Seeing the Boss monster fall backwards, Karsten felt an incredible relief wash over him.
“I almost killed myself just now…” He muttered, short of breath.
In his awesome protagonist moment, he had not thought of the possibility of the Ant Queen trying to crush him under her weight, so her falling backwards was nothing short of a miracle.
Looking around, he saw two out of three of his party members lying on the ground.
Haressy had fallen at some point in the fight, lying face-down in the dirt. Karsten hurried over to her, and gave an audible sigh of relief when he heard she was breathing. He respectfully looked over her clothes to make sure she wasn’t bleeding anywhere, and thankfully, she wasn’t. It seemed she had fainted from Magica exhaustion, but would wake up if given a few minutes.
Malek was lying on his back, blood trickling from multiple parts of his body. Henry was also bleeding, though he had managed to sit himself up. Choosing the one who looked the worst for wear out of the two, and slowly walked over to Malek. He would have run, but his back wouldn’t allow it.
Without asking whether the man needed help or not, Karsten immediately cast Healing Word. He didn’t think he had enough Magica to infuse the spell, so he only cast a basic one.
“Te curo.”
“You’re a Sleeping Dragon, Malek, seriously. How did you survive that?”
Malek laughed raspily, raising himself from the ground with effort.
“Even I would not have lasted much longer than this. That was a powerful beast,” He said as he stood, covered in a mix of ant viscera and his own blood. “I will have to get stronger."
Karten agreed with the sentiment.
He walked over to Henry, crouching down in front of him.
“You alright? Sorry, but I don’t have any healing magic left in the tank.”
Henry grunted, holding his hand to a particularly deep wound on his side, “That’s… Fine. Let’s just… Get out here quickly. I’d rather miss out on bleeding to death.”
“Yeah...”
So saying, Karsten made his way to the corpse of the dead Ant Queen, brandishing his sword and stabbing it into an opening where the ant’s front left leg had been.
He planned on cutting from one opening to the next, then create an opening from where he could start poking around to find the potential Magica stone, but his Strength stat wasn’t high enough to make more than a nick in the socket.
“...”
He kept trying, but soon had to sit down due to the pain growing in his back at each attempt.
“Do you need help?” Marek asked from where he sat next to his sister, monitoring her condition.
“Yes, actually. Could you open a hole in this thing?”
Careful not to justle his sister, Malek made his way over. Karsten handed him his shortsword and moved out of the way, wary of getting covered in a wave of monster guts.
Malek grabbed the sword that was more like a knife to him and, bracing himself against the ant for support, he dug the weapon into the ant monster, carving a fine line between the two open sockets. Afterwards he cut two lines down from the two sockets that met in the middle, creating an upside-down triangle. He dug his hand into a socket and grabbed the piece of carapace he had dug out, and the second it was removed, a reeking mix of all the monster’s guts spewed out onto the ground.
“Ugh… Christ.”
Oozing of reluctance, Karsten stepped into the guts puddle and started waving his feet around.
‘If Prestidigitation can clean this unholy grime off my shoes, I’ll marry it. It doesn’t matter if it’s an immaterial magical effect - I’m marrying it.’
As his thoughts grew a life of their own, his left foot bumped into something like a rock in the middle of the pile.
He dug his hand into the mess and grabbed the rock, which turned out to be a surprisingly soft, gnarled-looking heart. Veins protruded from it, connecting it to the rest of the ant’s body.
Malek, who had joined the search, handed Karsten his shortsword. He then stepped out of the puddle, shaking his feet to get the goo off.
Karsten cut the creature’s heart out of its body as he retreated from the puddle.
As he was cutting of the excess veins from the heart, however, he accidentally punctured the heart with the tip of his blade.
It didn’t travel far into the heart before being stopped in its tracks.
It seemed that, inside the heart, there was a stone.
Assuming this was the Magica stone, Karsten cut into the heart like he was peeling a carrot, slicing off piece after piece until a bloody, slippery Magica stone was unveiled.
It looked very similar to a soul gem from The Elder Scrolls, Karsten thought. Not thinking much of it, he wiped the stone off with his hands and pocketed it, deciding that keeping it in his Inventory was the safest option.
