"So, I guess the big questions is where to start. I will begin talking about what I learned before the information packets and then get more specific as I need to refer to them more." Owen said sheepishly, for the first time wishing he had taken those presentations more seriously, maybe it would have made this easier.
"I guess the best place to start will be with stats." He said looking around for confirmation, before continuing. After a quick summary of the base stats he began to move on. "We have managed to find out that depending on your class and other focuses, it is possible to earn another stat. In my case, I have unlocked an additional stat and Peggy has also unlocked an additional stat. She earned hers through her class and I earned mine after a fight." He saw their guests look like they wanted to ask questions, but he raised his hand to keep them at bay.
"The method in which I gained my extra stat almost killed me and even now using it too much might result in my death, so it is not always guaranteed to be a good thing. One thing that is important to know however is that stats can be raised up by a certain amount during a span of ten levels. After gaining a class however, you lose access to half of the stats you could've gained through hard work. You then lose access to the other half when you unlock your secondary class."
He looked around and answered some of the questions asked very vaguely as every single question was about the stat he had gained. He didn't want to share it as he was worried they thought any new stat would be a good thing despite him telling them otherwise. Officer Adams seemed to have taken the warning seriously, but the sergeant major only looked eager.
"Tempers are also important. They help keep your body strong enough to withstand the amount of stats you gain, keeping you from exploding to your own power. The easiest way to perform a body temper is using system metals combined with earth metals and heat it until it is a liquid, before absorbing it as you would with mana. Most people who got a sponsor hopefully have completed this step, but you will eventually need to redo you body temper when you reach a high enough level to avoid any injury. Soul tempers need to be waited for until level 50, because of this, I am not entirely sure of the process required, but if I remember my own experience correctly is has to do with the method of absorbing certain energies from materials."
More than an hour passed by as he continued to explain everything he knew about growing powerful and eventually all they were left with was the conversation about classes and secondary classes. This was the only one his own group seemed genuinely interested in as, none of them had been able to grow as fast as they had wanted in their class. Myra had struggled with the idea of having gained tens of thousands of experience and leveling several times, but her class being left far behind. This time they would finally get an answer.
Owen was getting worn down continuously. He had never wanted to talk this long in his life and he couldn't be more glad that he was almost done. Using a little bit of his HP to restore his voice, he took another drink of water before beginning his explanation of classes. Both the officer and the sergeant had seemed glued to their seats for most of the day, but now they were sitting on the edge. Everyone had figure out at this point that you earned a class through clearing a gate, but some of the specifics for which classes had been lost, though most had realized it had something to do with the person themselves.
Wetting his mouth Owen began to speak, already ready to not talk ever again. "Classes are by far one of the most intricate and complicated aspects of the system. Earning your class, while it is simple it is not the same across all initiations into the system. On some worlds it required them to reach level ten and on others it required a certain amount of monsters be slain. Though that hardly matters as all we need to focus on is how we gain them on our own world, clearing gates. Secondly the classes that you can get are specific to how you have performed in the system thus far. So, if you liked using a weapon with an elemental enchant, then you will get a class involving elemental magic."
"Some of the most important instances though are inheritance classes, as those will always be specific to the creator of your inheritance. All getting the option requires is that you have a skill that is a part of that specific inheritance." Everyone nodded so Owen continued. "The first class you gain is essentially the genre of your power. So, if you chose a class like essence specialist, your secondary class will be offered as a subset of that class, based on your you used your classes power." This was the most important aspect to classes that wasn't immediately intuitive. Owen had spent a even amount of time training both with the spear and a sword, so the options of his secondary class were already solidifying as something related to those things, as long as they feel into one on the subsidiary classes on his inheritance class.
He quickly described that and everyone opened their eyes wide. Owen smiled as they looked at him in shock, but he didn't let them sit for too long before he spoke again. "So, it is important that if you want to gain power a certain way you have to avoid gaining a secondary class until you are sure of the path you want to take. The process of gaining a secondary class is currently unknown and there weren't any information packets about how to gain one. Given we gained our classes differently than other worlds have in the past, it is possible that it will be entirely different for us as well."
"Gaining experience in the class is by far the most important information for some of you and thankfully it is surprisingly simple. It doesn't require experience, but following your class family and accomplishing achievements is the fastest way to grow it's level. Inheritance classes are much harder to level, as the expectation is that you use the class exactly as the creator would've and accomplishing things that they would possibly have done. So if your class is sword specialist, as long as you use only your sword for fighting and win duels or fights that are against the odds, you'll gain class experience quickly. If you have an inheritance class, it is then more specific what is required to accomplish in order to consistently gain experience."
They talked for several more hours as questions were answered and the information was gone through more than a couple times, before both the officer and sergeant seemed ready to give their own presentations. The segreant went first and looked around the room at each of them before sighing. "It amazes me how far you young people have already made it in this new world, but I want to remind you that not everything in the old world is gone already. There are still cities thriving and moving towards a mixture of system and old world economics to function. We are too far from most of those larger cities, but I just want you to keep it in mind."
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The sergeant narrowed his eyes as he continued. "I am disappointed that despite the announcement, none of you joined the military as was requested by your government." He let the air frow tense before continuing. "But I am willing to neglect this offense as you saved many of the citizens and have taken control of keeping order and establishing something we can use to rebuild." Owen felt a lot of his tension float away at that, they weren't the military's enemies, which was something he couldn't be more thankful for. Not even he was confident trying to attack a firing squad without surprise on his side. Though he felt his heart sink at the next words out of the sergeant's mouth.
