We spent a few days on the fifth floor, farming the Horror Limbs until we had repaid all our subclass debt. We stopped at a dead-end room to set up camp.
Before coming down here, we bought one of the enchanted water purification barrels, its utility well worth the price and then more. Water security inside a Dungeon was something worth its weight in gold. And the barrel was cheaper than an amphora of infinite water, an enchanted item that could draw pure water from the depths of the world. The amphora even had one particular issue: if mishandled, it could flood an entire Dungeon. So long the vessel had enough MP to conjure water and wasn't stoppered, it would overflow with water and keep on pouring. Some smart Dungeons even refused to absorb the overflowing water, going to the extremes of conjuring even more water to see if the delvers drowned.
But the barrel was the cheaper option, and neither Kara nor I regretted paying for it. Taking baths inside a Dungeon was a luxury and it increased our comfort level by an order of magnitude. Especially because the attached bath we bought could fit two, but that's another story.
Clean and relaxed, we were settled inside our tent, unwinding from a busy day of murder, when Kara made a surprising declaration.
"I decided to take the Student subclass," she said. "It grants an accelerated rate of Skill acquisition."
She studied my expression to see any signs of disapproval but I only smiled at her. Seeing the tension vanish from her face was overly sweet. "Well, then. Go for it."
*
*
Kara checked the requirements for taking Student. It was just a formality because the Class was already unlocked. Spending more than 200 hours receiving formal education. Reading over 100 books. Writing at least 500 pages of graded essays. She guessed her Guard reports counted as essays. With a firm huff of determination, she selected the Class. Since it was going on a fresh level 1 slot, she would have to repay the debt all over again. But that was half the cost of her Parallel Progression.
Differently from George's own PP, which granted points in fixed Attributes, hers gave much more flexibility. It came at the cost of twice the work. She had to arrest criminals, earn the slot, then add a subclass and then pay the debt. But she could add the points anywhere she wanted and also benefit from Perks and Skills. Not to mention the occasional Trait.
> You became a Student (Uncommon). You accrued 37,000 Experience Points of debt. Good luck.
> You gained the Skill, Study. Rank I Benefit: The acquisition rate for Skills is improved by up to R*20%, depending on the time dedicated to serious study and practice. This applies to both System and natural skills.
> Class Experience: You gain extra Experience by learning new skills and System Skill ranks.
It didn't grant any Traits but that was expected with Uncommon Classes. It also meant she could ditch the subclass later. The Experience point debt sucked but unless she gained two Perks she absolutely had to keep, it was better to cycle the slot than to stay stuck with a lackluster Subclass.
"So," George said, curious. "Is it worth it?"
"Yes! No Traits but the Class Skill grants twenty percent faster learning rate per rank. And it should synergize very well with my Notary Skill."
Kara blushed a bit. She was supposed to be a combatant but her Class had undergone so many changes that her utility Skills seemed lackluster now. They were free and part of her path so far but... Notary and Paralegal were out of place. Or not. A Vigilante who acted at the edge of the law needed to know the law and these Skills played into that.
Just like George wasn't a full combatant either. He was a Rare variant of Scout, merged with Beast Master to become an Epic Ranger variant. He wasn't complaining about his Skills either.
"Good. I didn't want to tell you this so it wouldn't influence your choice, but Student can be upgraded into Scholar. Many people managed to do that and the requirements are well known."
Kara tilted her head. "Oh, really? Is it hard?"
"Hard-ish. We need to hit a library and it will take around a year of dedicated effort. You need to raise the Student Class Skill to rank ten as the first requirement."
"Bummer. Say, George. I was thinking about this..." She explained to him her worries regarding her Skill.
George smiled candidly. She knew he was about to go on a tirade, explaining stuff to her from the ground up. It was just how he was.
"Attributes and life experience matter the most. Skills? They are nice but they are extra things you can do or just some System help to perform what your Class needs. You are correct that Notary and Paralegal are not as important to combat but they are key to your Class. You didn't include Investigate into that, and I bet you haven't raised it past rank one yet."
She blushed in shame and shook her head. It was sitting at rank one since she got her promotion during the ceremony.
