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Inventory:
-1 class seed
-1 low-grade variable class kit
-1 divine thought communication titled: “Welcome, Traveler.”
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Closing the previous window, and opening his inventory had been as easy as a thought. His inventory had a twenty pound weight limit, and was organized as a list. The numbers suggested to him that sufficiently similar items would stack. After some thought, he decided to choose the “divine thought communication” as the first item he extracted.
“Welcome, traveler, to the world of Northrend.” Said a sultry female voice that seemed to come from every direction at once; echoing slightly as it penetrated directly into his mind. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. At the end of this message, I will give you my name so that you might pray to me for guidance. Before that, though, I ask for some patience on your part. What I have to say will likely answer some of those questions, and create many more. As you might have guessed, I am a goddess, tasked with overseeing this world. Unfortunately, this world is dead. The portal which brought you here was the spell used to facilitate the escape of the final surviving humans. Because you were caught by the other side of the portal, you were sucked into it; moving in the opposite direction. Other than that group of survivors, which has migrated to your homeworld, no sentient race has a single surviving member on this planet. I will be here to help, but if you wish to survive, you must find your own way among the decayed remnants of my people. All hope is not lost, though. If you reach the one hundredth floor of the divine tower, a feat no natural-born citizen of this world has accomplished, you may make a single wish. To return to your home, to cure the world, anything within my power. To get there, you will need to choose a class. Ingest the class seed, and you will have twenty-four hours to select a class. Choose well. It will define your growth for the rest of your life, unless you later use another seed to re-class. The class kit will adapt itself to provide starting supplies based on what class you choose. My name is Sonarei. Divine communication places a great deal of strain on mortals. You may pray to me for guidance, and I will be able to converse with you for up to ten seconds per personal level per day. Other options may become available to us as your power increases, but as the details will change depending on your choices, I will refrain from going into specifics for now. I highly recommend that you work diligently to improve your level if you wish to survive. Good luck.”
Dave frowned as the echoes of her words faded. The entire situation was surreal, and the fact that he still couldn’t see or hear wasn’t helping. With an inaudible sigh he accessed his inventory, and the class seed fell into his hand. Dave thrust it into his mouth before he could second-guess himself. It had an unsurprisingly bland, nutty flavor. Like an un-seasoned cashew. It was soft enough to be easily chewed, and he soon swallowed. Nothing happened for several seconds, but then a system window appeared in his vision.
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Class Selection Unlocked
Congratulations, you have ingested a class seed. The list of classes currently available to you is selected based on your aptitudes, nature, achievements, and skills. More classes, or even a class upgrade may become available to you as your growth progresses, so choose wisely. Your choices shape your past, present, and future. Select a class to learn more about it.
Classes available:
-Fighter
-Rogue
-Healer
-Mage
-Tactician
-Summoner
-Scholar
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Dave sorted through the list. The first four classes were available to anyone as base classes. Tactician was available due to his overall gaming experience, summoner was available due to his experience specifically with the metaverse monsters game, and scholar was available because of his mandatory public education. Only two of the classes matched his current situation, though.
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Healer:
Use magic to heal wounds. At low levels, only basic cuts and bruises can be healed, but as you progress, even mortal wounds, lost limbs, or permanent damage can be repaired or replaced. Almost all perks revolve solely around healing. Perk points are available every fifth level.
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Summoner:
Summon creatures to fight on your behalf. Most creatures will start out as weak, basic animals, but through perk selection, summoner levels, creature levels, direct training, evolution, and other miscellaneous effects, the summoner can turn them into a mighty army. Possible perks include the ability to scout through the summoned creatures eyes and ears, various increases to their stats, the gift of sentience, and speech. These are of course only a handful of possibilities, and not the full list. Perk points are available every five levels. Summoned creatures gain individual perk points every five levels.
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Considering his options, Dave came to a decision. Adjusting himself, he knelt and clasped his hands. He hadn’t been particularly religious before, so the situation felt fundamentally wrong on some level; but practicality overrode the discomfort.
“Goddess Sonarei, I pray for your guidance. How many perk points would I need from the healing class in order to heal my eyes?” It was strange to feel his voice-box working, his mouth opening as air moved through his throat; yet hearing nothing. The discomfort was quickly squelched by the sensation of ice-picks stabbing into his brain.
“Three.” The formerly sultry voice of the goddess was loud, deafening even, and it flooded through him with a sensation like needles pricking his head from the inside.
It only took him three seconds to realize that he had unwittingly fallen over on his side. Pulling himself slowly back into his prayer position, he emitted a silent cough, and tried again.