"However, if you don't want to make yourself an enemy of the state, then it is best that you hand over your guilds control to us and leave the rebuilding to the adults." Despite none of them making any noise, Owen could hear his friends scoff. Each of them were well into their twenties and while that was still young, they had already been in charge for a while without running into many issues. They each knew what it actually was, the military didn't care about how young they were, they cared more than anything about staying in power and taking control over a decently upgraded guild was a great start. They had even been saved thousand of system credits, as they had just been handed a fortune of knowledge for free.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Peggy asked with a concerned look on her face. The sergeant just looked at her and smiled. "Hand over control of your guild and you won't be considered traitors of the US government."
"Hmm, that isn't what I wanted to hear, especially since I gave you a chance to take it back." Peggy said seemingly worried. Owen knew she wasn't actually worried, but felt bad for the sergeant as Myra sat directly across from the sergeant radiating dangerous energies. "I understand that you have built something great here and I commend you for it, but it is part of your duty to your country to assist the military in it's endeavors, so we will be taking this guild off of your hands, whether you like it or not." The sergeant was sounding like a more slimy character the more and more he talked. The way he kept glancing at both Peggy and Myra also was beginning to make even Owen feel uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, but you are going to need to leave." Owen said standing before the sergeant. The man hadn't even had the time to react as Owen's stats allowed him to practically teleport to him. "You need to go, now." The sergeant turned his smile to Owen and he sneered. "You really want the whole military as an enemy boy? I don't care how powerful you think you are, we don't even need to fight you, we can just send a single missile your way and wipe you off of the face of the planet."
The sergeant stood up at a leisurely pace and threw another lecherous grin towards Myra and Peggy. "I wish you good luck, the only reason we haven't bombed your location already is a gesture of my good will towards your companions and our desire for the guild." He then left leaving everyone, including Officer Adams with a scowl of their face. "We should go kill him." Myra said instantly as she began to move after him, but Owen stopped her. She looked up at him with an almost betrayed look in her eyes, but something about the look he had on his face dispelled her anger.
"Oh we will, but we first need to figure out how to get away from it, I don't want to trade thousands of lives just to kill off one guy. We need those system defenses, I think they are the only way their artillery doesn't kill us all." Myra nodding and Peggy still looked concerned. "Why don't they just create a guild of their own, we told them how. All they would need to do is select their own base and say they want to create a guild, it's really easy." Owen also looked surprised as he had been to nervous to listen to the explanation earlier.
"It is partially because there is a limit to how many guilds can be formed in a certain area. Even though we are a couples hours away from the military base, we are still close enough that they won't be able to form a guild unless they move further away. Plus he just seems like an asshole and it's easier to demand it from someone who already has one."
Owen sat back down and Myra did as well, each of them turning to Officer Adams. "So, what are you thoughts?" Owen asked, honestly hoping that the police officer would side with them. "My duty is to my country, but I don't think anything that man is planning on doing is for this country. Especially threatening to kill all of the civilians that are here, just to wipe you three out. It's despicable." They all grinned at him who just shrugged. "I just want to help keep the city afloat more than anything. I'm not ready to declare war on the military base here, but if they threaten the lives of the civilians here again, I won't hold back."
"Any chance you want to join our team?" Owen asked grinning, but to his disappointment, Adams shook his head no. "I am honored, but I just want to protect the citizens while I can, I don't care for much else at the moment." He sighed but let Adams refuse without trying to convince him. Owen had thought it would be easier to decided hi own path if one of the roles of their team was taken away from him.
"I guess all we have to do then is clear out as many tier 3 gates as possible and begin building defenses, before the military comes by with full force trying to take over the guild." Peggy said and Owen nodded. If anything they were lucky that the sergeant didn't know how powerful they were and also underestimated the value of the guild, otherwise, they might've not had the meeting and just been attacked instead. Thankfully, he hadn't brought many reinforcements, though each of them knew that would be different on the next visit. It was a real race against time now and they needed to get a lot done.
"Myra, Briar and I can clear out a tier 3 gate on our own, anyone extra is a bonus, but we need people back here starting to build the defenses with the credits we have left." Thankfully one of the functions they had found out was after Owen had joined the guild he had taxes to pay to the guild, with a slight adjustment to the amount, they were able to tax him of every credit, letting Peggy hold onto all of them and use them for reinforcing the guild. After they had figured t it out, they had proceeded to do the same to everyone that had cleared the tier 3 gate. They would still need to clear another two tier 3 gates in order to buy all of the defenses required for the guild to level up, but for now it would hopefully be enough.
Peggy nodded. "I'll stay back and start building them, Lucas can go with you guys as I don't think I'll need the help."
Lucas who had already been searching a map he created several days ago, was looking for any tier 3 gates that might be nearby, just grinned. "I already found 2 that are close enough by that we could possibly finish both today."
"Let's go then, Adams, can you take charge of what's left of the police force and have them keep the peace. I know you guys have already been doing that, but we need it even tighter now. We can't afford to let them know that we are going to be gone for the next day possibly 2, otherwise they might begin attacking immediately. I don't think they'd start with missiles, but I guess you never know." Peggy said as Myra, Owen and Lucas raced out of the building and towards Peggy's car.
They needed to do everything they could now, as they were prepping for war.