Jenny heard the others voices as if in a daze.
“Pretty great right…”
“…Vitality is always useful.”
“…Not entirely unprecedented, those who killed powerful beasts…”
A shake of her shoulder jolted her from her introspection, aches flaring now the adrenaline had faded.
“Jenny you good?” Balrem asked from beside her, the general hubbub faded as Jenny realised the others were now looking at her too.
“Yeah, sorry. Just trying to take it all in. I take it you all got the bonus of two to vitality?”
A brief chorus of affirmatives rang out, as well as comments about new skills or levels.
Raising a hand to stop the comments Jenny added, “Anyone else get the offer to change their affinity?”
The exclamations of surprise and deluge of follow up questions were cut through by Magus Jacintha’s sharp order, “Let the girl speak! Can ye not see she cannae get a word in? Now dear, if you’re willin’ would ya tell us exactly what the system said ta ya?”
Pulling herself a little straighter she tried to imagine this was a regular report, “Received the safe room message on entry as well as a level up, the bonus vitality from being a member of the party to defeat… however you pronounce that and had my [block] skill upgrade…”
“Well, no guesses how she earned that!” Balrem’s comment and harder than was currently pleasant pat on the back earned a few chuckles and a glare from Jacintha.
“Then it said additional skills were available but incompatible with my dark affinity.” Jenny shut up almost instantly, it was one thing to reveal details about your class to a partner or commander but some of these people she barely knew, including the [healer] whose complexion seemed to be turning grey as he worked on the unconscious mage.
“Don’t worry, no one here will betray your trust,” Sarge said seeing her hesitate, as much threat as statement as his eyes circled the room.
Somewhat reassured Jenny continued, “I figured this meant I’d maybe just have options for level up and I should check them out at the level 15 break point rather than 20 like I intended.” The general round of nods emboldened her but she didn’t miss the sharp gleam in Jacintha’s eye, “But then I got asked if I wanted to change to [Shield Guard](Undeath) while staying at my current level.” Jenny figured there was no need to give away her exact level to everyone even with Sarge’s comment.
“Ye would stay at yer current level. Yer sure?” Jacintha cut in, holding up her wrinkled hands as if to hold back the tide of comments from the others.
“Yes, the level was stated. It also came with a warning it wasn’t reversible though.”
Jacintha waved her hand, “That’s not tha’ unusual, most 'ill get the same warnin’ on gettin’ a new class at 20 since ye cannae dump a class once ye start levelin’ another. But changin’ affinity? I never heard of a way te do tha’ while keepin’ yer level. I figured it must be a class reset but now ye could start with a secondary affinity.”
“It’s definitely unusual,” Trafin commented, “Though it sounds like if you take it, you’ll be offered more skills which seems like a bonus, though you’ll likely lose any affinity-based skills you have.”
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“Or they’ll transform to fit the new affinity,” Vidan supplied.
“Seems like a no brainer to me,” Balrem offered knowing that unlike Farad who had opted to try to fill out his 8 skill slots as quickly as possible and had even had to drop quite a few over the years, she had instead preferred to focus on trying to upgrade or transform the skills she had and that she’d never managed to gain any that required her dark affinity.
“Is undeath even a good affinity for a guard though? Dark always felt a little sketchier than I liked, but undeath?”
“Actually, yes it’s quite effective,” Sarge immediately supplied to Jenny’s surprise. He sighed, “While recent history has made the undead particularly distasteful to most in the guard, I knew a guardsman in the past who had an undeath attuned class that was quite effective. It seemed to revolve around an ability that would allow him to keep fighting for a while when by all accounts he should have died. Obviously, this is a tactic that is much more viable when you have allies capable of healing nearby.”
The [healer] who seemed to be on the verge of passing out, let out a groan.
“Ye might also be able te manage somethin’ a bit like the effect Lydia was under, though tha’ might be more likely fer undeath mages.”
“I guess those do sound pretty useful…”
“Surely fierce Jenny isn’t worried about what others might think? Even if you stop being dark and mysterious, I’m sure you’ll still be able to raise plenty of weapons.” Farad said with an eyebrow wiggle that Jenny was fairly sure was intended as comic, though with Farad one could never be entirely sure.
Between bursts of laughter at his utter ridiculousness Jenny responded, “Oh gods… you kept [Flirting] over [block]… and that’s what you come up with!”
Still, she had to admit it had broken the tension she’d been feeling and she realised she had been worried about what others would think. If a goof like Farad was a well-respected member of the guard, she wasn’t going to let an ominous affinity stand in her way. Even Sarge had said it could be effective.
You have changed your class to [Shield Guard](Undeath){13}!
Congratulations you have gained the skill [Undying Resolve](Undeath)
Congratulations Exousia was pleased with your offering and your actions:
You have gained the skill [Staunch Bleeding](Undeath)
“Well, it looks like the lass has made a decision and I’m sure I don’ have te remind any of ye tha’ nothin’ she said leaves the room,” Jacintha levelled an intimidating gaze round the group only ignored by the [healer] who was chugging a precious mana tonic as he continued his work. “But now we all have a decision te make, do we press on?” Raising a gnarled hand to stop the outbursts she continued, “The plan was always te send a team te the bottom of the dungeon, lord’s orders; and that’s only goin’ te get harder.”
Sarge nodded and Jenny noticed he seemed unsurprised by the news, “This is about as strong a team as we could put together, though we’re not all in the best shape right now.”
“I can maybe get her back on her feet, but I’m going to be dead weight after that and the injuries I fixed won’t stand up to immediate exertion. I got everyone fit to walk out not to go another round.”
“We’re here anyway, and we all made the offering at the new altar at the start so we might as well have a few people take a look at least” Farad offered with the expected head nod from Balrem.
Trafin sighed from beside the chest that he was warily inspecting and started to count off on his fingers, “First we don’t know that whatever happened to Lydia will save us because we made an offering, we don’t even know what minor god the altar is for. Secondly just taking a look is how the group Lydia was with got into this predicament. Thirdly if we all get incapacitated who are they going to risk to save us and will they be able to get onto the floor with the floor limit even if a group is sent. Finally, while I understand it’s important, we don’t have to do it today. Now we know what that creature can do we can come back tomorrow loaded with fire and purity effects and likely get to this point without totally exhausting our [healer]. Better to do it right than rush.”
“A beastkin caravan arrived this morning.”
“Damn.”