Back at the boarding house once more, Vee dropped his bags and flopped onto his bed, earning a tut-tut from his mother and less affectionate words from Edukaiser. Vee let them both wash over him, rolling onto his back and closing his eyes while savoring the sweet relief spreading through his limbs. Judging by the dull ache that remained, he’d definitely be sore tomorrow – there was no doubt of that – but he was confident that at the very least he wouldn’t have to waste another day shopping.
Eventually, Emma decided that Vee’s room was as clean as it was going to be for the time being, and she brewed a pot of coffee to enjoy while her and Vee talked. Edukaiser and Alforde sat down in a far corner to do the same, and Reginald occupied himself as he often did: staring wistfully through the window at the moons above.
Vee’s mother sat down at the table and pulled out a small sketch pad and pen. Resting her head on her hand – maybe all the shopping had taken more out of her than Vee had originally thought – she alternated her attention between dainty sips of her coffee and quick scribbles that were better looking than anything Vee could have ever produced even if he’d spent a year on nothing else.
The [Dungeon Master] recognized several of the shops they’d visited, and a few of the more memorable faces they’d encountered out in the city, and she had nearly a dozen done by the time Vee got up to join her.
“This is a fascinating city,” Emma said, adding details to her sketch of an elkin beggar sitting outside one of a dilapidated and abandoned shop. The haunting ache in the poor man’s eyes had been strong enough for Vee to look away out of habit, but Emma’s pen captured it so perfectly that the young man had no doubt his mother had stared at it for quite some time. “There’s so much old beauty, and so much present pain.”
She paused, putting the final touches on her sketches and moving to another. This one was markedly happier: a salamander mother leading her three children in a straight line, each of them smiling and carrying a small toy.
“I did some reading in the carriage while we traveled,” Emma said. “And I think I understand why you chose to come here of all places. It was the ghosts, right? I don’t have your affinity for the ethereal, son, but I can imagine such a wealth of material, a place where the ghosts of the pasts must be strong, would have been a boon for a [Ghost Maestro] like yourself.”
Vee smiled and shook his head. “I wish I’d had the foresight to plan something like that. I ended up here by pure chance. After father kicked…after I left home I wanted to get as far away from Bardis as I could for the cheapest price. Oar’s Crest happened to fit those requirements. I knew nothing about the ghosts until after we arrived.”
“So tell me, son. What’s happened to you these past few months? Why in Gawain’s name did you decide to open a dungeon? You were never interested in dungeon sports back home.”
“It just kind of happened,” Vee said, getting up to pour himself a cup of coffee. It was later than he would have normally chosen such a drink, but the fact that his mother had made an entire pot made it clear that his mother expected them to talk for a long time.
That was fine, Vee had wanted to do that anyways.
Before sitting back down, Vee took a test sip of his drink and grimaced; his mother had always taken her coffee far too strongly for his tastes. Reaching for the sugar, Vee added two heaping spoonfuls and a third smaller one, stirring vigorously before trying another sip.
Much better, he thought with a sigh, returning to the table. His mother didn’t say anything, choosing instead to add a human shopkeeper with thick glasses and stooped shoulders to her picture of the happy salamander family.
“I really didn’t know what I was going to do when I got here,” Vee said. “I’d hoped in the carriage that coming to a new place would Invigorate or inspire me, give me a clear cut path to follow. Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen, but I thought the ghosts in the city were interesting. Especially since the locals were all so scared of them.”
He snorted. “Would you actually believe that my first instinct was to think that Alforde and I might find some work as adventurers?”
Emma laughed. “You’re not the adventurer type.”
“Right, but even if I had been I couldn't afford the Guild’s entry fee. I only took a small bag of silver fleurs with me, and I lost most of them playing cards with a [Bandit] in training.”
His mother’s eyes flashed, and Vee held up a hand. “It’s fine. He was actually a pretty nice guy and it wasn’t like I had a ton of expenses. Sculla, the ogre who owns this building is quite accommodating. Anyways, while I was at the guild hall, I saw a newspaper article about a huge payout for some celebrity adventurer. That was when I got the idea to try opening a dungeon.”
