Passive) - Legendary - Level 50 (Rank Up Rejected)
Grants heightened resistance to mental manipulation and emotional attacks.
- Mana Cost: 10% MP cost each successful defence
*** Skill slots 4 and upwards are blocked as per Council decree ***
His most overused Skill had reached Level 50—which was hardly surprising considering he was tanking all sorts of crap in this Dungeon—but it seemed like he was being offered an opportunity to rank it up, which was a surprise. As both Medic! and Mental Fortress had evolved directly from that Skill, he had not really anticipated there could be anywhere else for it to go. To have gained two new Skills—especially considering his Skill slots were functionally blocked—felt like a pretty OP reward already.
He mentally pressed down on the Skill, and nothing happened. It was as he had thought; it must be a leftover artefact from his Class. He probably should have been able to evolve the Skill when it hit Level 50, but Classtration had removed—as with so many things—that possibility. Well, you didn’t miss that you’d never had.
“Erm, Lowe. Everything okay?” Karolen’s voice was strained, surprising him.
“Yes, why?” he said, turning to face her.
Both she and Preece were staring at him, eyes wide, but it was Preece who cleared his throat and tried to answer.
“You’re, erm, I don’t really know how to say this . . .”
“What?”
“You’re glowing,” Karolen supplied. “Like properly flashing on and off. Lighthouse-style.”
Lowe sighed and re-opened his stat sheet. And yes, as he had feared, there was a new message.
<<<< Restriction Breaker Title active. Skill: Roll with the Punches Rank-Up available. Do you wish to proceed?>>>>
“Hang on. I think I’ve ranked something up. Give me a moment. I just need to choose an option for it and it’ll fade. This has happened before. It’s not a problem.”
“I don’t glow like that when I rank up,” Preece murmured to Karolen. “You?”
“Not that anyone has mentioned. I think it might have come up.”
“And how can he rank-up his Skills anyway? Isn’t he supposed to be properly locked down, or something like that? That’s what Classtration means, isn’t it? That he cannot progress anymore.”
Karolen gave Lowe a long look. What Preece had said was right. After Arebella had made clear that she had no intention of turning her back on Lowe after his punishment at the hands of the Council, Karolen had looked into what her friend could expect from the man she seemed so determined to tie her wagon to. Available information on the Classless wasn’t high, but all of it was pretty consistent on one point. They weren’t long for this world. Without many legal means to level-up their Skills, and without the capacity to get any more, it was just a matter of time before the fundamental order of Soar applied itself. Dog eats dog, and the canine smorgasbord was especially tasty where the weak were concerned.
As a Classless Level 20, she’d given Lowe a month at best. And had told Arebella much the same. The fact he was not only alive and kicking but still able to progress through the levels was not just extraordinary, it pretty much defied Karolen’s way of looking at the world.
“You okay?” Preece said. “You have the weirdest look on your face. What’s up?”
Karolen let out a slow breath, weighing her words. “You ever have the feeling everything you think about how things work might be wrong?”
Preece snorted. “I’m a
Karolen half-smiled, though her thoughts were elsewhere. She had never expected this outcome—Lowe, of all people, defying the odds, pushing back against a system designed to crush him. “I did some digging, you know,” she muttered, her voice dropping. “On the Classless.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Lowe shouldn’t have lasted this long. None of them do. The system’s not built for them. It’s built to chew them up.”
Preece raised an eyebrow. “And yet, here he is. Still kicking. I think you might need to adjust your assumptions.”
“Maybe,” she replied, her tone softer than before. But even as she said it, her mind was racing. What the hell is going on with him?
They went back to watching Lowe attempt to choose a Rank-Up option that would finally diffuse his flashing light.