“And how many points would it take to see through the eyes of summoned creatures with the summoner class?” He asked, steeling himself against the reply.
“One.” Came her answer. This time he was prepared, and managed to ride out the accompanying pain.
“How many perk points will I start with?” He asked, gritting his teeth.
“One.” Came the reply.
After he was done gasping with pain, Dave sighed. In all honesty, part of him had been hoping for this result. Left to his own devices, he would have selected the summoner class purely due to his natural inclinations. On the other hand, he valued regaining his vision and hearing far more than any game-world power fantasy. The facts were the facts though. There was no way he could gain the ten additional levels he would need via the healer class in order to unlock the ability to repair his vision.
Feeling a mix of resignation, and thrill, Dave selected the summoner class.
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A Summoner Has Been Born!
Congratulations! Due to acquiring a class, your stat page has been unlocked.
The previously hidden stats have been updated to reflect your upgrade to level one as a summoner.
You have gained intrinsic, spell-like abilities:
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
-summon cat
-summon rat
-summon small dog
-unsummon
You have gained 1 perk point.
You have gained 2 summon slots.
You have gained 5 free stat points.
Your class kit has changed to reflect your new class.
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It only took a moment of poking to locate the perk selection option.
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Perk Selection, Summoner:
-Recruitment Drive 1: 1 extra summon slot.
-Power Up 1: summons receive 10% of your total stats, added to their base values, rounded to the nearest whole number.
-Infinite Potential 1: summons receive 1 extra stat point per level. This applies retroactively.
-Ensouled 1: summons gain basic sentience. They become able to better interpret complex commands, but also become better able to choose their own interpretations of commands. They will never be able to truly disregard your orders.
-Scouting 1: see through the eyes of your summoned creatures within a range of 50 feet.
-Training 1: any creature can improve their stats naturally through training. This ability will make summoned creatures train their stats 10% more easily.
-Empowerment 1: summoned creatures have 1 extra perk point regardless of level. This is applied to all current and future summons.
-Self-sustaining 1: summoned creatures may move an additional 50 feet from the summoner before suffering penalties.
-Quick Start: By expending additional mana during the summoning, summoned creatures may start at a higher level. Mana cost is variable depending on the creature, and increases exponentially. Summoned creatures may never be a higher level than their master.
-Specialization: summoned creatures unlock access to a curated list of classes designed to enable them to better fill specialized roles within a party setting. Class selection is unlocked for existing creatures when this perk is chosen, and will provide all class benefits retroactively. Class selections are intended as a supplement for an already functional party, not as a replacement for proper members. You have been warned.
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Dave sighed in resignation into the silent, empty void of his senses, and picked the “scouting 1” perk. He received a confirmation screen, and a slight prickling sensation. With a thought, Dave brought up his character sheet to begin analyzing his options.
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Name: Dave Kowalski
Class: Summoner
Level: 1
XP: 0/1000
Perk Points: 0
Stat Points: 5
HP: 8/8
MP: 16/16
SP: 6/6
Strength: 5
Agility: 6(-5)
Endurance: 6
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 8
Abilities:
-Summon Rat
-Summon Cat
-Summon Small Dog
-Unsummon
Perks:
-Scouting 1
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Dave opened the info page for “summon rat.”
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Summon Rat
Creates a permanent summoned rat. All summoned creatures begin at level 1, and will grow in level according to the individual XP share settings assigned to it, as well as through any activity which would count as training a stat for any normal creature. Other forms of growth are available through perk selection. Summoned creatures evolve to a higher tier of creature every ten levels, and earn individual perk points every five levels. This is the lowest tier of the rat evolutionary tree.
Cost: 10 MP.
Range: 5 feet
Slots: 1
Cast time: 5 seconds
XP Curve: Fast
Stat Rating: Low
Training Curve: Fast
Misc Requirements: must be invoked on a sufficiently level surface.
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Dave nodded blindly to himself, and checked the other summoning abilities. They all had identical pages aside from the different creature names. Essentially, every starter creature had fast level growth, poor stats per level, and gained stats via training quickly. Continuing to nod absent-mindedly to himself, Dave made a decision about his build. Dropping four of his stat points into intelligence, Dave confirmed the obvious when his max MP increased by an equivalent four points. He placed his final point into dexterity as an experiment, but shook his head in disappointment when the negative malus increased to match; confirming that he was capped at a dexterity of one.
