"What's the Second Class Slot?" Monica asked.
"The System almost never gives Quests directly," Ted explained. "It's the New Gods that have to sacrifice a part of their divinity to give Quests to their followers. They accrue divinity through deeds of their followers and materials, and honestly, I don't really know from what else. But there is one case where the System is known to give a Quest to pretty much everyone."
"And that is?" Monica frowned.
"For a Second Class," Ted smiled. "Usually, if you're an adventurer and you're going somewhere dangerous, there's a chance the System will generate a Quest for you, in which case, you get a Second Class."
"Really?" Monica was surprised.
"Yes. But you should temper your expectations a little. Second Classes are not meant to be picked carelessly. See, the problem is that when it comes to a Second Class, if you pick something too close to your current Class, you're not really gonna get better abilities, and you might have trouble leveling up one Skill or the other. You know how your Obsidian Flame now levels up less because you're using Obsidian Impact?"
"Yes," Monica said.
"Well, if you were to accept a similar Class, maybe a Pyromancer Class or something on those lines, you would suffer even further in terms of leveling up your main Skills. At which point, the question would be why would you get a Class that doesn't let your Skills level up properly when Skills make the bulk of what you stand to earn from a Class."
Monica raised an eyebrow. "What should people do?"
"What my father taught as one of the first lessons at the Academy," Ted said, "is to look for a Class that first complements your First Class Attributes. So, for example, you are sorely in need of Vitality. So whatever Class you pick, you stand to gain a lot by choosing a Class that gives you a ton of Vitality because Phoenix Feathers and Phoenix Fury are possibly the strongest weapons you have so far, and the upside as you level up of that Skill is almost endless. Hell, it might even give a flat percentage bonus at its first or second evolution."
Monica scratched her chin. "So, basically, a Class that has Skills that are not similar but complementary to mine."
"Exactly," Ted nodded.
Monica looked down at the Nightshade Battle Wear, which already had several tears in different places, then at Ted. "Hypothetically, Ted, do you think I could get the Blacksmith Class? It would be nice to fix up my equipment and perhaps even enchant the bracers." Monica raised her forearms to reinforce her point.
"A Blacksmith Class?" Ted cringed. "I don't know. Blacksmiths are secretive with their techniques, and people usually pick it as a First Class because it's a very hard Class to level. Even with someone who might be interested in teaching you." But when he saw Monica's face drop, he added, "You do have two magical divine flames, which might make it possible to help in the smelting process. Maybe. And Blacksmith's main Attributes are Strength and Vitality, which would complement your own Class really well."
"Also," Monica said, "I think it would be nice if I could repair this." She pointed at her armor. "And it would also be nice to enchant the bracers."
"Well..." Ted made a face. "Enchanting the bracers might be a little harder because you would first need an Enchanter to work out gems well before trying to fuse them with your equipment. Plus, those bracers, Monica, are Divine grade."
"So?" Monica frowned.
"So," Ted cringed, "you would need a very high-grade gem. We're talking the kind of gem that doesn't really have a price, the kind of gem you barter for." Ted raised his hands, not knowing how else to communicate the point.
"Ted," Monica frowned, "do you realize we are inside of a Great Dungeon on our way to go kill an Old God?"
Ted opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, "Actually, you know what? I think you have a point. Sometimes I forget you're an immortal being made to slay the Old Gods."
"Hey, that doesn't sound too nice," Monica said. "I'm also a pretty woman who can be very girly."
Everyone, from Sir Tristan to Heidi to Dotty, turned toward Monica and gave her a look.
"What?" Monica said. "I can be!" she protested.
Sir Tristan approached them and said, "We should stop wasting time. What's our goal here?"
"Alright," Monica nodded. "We need the Spear of Dhoznil to kill Machina. Lucas said that my flames wouldn't be enough. Therefore, we need to get a divine weapon to tear that monster apart, once and for all."
"The Spear of Dhoznil should be in a temple," Ted said. "In the Temple of Dhoznil."
"Yes," Monica nodded. "Now we just have to find it."
