Shadows called, and Tobias was loath to do anything but answer. His new class sung within his soul, a perfect fit. It had melded seamlessly with his being, and its power was already apparent. Only level six, and he was creeping through the shadows like a [ROGUE]!

As he left the caverns with far more grace than he should have, he was still churning the past hour in his thoughts. So much had happened, all above his wildest expectations.

His fight with the [FIRE-BIRD] had been close, far too close. It probably would have been wiser to start with a wisp. But the past was in the past, and he had reaped quite the reward from his decision. The dagger was far more than it seemed.

Tobias was sure, without a single doubt in his mind, that the final blast the [FIRE-BIRD] let off should have killed him. It had been far too fast to dodge, and at least five times stronger than the blast that had already torn through his arm like butter.

But as it sailed through the air, something else caught his eye. As he raised the dagger to meet the haze, small gold threads swam within the crimson crystal, forming into the very same runes that still burned into his mind.

These had far less... weight. As if they were a mere afterthought, instead of a grand welcome. The first two words faded before he could even read them, but [FACT'S PERSISTENCE] caught what remained. A name. A title, if you would.

Little Thief.

The words echoed through his mind with a sense of finality. They were his past, his present, his future. All of his great deeds and greater sins, the entirety of his soul, summed up in two words.

As the haze met his dagger, a thought flashed through his mind, feeling awfully light in comparison to the title. Why would he let his life be stolen here? Why would he let anything be stolen from him at all? He was the Little Thief. Power was his to steal, and his alone.

The thought raced through his mind, and then, to his dagger. It, just like the title, was his. And like a third hand, the dagger responded as Tobias reached out and stole the blast. It was siphoned into the dagger, kept as nothing but flashy lights.

Burning flashy lights. The heat around the dagger that had previously been naught but illusion, now came alive with a vengeance. His body, mind, and soul felt the sting, felt the pressure, being exerted. Trying to fit the sun in his pocket probably would have been easier than holding on to the light for just one more moment.

So Tobias flung it back out, right at the one who would dare to defy his title. The [FIRE-BIRD] had been consumed in a blast of wind and flame, gone within an instant. The blast likely would have consumed him too, had the [LIEUTENANT] not arrived.

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It pulled every grasping claw of heat, every fluttering ribbon of wind, into itself. But unlike Tobias, it had control. A spear of wind was sent towards the sky as if to slay the very clouds. The [LIEUTENANT] was hovering in the air, without a single gale or flap of its wings to hold it.

Its gaze bored into him, studying his face as if he was a book. It felt, above all else, calculating. Tobias was nothing but a problem or a solution, and would be dealt with accordingly. There was a distinctive edge in its eyes, one Tobias had seen far too often. He saw it in the eyes of any of his boys who had been betrayed one too many times. Those who expected a knife in back, and felt no remorse wielding one of their own.

But under that gaze, and the attention of the [DUNGEON] itself, all Tobias could do was laugh. He collapsed to his knees as power flooded through him, ballooning his muscles and tempering his bones. Levels, and a class, seeping into his being.

"Four... Four! Four whole levels! Ha! Ha ha ha!"

He needed to properly thank the [DUNGEON]. But how? Should he simply thank it? Use the begrudging but honest tone of a seasoned adventurer? The relieved and desperate voice of one who had nothing? Or maybe the flowery declarations of nobles, words without any meaning behind them?

He decided on the last option. Even if gilded lies weren't his favorite, they tended to send across a modicum of respect. The [DUNGEON] would surely appreciate that, and he could always just go back on his word.

"This place... It's amazing. It would be an honor to be a part of it. For so long as my heart beats and my energy flows, you have my blade."

After that declaration, a whole deluge of confusing events occurred. His class shattered, he was given a new one that was covered in a mana that was just wrong, and he got a new ability as well.

The [CORE'S SPYMASTER] class was amazing, seeming to combine all the best parts of [SPY], [ROGUE], and [PALADIN]. Stealth and perception from [SPY], grace and shadows from [ROGUE], and purpose and strength from [PALADIN].

But it would have to wait. Tobias wanted to try his new ability. Its description was in some sort of code that not even [FACT'S PERSISTENCE] could read, which should have been impossible.

[LOREM IPSUM]: DOLOR SIT AMET, CONSECTETUR ADIPISCING ELIT

With no one else around to test it on, Tobias made yet another horrible decision. He used the ability on himself.

It touched his mind similarly to the runes on the arch, but with a demand instead of a challenge. Tobias couldn't keep it at bay for more than a moment before it crept into his thoughts. At first it wasn't so bad. Words appeared that matched the ones from the names and description, leaving a light sting wherever they spread.

It was about between the two other times he had felt the weight. Not the disdainful crush of the welcome, nor the light whisper of the title. Just a light sting, and it began to fade from his mind, with another line that matched it appearing just below the original.

But the original never truly faded. Neither did the second, or the third, or the fourth. The symbols stayed in the forefront of his mind as if nailed there, the pain slowly building as more and more appeared.

He released the ability, and they fell from his mind. He needed to get back to his boys. They needed to get to the [DUNGEON]. Something new was coming, and Tobias was certain that he had just placed himself in the center of it all.