Chapter 73: Showing Some Class_Magical Engineering [Progression Fantasy, LitRPG]

“Dammit, Timon, I said we were going to discuss it with him, not just throw him into the deep end! I’ve done that enough ta him already,” Mel said at the same time I got the new message.

“You do that, and Dave’s just going to get stuck in his own head for too long. The man already overthinks everything,” Timon said back.

“You know I can still hear both of you, right? Why do I have an option to overwrite the class orb? I assume that isn’t the normal thing that happens when someone holds a class orb,” I asked, annoyed that I had even more strangeness to deal with. Did it never end?

“So they just filled me in on your core affinity, and we all suspected something like that might happen. There is a good chance this is even further my fault than I initially realized, Dave. I don’t remember everything that happened. When my core was shattered into the state it’s currently in, it had a cascading effect into my brain. I have no idea how long I spent in this universe, essentially catatonic, before something caused my soul-core reaction to reignite ever so slightly. It was just enough to slowly bring me to the state I am now in over a very long time. So, understand that I do not remember nearly enough to tell you anything in full, but from what I do remember and understand, the System and I were friends. I don’t know how it happened or why, and from what these two have told me, the idea of anyone being friends with the System isn’t a thing. Sometimes the System does seem to play favorites, but actual friends is apparently a very different matter,” Sanquar explained. I thought I was finally beginning to understand why the System had taken such a strange interest in me.

“And because you sent me to the Spiral with your insignia, the moment I was registered in the Arena and entered the System’s path, something triggered in its processing somewhere connected to you, and I became a special project. Well, at least that finally explains a lot,” I said. It didn’t really explain much beyond the System’s interest in me. Hell, it didn’t even touch on the core experiments. Had those just been chosen because my knowledge base meshed best with them? Were there millions of potential unexplored paths out there that I could have ended on if I had had a different background? I had no idea, and we now had the giant mystery of how Sanquar had been tied to the System and just how much freewill the System even had of its own to add to our growing pile of questions. I was starting to get pretty tired of the mysteries at this point, too.

“So I ain’t met many of the people the System has favored; they don’t usually make it far. The factions don’t want that kind of person running around. But sometimes, and possibly more than sometimes, yer type gets a special class. Now, I don’t think ya have to take it. You can just pick a regular old class if you want, but I do think it’s in yer best interest to give whatever it offers a try, especially considering we ain’t gonna have time to find something better before the Arena,” Mel said. He had a point. I could always just change the class later if I didn’t like it. The System had been pretty nice to me so far, and I was between a rock and a hard place now anyway, so what was the harm in another experiment?

“Alright, I’m going to overwrite the orb and see what happens,” I said, as I confirmed that, yes, I did want to do that in the menu. My vision went a little weird, and things suddenly felt similar to when I was doing my core fortification.

Class Orb Wipe In Progress, Please Wait…

Wipe Sucessful, Uploading Core Information, Please Wait…

Analyzing…

Data Analysis Complete, Class Orb Overwrite In Progress, Please Wait…

Class Orb Restructured

Class Orb: Core Architect Socketed

I felt something new inside of my core, similar to a mana orb, but slightly more energy-dense, maybe? The class orb seemed to sit in between my core and the mana circuitry that connected to all the sockets. I didn’t know if that was a lucky coincidence or just the way it worked for normal sockets as well. I opened my eyes and for yet another moment of my life, was greeted by several pairs of eyes staring back at me intently. I was not a fan of the experience the first time, and I still wasn’t now.

“It worked, I think, I have a core architect class orb socked now,” I said, feeling Mel begin his own scan of my body the moment I had said it worked.

“Yer sure it says core architect?” Mel asked. I pulled up my interface and saw a new menu for class. I selected it, and sure enough, it confirmed that the class orb was a core architect one.

“Yep, just double-checked, and it says core architect. Why? Do I have some legendary, forbidden class now, too?” I asked sarcastically.

“No idea, can’t read that class at all on ya. You just keep coming up as deep scout, specialized marsh. Which is what the orb was before ya touched it,” Mel answered.

“Huh, that seems weird. I guess I can go check what options I have, and throw some experience in it. With the simulator, I can probably beef it up a little, at least,” I said.

“Go for it, though keep in mind that if that thing is unique, it’s gonna be a bitch to change anything ya pick, so be sure with your selections,” Mel said. While I didn’t know how to even change selections in a normal orb, I understood his point nonetheless.