"We don't," Ted said, and everyone turned to him as he pointed straight at a gigantic elevated structure. It was right in the middle of the first floor of Viscera, surrounded by four giant staircases carved from the stone. Huge double doors of crystal opened on each side, but they were shut.
"Well, let's get going," Monica said, looking at the temple.
* * *
While they walked, Monica took a second to peer at the notes that Lucas had left her. She had asked the man to research the Book of the Twin Phoenix and give her the highlights of what he thought would be important for her Class. She didn't have the time to go through the book page by page and then try to study it to see what she could gain from it. That's why she had given it to Lucas, who had been nothing but enthusiastic at the thought of doing that. Monica preferred punching things to reading things.
Lucas's notes were two sheets of paper with cleanly written conclusions. "Even though the Book of the Twin Phoenix does not contain instructions on how to unlock Class-specific Skills or the description of said Skills," Lucas wrote, "it's stated in no uncertain terms that all the Skills of the Avatar of the Twin Phoenix are used through her flames. It is not unlikely that this means that every Skill you have can be infused either with the Obsidian Flame or the Golden Flame."
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Monica stopped reading for a moment, thinking about Obsidian Impact, the Skill that she had gotten by transforming the Fireball Skill into a melee Skill. She fully believed Lucas's words, even the fact that Fireball had become much more powerful precisely because of her Obsidian Flame. However, Fireball, as the name suggested, was a Skill that relied on flame. Therefore, it wasn't hard to use the Obsidian Flame with it.
But when it came to other Skills, like Mana Sense, Monica didn't really know how she would infuse her flame into it, and more importantly, which flame she would infuse in it. Meanwhile, Skills like Phoenix Step already had the usage of her flames included in it. So she wondered, would Phoenix Step change if she focused only on one of the two Skills? For example, she was not very interested in the Golden Flame effect on Phoenix Step, which allowed her to change direction while using the Skill. Honestly, Monica was proficient enough in fighting that she was much more interested in using the Obsidian Slam effect, which allowed her to increase the damage of her blows.
She put Lucas's notes away, feeling a headache forming in the back of her head. Between this and the conversation she just had with Ted, she was feeling worn down by all the thinking. Thankfully, a distraction arrived immediately.
Three Corrupted Spider Constructs exploded out of the windows of a building by their side. Monica looked worriedly at Dotty, about to activate Phoenix Step to intercept any of the monsters who tried to hurt the teenage girl.
[Corrupted Spider Construct - Level 81]
[Corrupted Spider Construct - Level 82]
[Corrupted Spider Construct - Level 81]
Sir Tristan was a step ahead.
"Enemy Magnet!" he shouted. This time, unlike the first time he had activated the Skill, not one but all three spiders flew at breakneck speed toward his shield. The impact didn't bend the shield in the slightest, but all three monsters instead took a lot of damage from that.
Monica, seeing how strong the Knight was, felt relieved that he was helping them. At the same time, she felt a rising spike of trepidation.
"Sir Tristan," she shouted, "don't kill them! We need to level up! Do not kill them!"
Sir Tristan thankfully didn’t bring his large sword down on the monsters and simply kept them at bay with his shield. The three Corrupted Spider Constructs were still reeling from Sir Tristan's Enemy Magnet, their metallic legs scraping against the stone as they tried to regain their balance.
"Heidi, Ted - let's go!" Monica called out, her eyes never leaving the mechanical monstrosities. "Dotty, stay back and watch how we handle this. I mean it - do not engage."
Ted's fingers found their place on his mandolin strings, and the first notes of Song of the Phoenix filled the air. Monica felt the familiar surge of power as the music wrapped around her.
Heidi took up position behind Sir Tristan while black flames wreathed around her hands.
Monica decided to try something new as she rushed the closest Corrupter Spider Construct.
She focused on her Mana Sense, trying to infuse it with the Obsidian Flame. She imagined the dark fire flowing into her perception, seeking to sharpen her awareness of the constructs' weak points.
Nothing happened. The Obsidian Flame refused to merge with the Skill, remaining stubbornly separate no matter how she tried to combine them. It was like trying to mix oil and water.
"Emberheart's Fury!" Heidi called out, and Monica felt the surge of power emanating from the Phoenix Pyromancer.