"I bet I can find a way to make Investigate work in combat. What is a clue? Is it just some footprints a murder left behind at the crime scene? Or could it denounce an exploitable tell an enemy display, or some hint at a weakness we don't know yet? Couldn't you focus on your enemy with that Skill in mind to find their weak spots? Their chink in the armor?"
Kara's jaw hung. "Can I?"
George grinned. "I don't know. It's your Skill! And you should focus on it like a good Student. Also, try to be sneaky during combat. Even if you fail, it should count toward improving your other Skill." He drew a big breath and then exhaled. "Kara, I know our paths were twisted and suffered heavily from System influence. But it was for the best. We are at or near the top of what people our level have. We gained hundreds of bonus Attributes from all these Class mergers; we have Parallel Progressions. And we have a lot of options to earn Class experience. Even if we never see combat again, we will still grow. I think it is a matter of doing the best with the hand we were dealt by life. And the System."
> For being a good student and sitting through an uncomfortable lecture, you gained 4 Experience points.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Kara burst into laughter. She stared at the blue box, then dismissed it. She spoke between chortles, snorts, and chuckles. "No. Sorry. It's not anything you said. It's... the System gave me four Experience points for listening to your 'lecture'. I guess I should thank you?"
It was George's time to break out into laughter. "No need. But you're welcome either way."
"I am amazed at how much thought you gave it."
"Yeah," George rubbed his head. "I've been reading stuff at the Guild library since I learned when to read."
"How old were you when you learned how to read?"
"Two and a half years old."
"That's really early. Children usually learn to read with what? Four to five years?" (*)
"Around that time, yes."
"I'll try to use my Skills in combat the way you suggested."
"Great. And if they don't work, then we try something else."
They prepared to sleep. Kara double-checked the Perk she earned for her Regenerator subclass. Since this Class went into her level 20 Slot, it gained its first Perk on level 30 and then every 10 levels.
> Minor HP Regeneration: You regenerate sqrt(Endurance/10) HP per minute.
At her current Endurance score, it meant the Perk granted her 10 HP per minute. It would take her fifteen hours to recover her full HP pool from zero. Since the increase to HP per level was quadratic, the time to recover all of her HP would increase but it also meant she would seldom find herself without some HP, even after a tough fight. The minor prefix to the Perk made her hope she would gain an improved version of it later on.
*
*
While Kara fiddled with her Status, I checked my own improvement. Since she took her third subclass, she would have to repay a big Experience debt. I didn't have this problem but I also had a level 35 subclass slot to fill. This one was brand new and debt free. I didn't want to hike my level too much above hers. Right now, I needed six thousand Experience to gain a level. William needed twelve thousand because he was double legendary and Sleepy needed six thousand, just like me. Taking this new Slot would increase my Experience per level to seven thousand but it was worth it. The slower you gained levels, the stronger you became to overcome higher challenges.
I knew what subclass I wanted but it wasn't unlocked. I would have to wait until we returned to the surface and get special training. We moved on, spending all our waking time killing monsters. They gave good Experience even when divided by two.
Marksman granted me a Perk at level 30, as expected. I would be happy with a damage-increasing Perk but this one wasn't bad either.
> Long Range Shots: divide the distance to your target by log(Intelligence) before factoring to-hit penalties. Reduce arrow speed impact on air resistance or sound barrier considerations by the same factor.
I had to re-read the Perk. No, it didn't slow down the speed of my arrows as I feared. It just reduced the impact on air resistance and sound barrier.
This Perk caused my arrows to lose exponentially less speed to air resistance. But the biggest benefit was that it fixed one glaring problem of my combat style. Scout's Oath draw strength was always optimal to make use of the entirety of my Strength score. It was a boon because I would never wield a sub-optimal bow. But the arrows fired from Scout’s Oath flew with increasing speed as I grew stronger causing the arrows to whistle louder and louder. Soon, I would hit another problem when my arrows started to break the sound barrier. I guessed that would happen around 600 to 700 points of Strength. At that point, each shot from this bow would cause a sonic boom.
Anyway, time to sleep.
*
*
On our fifth day clearing the floor of monsters, we found the boss room. During this time, I reached level 38, putting me on the lead because Kara was still repaying her newest subclass’ Experience debt.