Sighing at the wasted point, Dave focused on summoning his first creature. The ability came easily to him, as if he had always known how to do it despite this being his first time. He knelt, and aimed the effect close to his knees; hoping the ground there was level enough to meet the requirements. The loss of mana as it flowed from his body was dizzying, and there was a strange taste of chicken on his tongue for the entire five second duration. He could not see or hear the ensuing spell when the mana stopped draining, but he knew the moment the rat stepped into the world. It was as if a small, secondary consciousness lit up within his soul. Another self that felt as if it had always been there; if only he had noticed it sooner.
Smiling fondly, Dave extended his hand, and willed the rat closer. It obliged, nuzzling his hand affectionately. After the initial moment of awe at this tiny life he had created both within himself, and outside of himself, Dave refocused on more practical matters. He activated the scouting perk. Rather than perceiving through the rat’s senses as he had initially expected, a system window appeared in his vision. It was similar to watching a video on his computer; albeit with no sound, and there was a split screen effect due to the rat ‘s eyes pointing in opposite directions. With another silent sigh, Dave resigned himself to this handicap, and awkwardly picked up the rat; placing it sideways on his shoulder to get the best possible approximation of his normal vision. Naturally, this had the advantage of also being able to see behind him; which he appreciated. Curious, he checked his dexterity score, and snorted when he revealed that the negative malus had turned into a question mark, as if the system no longer knew how to determine his capabilities. Next, he opened the rat’s stat page.
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Name: N/A
Class: N/A
Species: Rat
Tier: 1
Variant: Base
Level: 1
XP: 0/300
HP: 2/2
MP: 1/1
SP: 2/2
Strength: 1
Agility: 5
Endurance: 2
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 2
Charisma: 5
Abilities:
-XP Share
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Dave brought up the window for the XP share option.
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XP Share
Party share determines the percent of XP siphoned from the summoner’s overall XP gains to feed the summoned creature’s growth, while individual share determines the percent kept by the summon after it earns XP. Any XP which is not siphoned or kept by a summoned creature will instead go toward the summoner’s growth as if they had personally earned it. If the creature is currently level-capped, any XP earned beyond the creature’s current capacity is given to the summoner.
Group Share: 0/100%
Individual Share: 50/100%
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Dave immediately turned the individual share value down to ten percent. He would have set it to zero, but ten seemed to be the absolute minimum.
“You need a name.” He muttered to the rat. After a moment of thought, he smiled.
“From now on, your name is Fear.” He informed it. The sensation of talking without hearing was still uncomfortable to him, but he felt as if he had said it properly. The rat sent a dual feeling of acknowledgement and disinterest through the mental bond, but Dave smiled at it anyway; petting it affectionately. The name was a reference to a joke monster build from metaverse monsters that only hardcore players would understand, but as a hardcore player himself he felt smugly satisfied with his superior sense of humor. After confirming that the name section of the rat’s character sheet had updated itself, he gave it one final pat before focusing on summoning another creature. After some internal debate, he elected to summon a cat based purely on the fear that “small dog” would give him something the size of a chihuahua. At least a cat of any breed could do some kind of damage with its claws.
This time he was able to watch the summoning process. As he channeled mana, a small purple oval faded into existence at his waist height. Now that he was paying attention, he realized that the rat’s perception of color was slightly off from what he was used to, and that it could perceive swirling colors within the mana-filled oval that he had no words for because the normal human eye was incapable of perceiving them. The sensation of entirely new colors was slightly nauseating, as if his brain simply didn’t know how to process them, but it wasn’t bad enough to provoke a more extreme reaction. After the five second cast time had ended, Dave watched an orange house cat pad calmly out of the oval. The moment its head penetrated the swirling magic, he felt the same mental link he had experienced with Fear, as the cat’s existence blazed into life inside of his soul. Smiling, he petted the cat’s head, and felt a purr vibrating its body.
“Your name is Hush.” He informed the cat, giving it the same name as his childhood pet. The cat sent a mental acknowledgement as it rubbed itself happily against its hand.
"Are you a boy? Or a girl?" He asked the cat, who simply blinked at him, and sent condescension through the mental link.
"Roll over on your back." He commanded. Hush did so, and Dave nodded. "Girl." He announced to himself.
Suddenly, Hush stiffened, and Dave realized she was staring at Fear.
“You are never allowed to attack other summons.” He told the cat, just in case. She gave him a haughty stare, but acknowledged the command. Dave frowned at Hush, but she simply resumed rubbing against him happily. Checking the cat’s stat page, he confirmed the stats were almost as bad as Fear’s, with a similar emphasis on dexterity.
Dave sighed. “We have a lot of work to do.” He informed the cat. The only response was Hush sending him a feeling through their link. Hunger.