Monica charged forward, aiming for the leftmost spider while Heidi began her assault on the rightmost one. The blonde's hands moved in rapid succession, launching empowered Fireballs that struck with devastating force. Each impact left spreading pools of black flame that had trouble eating into the construct's metal legs.
We are too low leveled, Monica thought, barely dodging one of the sharp legs of the monster she was engaging. Even with Sir Tristan acting like a human shield and giving them all the time to strike at the monsters, and even with Ted's song playing in the background, the damage Monica could deliver was severely limited, and the same went for Heidi. The spiders weren't particularly resistant to attacks. Their limbs were rather thin, and their body weight was nothing to be impressed with. But still, the constructs, which Monica could make fly with a well-placed punch, barely took any damage from her Obsidian Flame and Obsidian Impact.
She had died to kill one of these constructs during the previous engagement. But she didn't rely on that as a long-term strategy. She needed to deliver damage to all three spiders, and the same went for Heidi. They needed to level up. Otherwise, they would never be able to venture into the lower levels of Viscera.
As Monica backflipped to dodge a swiping leg of the Corrupted Spider Construct, she tried injecting the Golden Flame into her eyes. The description of the Skill mentioned that the Golden Flame was channeled through her heart, but she also had the impression that Mana Sense sort of functioned through her eyes, even though she could sense mana that she couldn't see.
Then Monica finally saw it. Something flickered in her vision. The world seemed to slow down ever so slightly as she sidestepped an attack that would have normally delivered a grievous cut on her arm. Whatever she was doing with Mana Sense and the Golden Flame felt like grasping water with open hands. It just streamed past her fingers.
The next attack pinned Monica through her thigh. The Corrupted Spider Construct pierced her quad from side to side, making her scream in pain. One of its other legs went up and flew right at her head, ready to pierce her. Monica grabbed it with both hands and stopped it barely an inch from her eyes. She tried pushing it back, but the spider was, despite its thin frame, stronger than her. She didn't have enough Attributes to compete with it in a contest of strength.
The force ripped its other legs from her thigh. And even though she made the Golden Flame appear there, there was so much missing flesh that not even her divine flame could heal it fast enough. Stumbling back on one leg as she let go of the spider leg, she was forced to take blow after blow, trying to minimize the damage while her leg healed, but with so many wounds sprouting all over her body, her mana was being consumed at an alarming rate.
"Emberstorm Convergence!" Heidi suddenly shouted, and Monica saw Tristan jumping back as a larger fireball, a massive orb of obscene flames, hit the two spiders and then turned into a swirling vortex of black flames that lifted the light constructs off their legs.
With all the strength she had left, Monica activated Phoenix Step, using only one leg to propel herself forward, and squarely punched the monster in its body, making it fly toward the tornado of black flames. Monica waited, focusing all of her attention on her leg, slowly reforming the flesh, knitting the muscle back more and more with each passing second.
As the vortex started dying down and the spiders touched the floor once again, Monica saw that even Heidi's Level 90 Skill hadn't been able to melt the creatures' bodies any more than their most superficial layer. And now the screeching Corrupted Spider Constructs seemed even angrier.
Sir Tristan used his Enemy Magnet Skill again, attracting them to his shield, battering them down. Monica focused on Mana Sense, trying to merge it with the Golden Flame, stealing wisps of enhanced perception that allowed her to enlarge her field of vision and perceive reality at a much faster rate, effectively slowing down the events unfolding in front of her. But even with her superior battle instincts, the control of the Skill was slipping away again. It was slightly easier doing this outside of a direct fight.
But when Monica saw Dotty jump on a spider that Sir Tristan had knocked off its feet, trying to cut through it with Twilight's Edge, Monica's concentration broke.
In the next moment, the spider struck the girl with its nimble and deadly leg. The impact sent Dotty squarely on the stone floor, knocking the wind out of her. Blood sprayed from a deep gash on her leg as she crumpled to the ground. Twilight's Edge clattered across the stone floor, out of the girl's hand.
Monica could almost see the spider smile as it raised its leg, a little too far from Sir Tristan to do anything on the spot.