As his hand disappeared in his pocket and entered his dimensional subspace, however, he froze. Dropping the gem-like stone into the space, he waved his hand around and noticed something he hadn’t even thought to check before.
Ever since he had received the bag of holding from Medoly, he had completely forgotten that his Inventory even existed, and as it was Henry that had - at Medoly’s behest - paid for their Inn expenses, he hadn’t needed to use it to get any coins.
Waving his hand around, he
“I don’t remember my pants having such deep pockets.” Henry asked from where he sat.
The pants Karsten was wearing originally belonged to Henry, and the other man obviously knew very well just how shallow the pockets were.
“Ah… There's a hole in them? You should have treated them better.”
Henry’s eyebrow quirked, but said no more.
‘Gonna have to be more careful with that in the future… Oh!’
Facepalming, Karsten opened the bag of holding at his hip, opening up his inventory at the bags opening.
Rummaging around, he felt how much bigger the Inventory had become. It was now the size of a basketball, he figured.
“I wonder how much bigger it becomes with the next level. Too bad I-”
He facepalmed again, groaning at his own stupidity as he sat down in a cross-legged position, opening up his Status.
There was no way he hadn’t leveled up from all that.
When his eyes met the Status screen, however, they widened.
“Level 4?”
He leaned forward, not believing he had read it correctly, but as he squinted his eyes, he saw the number 4 written clearly on the scroll.
Thinking back to the delve, though, he realized it made perfect sense.
In his mind, because of his experience in the first dungeon, he had equated leveling up to defeating the Boss monster. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind during the descent, and all that endless killing of smaller ants, that he would end up leveling up on the way to the Boss and the some. The smaller ants had likely leveled him up, as well as led him more or less halfway along to the next level. The Ant Queen had then pushed him over the edge.
In the end, the dungeon raid had given him two level-ups.
‘I guess it makes sense. it would be a lot stranger if the descent didn’t level me up, in hindsight.’
He scolded himself internally for not checking before the Boss fight while Malek was leveling up.
The Boss fight could have been a lot easier.
Still, what had happened was unchangeable, and Karsten was forced to let it go.
Reading through his list of lists, he gleefully noted all the differences.
NAME: Karsten Myhr
RACE: Human - Otherworlder
CLASS AND LEVEL: Bard // Level 4
HEALTH: 26/150
MAGICA: 11/70
STAMINA: 36/80
EXPERIENCE POINTS: 2/400
ABILITIES:
STRENGTH: 13
DEXTERITY: 15
CONSTITUTION: 14
INTELLIGENCE: 9
WISDOM: 10
CHARISMA: 17
PERCEPTION: 11
ABILITY POINTS REMAINING: 2
UNIQUE TRAITS: Otherworlder. You can speak, read and write every language. You have your own personal dimensional subspace.
SUBCLASS: None [See available Subclasses]
PROFICIENCIES: Musical instruments (advanced novice), light armor (advanced novice), simple weapons (advanced novice), hand crossbows (advanced novice), longswords (advanced novice), rapiers (advanced novice), shortswords (advanced journeyman).
PROFICIENCY POINTS REMAINING: 2
EXPERTISE POINTS REMAINING: 1
SKILLS: Bardic inspiration, Song of rest
SPELLS:
5/7 [See available spells]
CANTRIPS:
2/3 [See available Cantrips]
There were stars in Kartens eyes as he read through his status.
“Sweet, sweet isekai powers… Praise the pole!” He chanted, referring to the pole in the house foundations that had become deeply familiar with the interior of his skull after his fall back on Earth.
Without a speck of self-restraint, he delved into leveling up, entering the state he dubbed ‘leveling-up mode’.
“Let the internal monologues commence.”
The others would have looked at him oddly, but they were also engrossed in their own scrolls.
Haressy had woken up, and was currently leveling up as well. Allis was nowhere to be seen, probably still slouched in the tunnel.
‘Hmm… It seems I only barely made it to level 4. Praise the Gods. It also seems like the required amount of experience to level up will double with every level. To get to the unofficial cap, I’ll need 12 000 XP… And to get past it, I’ll need 24 000 XP… Pray for me…’
‘It looks like I don’t get three Ability points every level. Did I get one for each level, or two during one? I guess I’ll see when I get to the 5’th. Let’s see… What do I need? I think one in Constitution and one in Charisma would be best. If the Ant Queen taught me anything, it’s that my skin is as thin as a leaf, anf my spine is as fragile as a rotten stick…’
Karsten locked in his choices and moved on to the next point - Subclass!