----------------------------------------
The night ended up being late indeed. Following the tale of Crestheart’s founding, Vee told his mother all about the things he’d done and learned as a [Dungeon Master] while Emma talked about people back in Bardis and the news there.
When asked about, the most interesting tidbit to Vee by far was the ongoing trouble caused by Industrious Ace, a [Phantom Thief] with a habit of stealing Unique //artifacts// from wealthy citizens and making fools out of the [Lawkeepers] who tried to catch him.
“Your brother thinks the whole situation is hilarious,” Emma said, shaking her head.
“I could see that. How is Emory doing otherwise?’
“He’s the same as ever. Has a new girlfriend every week, it seems. Sometimes two. When he’s not out buying lavish gifts for them or finishing a project for your father, he spends his time at the theater or at one of the museums where he’s on the board of trustees.”
“I see. That’s good. I’m glad he’s doing well.”
Not wanting to spoil the mood, which was rather warm and cozy, neither Vee nor his mother mentioned Vee’s father until it was nearly time for Emma to leave, after the woman had hugged her son goodnight.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“I have something for you,” she said, reaching into her purse and drawing out a letter. "It’s from your father.”
Vee took the letter carefully. If his mother noticed the slight tremor in his hands as he did so, she didn’t mention it.
“There’s no pressure to read it anytime soon,” Emma counseled gently, reaching out and resting her hand on Vee’s shoulder. “I don’t think he was expecting a response. However, if you decide that you’d like to write one, I’d be happy to bring it back with me.”
Vee nodded, staring down at the letter like it was a box full of hungry snakes.
“How much longer are you going to be in Oar’s Crest, mother?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Emma said. “No less than a few days, but no more than a week I think."
She smiled. "I miss having a proper studio to work in. Why do you ask?”
“This is going to sound silly, but there’s something I want to do before reading this letter,” Vee said. "It might take a day or two."
“What’s that?”
Vee took a long breath and squared his shoulders before meeting her eyes.
“I’m going to upgrade my primary class to [Ghost Smith].”
Vee’s mother let out a joyful gasp and grabbed her son in a tight hug once more.
“That’s wonderful news, Victorissimo. Your father will be so happy to hear that.”
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With Emma and Edukaiser gone, Vee sat down at the table once again and set the letter down in front of him. He didn’t yet have the courage to open it, but wanted it close by in case that changed.
Reginald, having finished his pondering of the sky for the night, turned around and said, “Going to do the upgrade tomorrow, huh boss?”
“I’m actually thinking about starting it now,” Vee said, rubbing his eyes. The coffee had worked its magic on him, hiding his fatigue even though the [Dungeon Master] knew it hadn’t gone away in truth. “It’s not like there’s any real benefit to waiting more.”
“That’s true,” Alforde said. “Plus, if you end up having side effects you can just stay in bed all day tomorrow if you go ahead and do it now.”
That was true too, and like that the decision was made.
Like many things, the process of upgrading a class was somewhat specific to the class in question. Some changes – like Alforde becoming a [Hammer Specialist] – required nothing more than levels, happening automatically. Such upgrades were generally considered “class evolutions”, since they didn’t really change in terms of how they worked or the skills they conferred.
Other classes, the so-called “Quest Activateds”, required a classholder to fulfill a condition – or more commonly, an irritatingly long series of conditions – in order to unlock their upgrade. These were usually gathering or hunting type classes, and the conditions were often things like fetching flowers or hunting certain types of monsters.
Others still required the use of specific artifacts, consumables, or locations. Piper’s priestesses, the [Sisters of the Plate] were one such group. Once "blessed" by their [Abbess] via a set of // Redemptbrass Knuckles//, they upgraded from [Initiates of the Plate] by spending one night in meditative prayer inside a temple’s sanctuary.
Similarly, there were plenty of classes – many with a martial arts focus – that required the classholder to take dozens of dubiously made and quite possibly toxic pills to upgrade from one class to the next.