William gained only one level while Sleepy was remarkably close to level 38. Just a few more fights and he would match mine. But William’s Dungeon Breaker status meant he would need more Experience per level. I estimated that he would match our leveling speed when he was about three or maybe even four levels behind us. But his staggering amount of Attribute points per level more than made up for that level difference.
This boss went even longer without a good clear. The antechamber had years of dust and debris forming a thick layer all over the floor. The boss room was clear and had a massive monster waiting for us.
The boss, at a first glance, looked like a bipedal reptile with blue-green scales on its underside, covered in rainbow plumage over the body, ending in a white-yellow crest of long feathers on top of its head. It had a prominent snout instead of a beak, so it was more reptile than bird. It had forward-facing yellow slitted eyes that studied us carefully and two long muscular arms that had a vestigial patagium linking the arms to the torso like flying squirrels. The patagium was covered in rainbow plumes; I doubted it could be able to do anything more than breaking a fall, much less gliding or flying. The arms ended in long curved claws as wide was my extended hand. I estimated this boss had as much reach with those claws as a tall man with a two-handed sword. Its tail was thick and had a crest of ridges on the back ending in two long spikes. It stood more than two meters tall and around five meters long.
It looked strong and fast. If the trend of boss levels went on, this one's level should be around levels sixty to sixty-five. I didn't use my Perk to learn its species name because I was afraid the System would consider it as us triggering a fight. As I examined the creature from outside the door, The monster examined me in turn. Then it screeched and breathed a small plume of fire. I flinched but it wasn't directed my way. Sleepy started to growl at the boss but I raised a hand to shut him.
The Dungeon wouldn't allow a floor boss to attack outside the room. Not unless we attacked it first. Searching my feelings, I found no desire to attack. I wanted to tame this creature. I bet Kara and I could ride it. Also, that it was faster than we were on foot. I knew I expected to ride Sleepy but I now believed his antlers and wings would leave no space for a rider behind him. A person on Sleepy's back, even at his adult size, would hinder his head movements or his flight. Probably both. Not to mention he would electrocute the rider whenever he used his lightning attack as the showy magic coursed between his antlers.
But could I bond with a Dungeon boss? I pulled my bond Perk's description.
> Beast Bond: You can bond with tame and friendly beasts. Up to 1+sqrt([Endurance+Charisma+Clarity]/200) such bonds may exist at the same time.
Currently, I could bond with up to five beasts, three from this Perk and two from the Extra bonds Trait. The recent improvement to my Attributes granted me a fifth slot. The key issue here was that it required a "tame and friendly" beast. Exactly what this Dungeon boss wasn't. It didn't say anything about levels, fortunately. If it did, I would give up because this creature was certainly of a level above mine. And that made it all the more valuable.
"Sleepy, can you fetch me one of the limbs from the Horrors?" I asked.
The little guy made a happy bark, directed at William, not me. William produced a buffed orc leg from thin air and let it plop on the ground. How? I had to pull his Status sheet to remember he had his dimensional storage Trait. It was the first time he used it in front of me. What else did William have in there?
With a sheepish laugh, I took the leg. "Thanks, William."
I tossed the leg into the boss room, aiming to make it land two meters in front of the monster. My main concern was to make the action not register as an attack. the leg landed with a meaty thud. The boss didn't rush toward us. Instead, it just watched. Wary, the boss moved away from the leg, but then curiosity and hunger took over. It went and sniffed the leg, observing it for a while. The boss tore into it, biting into the bone and breaking it with its powerful jaw. In less than a minute, it had devoured the whole leg. It faced me and shrieked.
This kind of behavior was well-documented. Dungeon monsters were in a half-alive, half-manifest state. They were considered biological constructs, creatures of magic who were also flesh and blood. They didn't vanish like other summoned creatures did when they died, proving that magic could be converted into matter and vice versa. Though the Dungeon didn't have direct control of its monsters, these tend to remain where they were summoned. But they also weren't in full control of their agency or free to act as their nature dictated. They could stay in a state of obliviousness for an eternity, their biological needs supplied by the Dungeon's magic. They also didn't impact the Dungeon's ability to create items, spawn other monsters, or absorb stuff like people or non-dungeon creatures did.
This boss was in that room for years, without walking out of the room or even pooping. And now it had its first delectable meal. Things were about to change for the feathered monster.