SUBCLASS: None [See available Subclasses]
He willed the scroll to show him the available Subclasses, and it promptly provided him with a ridiculously long and dense list.
‘Ths is University all over again… Except this time, what elective i choose will give me superpowers, not migraines.’
AVAILABLE SUBCLASSES:
College of Lore
Bards of the College of Lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these Bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to their King.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
CUTTING WORDS
You learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 30 meters of you intends to attack you, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration. The Bardic inspiration lessens the creatures luck by 25% for the duration of their attack.
If the creature has a Perception Ability higher than your own, casting Bardic Inspiration will fail. If the creature can’t hear you, or if it’s immune to being charmed by virtue of having no mind, the casting will also fail.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
ADDITIONAL MAGICAL SECRETS
You learn two extra spells of your choice from any class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
PEERLESS SKILL
Once a day you can cast a Bardic Inspiration on yourself that will give you a 10% bonus increase to your chance of hitting the target.
‘College of Lore… Based on the description, it sounds like a Subclass a revolutionary would love. I like that I get more Spells, and the fact that it can be from any class is simply marvelous. I also like the format of this whole thing, it shows me the entire path I would walk down in broad strokes. Looking at it like this… I feel like this will be the biggest decision of my life. If the impressions I have gotten from this world are correct, then high-level people are people that live for a long time. That would mean that whatever I choose is the type of Bard I will be for the rest of my life… Damn.’
‘Either way, this sounds like a pretty normal class with standard powers. To me, the base requirement for a Subclass is that it has to give me an interesting power-set. I don’t want to live a boring life. Living in southern Norway has taught me that.’
College of Valor
Bards of the College of Valor are daring skalds whose tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the past, and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes. These Bards gather in taverns or around great bonfires to sing the deeds of the mighty, both past and present. With their songs, they inspire others to reach the same heights of accomplishment as the heroes of old.
BONUS PROFICIENCIES:
You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
COMBAT INSPIRATION
You learn to inspire others in battle. A creature you have cast Bardic Inspiration on will have their weapon greatly strengthened for the duration of the Skill. Alternatively, the creatures body can be strengthened instead.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
EXTRA ATTACK
Five times a day you unlock the ability to perform two strikes with your weapon at the same time.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
BATTLE MAGIC
You have mastered the art of weaving spellcasting and weapon use into a single harmonious act. When you cast the Spell Vicious mockery, it transformers into a flying longsword that does both physical and psychic damage. The longsword can be controlled at will, but only for two seconds.
To use the longsword again, recast the Spell. The Spells cost will increase from 3 to 8.
Extra Attack applies to this Spell. The two flying longswords can be controlled individually.
‘Memory of the great heroes of the past? Honestly, why would I care about them? Are they gonna help me get home? Nope.Same with ‘inspiring new generations of heroes’ - Where would I find the time for that? I’m an Adventurer, not a youth councillor.'
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
‘It does look more interesting than the last one, though, I’ll give it that. Just the idea of having flying swords makes my chunibyo self giddy. I will say, though, that is the only interesting thing about it. Higher defence and swords are cool and all, but Spells are where it’s at for me.’
College of Creation
‘College of Creation…’
Just judging from the name, it sounded like it could grow into some God-like abilities down the road. Karsten excitedly read on.
Bards believe the cosmos is a work of art - the creation of the first dragons and Gods. That creative work included harmonies that continue to resound through existence today, a power known as the Song of Creation. The Bards of the College of Creation draw on that primeval song through dance, music, and poetry, and their teachers share this lesson: “Before the World and it’s folk, there was the Song, and its melody awoke the first dawn. Its music so delighted the mountains and valleys that some of them gained a voice of their own. And now they, too, sing. Know their Song, students, and you too can learn the mountain’s eternal rhythm.”
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
MOTE OF POTENTIAL
Whenever you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration, you can utter a note from the Song of Creation to create a small mote of potential, which orbits within 1 meter of your chosen creature. The mote is intangible and invulnerable, and lasts until the Bardic Inspiration’s duration is over. The mote looks like a musical note, a star, a flower, or any other symbol of art or life of your choice.