Core Architect

Path of the Dungeon

Path of the Mana Weave

Path of the Soul

Experience Required

0/1,000,000

Each of the entries, including the core architect itself, were selectable, so I started at the top.

The Core Architect class is a versatile class that allows the host to deepen their understanding of the underlying forces that guide existence and, through that understanding, begin to modify themselves and the world around them.

Stolen novel; please report.

I wasn’t sure how to judge that blurb of information. That could be anyone who works in any experimental engineering or physics type of profession. Hell, it almost certainly described the engineers working with any particle accelerator. I read the description for each of the paths next.

Path of the Dungeon works to unlock the mysteries behind dungeons and the intelligence that shapes them.

Path of the Mana Weave seeks to better understand the flow of mana across all things and, through this knowledge, allows the user to manipulate those fundamental energy connections.

Path of the Soul is a journey of inner reflection. To truly understand a soul is to take control of the soul-core reaction itself.

Nothing implied choosing a path would lock out the others, but just to be sure, I canceled out of the menus and told the others my options so far.

“Anything that locks you into an option and removes others always alerts you. I probably shouldn’t say always, but I ain’t ever seen otherwise,” Mel said. Timon nodded in agreement. I assume Sanquar stayed quiet due to his memory issues.

“So you think I’m safe to just unlock each path?” I asked, not sure why I was being so cautious now. Had the earlier warning of how difficult it would be to change anything in the class gotten to me?

“Yeah, go play around,” Timon answered.

I pulled the menu back up and unlocked Path of the Dungeon. The feeling of the experience leaving me and flowing into the class socket and then the orb itself greatly reminded me of my fortification again, but not quite as extreme. There were options below it now, but before I selected anything I instead tried unlocking the other two. I had the same feeling for each, but no problem at all investing the experience. It seemed I very much was allowed to have all three paths.

I selected Path of the Dungeon and a whole new tree of options below it, but only the first three options were entirely visible to me. I could only see shadowy branching paths beyond them, with lines going in tons of different directions, almost like a mana orb, but with far more connections. Plus, I wasn’t able to see all the branching pathways on mana orbs from the start. I looked at the options that I was able to see.

Path of the Dungeon

In choosing this path you have decided to advance your knowledge in all aspects of dungeons, from the beings that live within them, the shapes and forms they may take, all the way to the reasons for their existence. Be wary, as knowledge gained is rarely lost.

Sapience

Environment

Authority

Experience Required

0/10000000

Other Requirement

Dungeon Cores: 4/5

Dungeons Explored: 9/5

Linked Cores: 1/1

Well, this seemed amazingly promising and tied very strongly to some of what I was already working toward. I checked the other two as well before proceeding any further.

Path of the Mana Weave

Unlocking the secrets of the Mana Weave Path is to understand magic on a deeper level. Archmagic, the true mastery of the Mana Weave, can only be grasped at the highest level, but what hidden dangers await those on the path?

Types

Channeling

Archmagic

Experience Required

0/10000000

Other Requirement

Mana Orbs: 5/5

Synergies Discovered: 0/5

Mana Orb Evolutions: 0/1

I wasn’t sure what to make of this path. It was certainly interesting, but I wasn’t even sure what a mana orb evolution was.

Path of the Soul

The mysteries of the soul are those for one on the Path of the Soul to unlock. As the keys are discovered, so too will the soul be strengthened. As the infernos of the soul flame grow, what happens to the shell containing it? Can the reaction be sustained?

Projection

Fortitude

Soulfire

Experience Required

0/10000000

Other Requirement

Soul Separations: 1/5

Soul Intrusions: 1/5

Ignitions: 0/1

I wasn’t touching that path until much later. The description unnerved me, not to mention it was the one I had met the least requirements for by far. I moved back to Path of the Dungeon. I did have plenty of experience to waste after all, and Mel wanted us as strong as we could get.

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All classes are unique, or at least they should be. Every single class orb works best when evolved alongside the core of the host. The problem is that the factions want easily trained shock troops, and rarely are those at the bottom of the factions allowed to guide their own growth in any meaningful way. This is the sad reality of the current state of the Spiral.

Classes Volume 1 by Zolinjar

Chapter 73: Showing Some Class

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