Thankfully, Vee’s [Ghost Maestro] class required no such efforts. Instead, all he had to do was close his eyes, access his soul’s mirror, and find the upgrade prompt next to [G-h-o-s-t M-a-e-s-t-r-o?].
It felt a little bit like cheating, Vee thought as he confirmed that he wanted to upgrade his class.
Through his bonds to Alforde, Reginald, and his orchestra, Vee felt twenty four pangs of concern as the process started. He did his best to respond with a calm that he desperately wished he felt in truth. His stomach felt tight and his temples felt hot.
Most of the time, change was scary because of the uncertainty involved. However, even having some degree of knowledge about what his upgrade entailed didn’t completely eradicate Vee’s concerns. Perhaps irrationally, he still worried that he’d lose something so intrinsic to his personality that he’d overlooked it.
A prompt appeared before his eyes.
[You have upgrade options available. Would you like to upgrade your class?]
Vee hit yes, and within his soul’s mirror a row of selectable boxes appeared. Three of them – [Ghost General], [Ghost Artificer], and [Ghost Smith] – glowed white, while the remaining number were dull and covered in question marks.
Vee looked at them for a moment. There’d been other options, but he hadn’t discovered them.
He sighed. That was just the nature of life.
Making his peace with the proverbial roads unexplored, Vee reached out and touched the box labeled [Ghost Smith].
A confirmation box appeared, and Vee had a thought. Was he really ready to stop thinking of himself as a [Ghost Maestro]?
Yeah, he was. It was going to take some getting used to, but he’d be alright.
[Upgrade Process Initialized!]
[Consolidating Levels…]
[Level Consolidation Complete!]
[You are no longer a level 33 Ghost Maestro!]
[Congratulations, you are now a level 8 Ghost Smith!]
[Pruning Skills!]
[You can no longer use [Push the Tempo], [Conducting Dynamics: Legato], [Conducting Dynamics: Marcato]. [Conducting Dynamics: Espressivo], [Take a Bow], [Impeccable Performance], [Promote Soloist], [Demand Perfection]!]
[Your [Mold Ectoplasm] skill is now permanent!]
[You can no longer use your other Exploratory skills!]
[Your upgraded class comes with an advanced tutorial, would you like to access it now?]
Vee smelled forgefire and hit yes.
Red and blue light bloomed inside his soul’s mirror, and Vee once again felt like he was falling.
When he landed, he was back in the giant salamander’s forge and greeted by a booming voice.
“Oho! I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, young man.”
Main Character Sheets:
Vee Vales
Primary Class: Ghost Smith (Self), Level 8 (Consolidated)
Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 24
Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 7
Might: 15
Wit: 41
Faith: 25
Adventurousness: 7
Ambition: 16
Plotting: 19
Charisma: 18
Devious Mind: 29
Leadership: 22
Guts: 15
Intimidating Presence: 11
Citizenship: 24
Public Relations: 8
Determination: 7
Persuasiveness: 6
Bargaining: 4
Patience: 3
Competitive Spirit: 1
Pragmatism: 1
<3<3 Infatuation <3<3
Alforde Armorsoul:
Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 6
Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 18
Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 18
Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 11
Might: 59
Wit: 15
Faith: 28
Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Endurance: 33
Intimidating Presence: 15
Heart of a Champion: 14
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Vigilance: 11
Vanity: 2
Single-Mindedness: 1
Reginald:
Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???
#$&Q#$)(@#$#@#$%!@#$##%#%()@#$**@@##
Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 43
Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 21
Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 14
Additional Class: Hyperthymesiac (Self), Level 5
Might: 2
Wit: 37
Faith: 17
Ambition: 28
Greed: 24
Deceptiveness: 27
Manipulativeness: 42
$#&*!@!!: !!!
Loyalty: 47 (+1)
Patience: 11
Irritability: 25
Remorsefulness: 17
Expository Prowess: 23
#%$Pragmatism*#$: @#61$5
Hop@#!! @#$@!@#
@#$@%%^
#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9