If the increased luck provided by the Bardic Inspiration ends up having a large effect on the battle, the mote causes a random change in the environment that is in the chosen creature’s favor. The change in the environment lasts for 10 minutes, and cannot be revoked for the duration.
PERFORMANCE OF CREATION
You can channel the magic of the Song of Creation to create one non-magical item of your choice in an unoccupied space within 5 meters of you. The item must appear on a surface or in a liquid that can support it. The monetary value of the item can’t be more than 20 times your Bard level, and the item must be Medium or smaller. The item glimmers softly, and a creature can faintly hear music when touching it. The created item disappears after a number of hours equal to your level.
You can create one such item a day. If you create another one, it will cost half of your available Magica, and the original item will disappear.
The size of the item you can create with this feature increases by one size category when you reach the 6th level (Large) and the 14th level (Giant).
Upon reaching the 6th level:
ANIMATING PERFORMANCE
You can animate one Large or smaller non-magical item within 10 meters of you that isn’t being worn or carried. The item is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your commands. It lives for 1 hour, until it is reduced to 0 hit points, or until you die.
You can animate one object a day. If you animate another one, it will cost half your available Magica, and the original item will become inanimate.
When you use your Bardic Inspiration feature, you can command the item as part of the same bonus action you use for Bardic Inspiration. Once you animate an item with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to use this feature again. You can have only one item animated by this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have a dancing item from this feature, the first one immediately becomes inanimate.
Damage immunities of the item: Poison, psychic.
Condition immunities of the item: Charmed, exhaustion, poisoned, frightened.
Senses: Darkvision 30 meters, the passive Perception is 10
Languages: The item understands the languages you speak
Immutable Form. The item is immune to any Spell or effect that would alter its form.
Irrepressible Dance. When any creature moves within 3 meters of the item, the item can increase or decrease the walking speed of the creature for 6 seconds, depending on your choice.
Actions:
Force-Empowered Slam: The animated item is infused with psychic force, slamming itself into a creature of your choice. The amount of psychic damage depends on how much you infuse into the item. You can infuse the item with 1 point of damage per level gained, starting from the 6th level.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
CREATIVE CRESCENDO
When you use your Performance of Creation feature, you can create more than one item at once. The number of items you can create is equal to your Charisma Ability - 15. Only one of these items can be of the maximum size you can create; the rest must be Small or Tiny.
You are no longer limited by monetary value when creating items with Performance of Creation.
‘This is way to complicated. How the fuck am I supposed to remember all of this…? This really is like studying. I can’t escape it even if i travel to a fantasy world… There is no light…’
‘It sounds like an extremely convenient Subclass, though. could I create armour? It wouldn’t be magical, but still. That would be almost enough for me to choose this one. If magical metal - which I’m assuming exists here, because why wouldn’t it? - isn’t counted as magical… No, it totally would be, I’m stupid. I can think of some funny uses for the animation feature, but… I don’t know, it still sounds too boring. Crushing a monster with a classical piano from above would be fun the first two times, no, the first ten, no-’
Karsten cleared his throat and put his thoughts in line.
‘Basically, I think it would lose its luster after a while. Next.’
College of Eloquence
ADHERENTS OF THE COLLEGE OF ELOQUENCE MASTER THE ART OF SPEECHMAKING. PERSUASION IS REGARDED AS A HIGH ART, AND A WELL-REASONED, WELL-SPOKEN ARGUMENT OFTEN PROVES MORE PERSUASIVE THAN FACTS. THESE BARDS WIELD A BLEND OF LOGIC AND THEATRICAL WORDPLAY, WINNING OVER SKEPTICS AND DETRACTORS WITH LOGICAL ARGUMENTS AND PLUCKING AT HEARTSTRINGS TO APPEAL TO THE EMOTIONS OF AUDIENCES.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
SILVER TONGUE
You are a master at saying the right thing at the right time. You gain an internal sense of what words will achieve the desired effect. When attempting to persuade a creature of your choice, you will gain a percentage increase of success equal to your Charisma Ability X2. If the creature is immune to being charmed, or has a Charisma ability higher than your own, the attempt will fail.
UNSETTLING WORDS
You can spin words laced with magic that unsettle a creature and cause it to doubt itself. This expends a use of Bardic Inspiration. If you run out of uses of Bardic Inspiration, you will not be able to use Unsettling Words again until the next day.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
Unfailing Inspiration
Your inspiring words are so persuasive that others feel driven to succeed. The effects of Bardic Inspiration lasts for twice as long.
UNIVERSAL SPEECH
You have gained the ability to make your speech intelligible to any creature. Choose one or more creatures within 30 meters of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma Ability - 15. The chosen creatures can magically understand you, regardless of the language you speak, for 1 hour.
You can use this feature once per day. Re-casting it consumes 50% of your total Magica.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
Infectious Inspiration
When you successfully inspire someone, the power of your eloquence can now spread to someone else within 30 meters of the original creature. The percentage of chance of success is your Charisma Ability X2. If you succeed and the creature is affected and is within 30 meters of you, you can encourage it to perform any action that is not directly harmful towards itself without expending any of your Bardic Inspiration uses.
You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma Ability - 15. You can do this once per day.
‘Honestly, if I didn’t have a need for a high amount of personal power, this class would be ideal. It’s the perfect class for a lazy pers- a peaceful person... I could just sit back and buff people to the top. That’s not really an option for me, though, ’cause I need to be able to handle monsters myself in order to gain enough XP to be capable of maybe finding some powerful Spell, or Skill, or something that can get me home. Can Bards use Teleportation Spells? Hmm…’
College of Glamour
The College of Glamour is the home of bards who mastered the crafts of the Feywilds. These Bards learn to use their magic to delight and captivate others.
The Bards of this college are regarded with a mixture of awe and fear. Their performances are the things of legend. These Bards are so eloquent that a speech or song that one of them performs can cause captors to release them unharmed and can lull a furious dragon into complacency. The same magic that allows them to quell beasts can also bend minds. Villainous Bards of this college can leech off a community for weeks, misusing their magic to turn their hosts into thralls. Heroic Bards of this college instead use this power to gladden the downtrodden and undermine oppressors in magnificent ways.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
MANTLE OF INSPIRATION
You gain the ability to weave a song of fey magic that imbues your allies with vigor and speed.
You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to grant yourself a marvelous appearance. When you do so, choose a number of creatures you can see and that can see you within 30 meters of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma Ability - 15. Each of them gains 5 temporary Health Points. When a creature gains these temporary Health Points, it can immediately move faster. The percentage of increase is equal to the creature’s Dexterity Ability.
The number of temporary hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 8 at the 5th level, 11 at the 10th level, and 14 at the 15th level.
ENTHRALLING PERFORMANCE
If you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, choose a number of humanoids within 30 meters of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a number equal to your Charisma Ability - 15. If the creatures’ Wisdom Ability is higher than your own, the attempt will fail.
If the creature is successfully charmed, it idolizes you, it speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to it, and it hinders anyone who opposes you. It will avoid violence unless it is already inclined to fight on your behalf. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour.
If it takes damage, if you attack it, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies, it will no longer be charmed.
If you have a higher Charisma Ability than the creature, it will not know that you tried to charm it.
You can use this feature once a day.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
MANTLE OF MAJESTY
You gain the ability to cloak yourself in a fey magic that makes others want to serve you for 1 minute. You take on an appearance of unearthly beauty until the end of the duration, or until your concentration is interrupted. During this minute, you can cast the Spell Command without it drawing on your available Magica. The number of times you can cast Command is equal to your Charisma Ability - 15.
You can use this feature once a day.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
UNBREAKABLE MAJESTY
Your appearance permanently gains an otherworldly aspect that makes you look both divinely beautiful and demonically fierce.
In addition, you can exude a strong majestic presence for 1 minute or until you are incapasitated. For the duration, whenever any creature tries to attack you for the first time, the creature will have a percentage decrease to their chance of success equal to your Charisma Ability X2.
You can do this once a day. To do it one additional time, you must spend 50% of your total Magica.
‘’Can lull a furious dragon into complacency’? If that’s true, it’s OP as shit. Sounds like a fun class.’
‘Hm… Other than that, this seems like a Subclass that’s centred around manipulating crowds of people, essentially the quintessential Bard class, and so it likely won’t serve me well. There aren’t exactly people crowding in dungeons after all - Well, except for some high-level ones, if Henry's words are to be believed. I need one I can use for combat, though. Though, this class has amazing potential to be a crowd-control powerhouse.’
‘’Also - ‘Divinely beautiful’, huh? I don’t need the boost,’ Karsten scoffed.
College of Swords
‘Sounds more like it.’
Bards of the College of Swords are called Sabers, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Sabers perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock combats. Though they use their weapons to entertain, they are also highly trained and skilled warriors in their own right.
Their talent with weapons inspires many Sabers to lead double lives. One Saber might use a circus troupe as cover for nefarious deeds such as assassination, robbery, and blackmail. Other Sabers strike at the wicked, bringing justice to bear against the cruel and powerful. Most troupes are happy to accept a Saber’s talent for the excitement it adds to a performance, but few entertainers fully trust any Sabers within their ranks.
Sabers who abandon their lives as entertainers have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A Saber caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their weapon skills and magic, these Sabers either take up work as enforcers for Thieves’ Guilds or strike out on their own as Adventurers.
Bonus Proficiencies:
You gain proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
FIGHTING STYLE
You adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options:
Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you do more damage equal to your Dexterity Ability - 15.
DUAL-WIELDING
When you engage in dual-wielding combat, each weapon does more damage equal to your Dexterity Ability - 18.
BLADE FLOURISH
You learn to perform impressive displays of martial prowess and speed.
The first time you attack a creature, your speed will increase for three seconds. If the attack succeeds, you can use one of the following Blade Flourish options of your choice. You can only use one Blade Flourish per 6 seconds.
Defensive Flourish
You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the creature you hit. The damage equals your Dexterity Ability - 15.
Slashing Flourish
You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the creature you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 1 meter of you. The damage equals your Dexterity Ability - 15.
Mobile Flourish
You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the creature you hit. The damage equals your Dexterity Ability - 15.
You can also push the target up to 2 meters away from you, plus the number equal to your Dexterity Ability - 15.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
EXTRA ATTACK
Every 6 seconds, you can attack twice instead of once whenever you perform an attack.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
Master’s Flourish
You can cast Bardic Inspiration on yourself to increase your chance of successfully hitting your target. The percentage increase of success is equal to your Dexterity Ability X2. Your speed will also be increased for the duration of the Flourish. The speed can be increased by infusing your body with Magica. The more Magica you infuse, the faster you move. Rate of infusion is 3 more Magica poinst per second per level gained.
You can use this feature until your uses of Bardic Inspirations have been depleted.
‘Saber? Is this Fate/Stay Night?’
Karsten’s eyes widened as he read the rest.
‘This is perfect… It would almost make more like a Fighter than a Bard. It’s also worth it to mention that I still get Spells and stuff when I level up, so I’d basically be a Spellsword with mind abilities… This…’
‘That would mean that I would be; one, capable of handling myself in a melee fight, two, capable of casting flashy Spells and Cantrips, and three, still had the core manipulation manipulation abilities of a Bard.’
Karsten almost immediately locked in his choice, but forced himself to read though the last one.
‘Imagine if I chose this one, and then the last one just says ‘Turns you into God.’
Karsten shook his head and read though the last one, which was, without a doubt, the most scary power-set he had ever seen.
College of Whispers
Most people are happy to welcome a Bard into their midst. Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like other Bards, sharing news, singing songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, they are wolves among sheep. These Bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets and turn them against others through extortion and threats.
Many other Bards hate the College of Whispers, viewing it as a parasite that uses a Bard’s reputation to acquire wealth and power. For this reason, members of this college rarely reveal their true nature. They typically claim to follow some other college, or they keep their actual calling secret in order to infiltrate and exploit royal courts and other settings of power.
Upon reaching the 3rd level:
PSYCHIC BLADES
You gain the ability to make your weapon attacks magically toxic to a creature’s mind.
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 4 psychic damage to that target. You can do so once every 10 seconds.
The psychic damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 6 at the 5th level, 8 at the 10th level, and 10 at the 15th level.
WORDS OF TERROR
You learn to infuse innocent-seeming words with an insidious magic that can inspire terror.
If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia in its mind. At the end of the conversation, if the target has a Wisdom Ability lower than your own, they will become frightened of you or another creature of your choice. The target is frightened in this way for 1 hour, until it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged.
If the target’s Perception Ability is lower than your own, they will not know they were charmed.
You can use this feature once a day.
Upon reaching the 6th level:
MANTLE OF WHISPERS
You gain the ability to adopt a humanoid’s persona. When a humanoid dies within 10 meters of you, you can magically capture its shadow. You retain this shadow until you use it. You can use the shadow at any time within the next 24 hours, but after 24 hours it will dissipate into nothing.
What you use the shadow, it disappears, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on you. You now look like the dead person, but healthy and alive. This disguise lasts up to one hour, and can be dismissed by you at will.
While you’re in the disguise, you gain access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn’t include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.
Any creature with a Wisdom Ability higher than your own can see through this disguise. You can attempt to persuade the creature, and if your Charisma Ability is higher than that of the creature’s, you have a 50% chance of succeeding. Upon a successful persuasion, the creature will start believing the disguise. Upon an unsuccessful persuasion, the creature is roused, and it becomes more likely for it to attack you.
You can use this feature once a day.
Upon reaching the 14th level:
SHADOW LORE
You gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature’s deepest fears.
You magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 10 meters of you can hear. If the creature’s Wisdom Ability is higher than your own, the attempt fails. If the creature doesn’t share a language with you or can’t hear you, the attempt automatically fails.
If the creature’s Wisdom Ability is lower than your own, the creature is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies damage it. It interprets the whispers as crazy ravings describing its most mortifying secret. You gain no knowledge of this secret, but the target will be convinced you know of it.
The charmed creature obeys your commands in fear of you sharing its secret. It won’t risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend.
When the effect ends, the creature will have no understanding of why it held you in such fear.
You can use this feature once a day.
Karsten almost wanted to choose this one for the sole reason that it would make him more protected from people of the same Subclass.
‘What in the Edgelord is this? I know people who would kill to get isekai’d with these powers.’
“Also - Imagine a level 20 College of Whispers Bard. It would be like a Marauder Pathway True God, causing mad ravings and controlling people… I admit, that does sound extremely tempting. Just imagining the type of chaos I could create with it is honestly captivating.’
‘... Even so. When it comes to practical, in-dungeon utility, it’s… Well, it’s good, but it doesn’t check off all the boxes. It’s also not a path I feel like would make me into a particularly good person. I'm not the best person in the world, by any measure, but I have my scruples.’
As the biggest decision of his life was upon him, Karsten’s mind was in upheaval.
He toyed with the images of many potential futures.
Ones where he was a master Spellslinger with a ridiculous wizard hat, throwing fireballs at his problems, magically fixing them.
Ones where he was a revolutionary, leading an army of a people opressed, using their anger and drive to fulfill his every whim.
Ones where he lifted up his allies, helping them so that they, in turn, could help him.
Fighting monsters by boring them to death by drauling on about ‘old heroes’ and how ‘youth clubs would be good for their cognitive development’.
Ones where he was the biggest piece of shit on the planet.
Ones where he was a beautiful and terrifying tornado, like a God with an anime filter, oppressing the monsters and people alike, making them bow before him.
‘Honestly, the Glamour one sounds really tempting…’
He sighed, and took a look around the chamber.
Malek and Haressy were chatting a little ways away with hushed voices, not wanting to disturb Karsten as he leveled up.
Allis was still not being anywhere in sight.
Henry was lying in the dirt, unmoving.
“Ah… Henry?”
“... just fucking choose already…”
Laughing, Karsten turned back to the Status screen.
His mind had already chosen, but his heart was torn…
In the end, he decided to choose the one that was potentially the most boring and straightforward, yet simultaneously felt like it had the potential to be the most interesting out of them all if used correctly.
It was the one he felt the most confident in getting the most out of, and the one he felt would play into his strengths as an all-rounder the most.
It would fulfill his needs of instant strength and speed, yet also respect the spellcasting ability and Skills of a Bard.
It was also one that would give him a cool new title, but that was totally not the main reason why he chose this option…
Focusing in on the scroll, he affirmed his choice.
He was now a Saber of the College of Swords.