“Haha! Well said, Traveler. Indeed, one's class is possibly the most important choice they'll ever make. I'm sure you have many questions. I can answer a few, for a cost. There’s a-ahh,” he leaned to look around Raine at the empty space between him and the training grounds, “long line, so don’t take too long.”
“Do you know anything about advanced classes?” Raine tilted his head, not expecting much.
“I might…”
Knowing a hustle when he heard one, Raine shook his head, “Then I don’t have any questions.”
The man slapped on a slick smile, flashing his brows, “Hold on now, sailor. For the right price, I might know just what you need to hear. You never know if you don’t ask.”
“Unless you know specifics about ancient advanced classes, I’d like to make my choice.”
The man’s oily smile slipped and he chuckled nervously, “Very well, let’s get this wagon on the trail!”
With a flourish from the man, a screen appeared in Raine’s HUD.
[Available Class Selection]
[Brawler]
[Warrior]
[Defender]
[Rogue]
[Cleric]
[Mage]
[Advanced - Armsman]
Raine’s finger only paused a second before he selected Cleric, sealing his fate. The man frowned, then scoffed, “Here I thought you had something interesting to show me. What a blowhowl.” He shooed Raine away, “Head to the side yard over yonder. Your test will be held there.”
It was a tough choice, but Raine decided against picking any of the three hidden classes available in the Silvergate Kingdom. While not suffering the pitfalls of combination classes, hidden classes fit extremely niche rolls. For instance, the most popular of the three was the songster—a buffing class with so few offensive or defensive options they were useless outside massive guild battles. However, in a situation where thousands could hear them perform, they were an indispensable asset.
Considering what he'd seen of Armsman, any of the three would have made for a powerful combination. Ultimately, none would compare to the unfairness of having a few pocket heals to pull through a clutch battle. Since he wasn't using his Celestial Power for anything else in his build, it was too good to pass up.
Raine trotted to the indicated yard and as soon as he stepped onto the hard-packed, cleared area, ten bare chested men came hustling out of a nearby barracks. Four of them joined his side of the arena, the other six stood opposite.
[Soldier Trainee: Level 30 (HP ?????/?????)]
[Support your teammates to win the battle. Time limit: 10 minutes]
Raine sighed, glad the test was exactly as it was in the past. He'd trained many guild hopefuls on the basic class tests, so in theory, should have known exactly what he was in for. Since it was entirely possible he was the first person taking the cleric test, he had been a little on edge. After confirming there wouldn’t be any surprises, he opened the general skill shop and purchased Mend.
[Mend: (Novice) Launches a ranged heal with staves, wands, or bare hands. Upon impact, restores health equal to current CP. Additional health restored over 60 seconds (Cost: 25 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds)]
Before he could read the description, the men on both sides launched at each other. Heavy thuds filled the air as bare fists crashed into muscled bodies. Knowing there was only one way to fail this test, Raine wasn’t at all concerned that his side was outnumbered.
Instead of sitting back and waiting, he rushed to join the fun. In a flash of light, a two-handed mace with a heavy, spiked head appeared in his hands.
[Immaculate Damascus 2-H Mace: (Lustrous Blue - LVL 15) (Attack Power +78) (Attack Speed -.25) (Defense +22) (PTC +14) (PHY +16) (CNC +15) (Durability 200/200)]
Raine shuffle-stepped, appearing at the first enemy soldier’s side. His mace was mid flight, and the level thirty he was aiming for huffed uncaringly with a wide grin. Each ten levels was a large step-change in the power and defense of creatures, and Vaaterrans were no exception. Raine’s weapon hurtled toward an opponent double his level who he wouldn’t even consider being able to hurt under normal circumstances. The soldiers certainly felt that was the case, especially since Raine was currently just another cleric-hopeful.
His mace crashed into the air which rang like a struck bell. Rupture released two rippling waves that washed over three of the six enemy soldiers. Their cheeks distorted from the force. [Critical hit! -4,370] [-2,169] [Critical hit! -4,295] The next round of punches they received caused them to grunt in pain. Furious, bloodshot eyes swiveled in Raine’s direction. He was already running.
Damn, didn’t think I'd hit that hard! This armor is amazing.
The following seconds were a wild mess. Raine sidestepped repeatedly, burning through Discipline with every twitch and using the friendly soldiers as meat shields to stay out of reach. If not for his freshly boosted attributes, and the fact they were unarmed, he would have been caught instantly.
Eventually, the soldiers piled on enough damage to take aggro back and his heart pounded with relief that the Vaaterrans weren’t truly intelligent yet or they definitely wouldn’t have let him get away.
He snapped off a quick Mend toward a soldier off to the side who'd been tanking two enemies the entire time. [+153] with a wicked smirk, Raine lined up another Rupture.
The fight lasted under three minutes, without any of Raine's allies falling below fifty percent health. The last soldier collapsed in a bruised heap and Raine’s allies roared in their victory. If the first class change quests granted Superiority and Attunement, Raine would have been cheering right along with them.
[Congratulations!]
[You are now a Cleric! As far as permanent choices go, this was probably a bad one. Hide behind the backs of your unwitting allies and do whatever it takes to keep them alive, or you'll be next]
[Class specific skill store (Cleric) unlocked!]
[Skill upgrades unlocked!]
[Level up bonuses increased: (+9 free attribute points) (ACU +3) (CNC +8)]
[Retroactive Attribute Bonuses]
[Acuity: +3]
[Connection: +8]
As the attribute rewards for his class settled into his body, Raine’s peripheral vision expanded slightly. More noticeably, the air and ground directly around him came more under his control. Thanks to his new armor, Lunging from midair already required less focus and precision. Now, it was all the easier. The same would apply to any martial techniques he implemented that functioned by bending ZionLine’s reality. While repeatedly flexing the world around him to adjust to the changes, he accessed the attributes column in his status sheet.
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ATTRIBUTES: (Indicates values including equipment)
DISTRIBUTABLE: 15
POTENCY: 30 (55)
FINESSE: 30 (55)
ACUITY: 41 > 44 (69)
PHYSIQUE: 30 (55)
CONNECTION: 39 > 47 (72)
One more class quest to go. I have no idea what the Armsman attribute distribution looks like. After I find out, I’ll assign those free points. Hopefully, I’ll have enough to get more than two above the threshold.
When baseline attributes—total values minus equipment—reached certain milestones, they received a fundamental boost in efficiency and power. Fifty was the first such threshold, and Raine was nearly there. He shuddered, remembering the past, when he crossed the threshold with only a single attribute at a time. He'd practically turned into a teenager after a growth spurt, but with super powers. To distract himself from the horrific memory, he accessed his new skill store.
[Healing Burst: (Novice) Lay hands upon a target to restore health equal to 200% maximum CP. Additional 200% CP health restored over 120 seconds - stacks 3 times - each stack refreshes timer (Cost: 30 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]
So much better than Mend. The combination class variants only restore half as much.
[Healing Ray: (Novice) Channel through mace, wand, or hands toward a target within 10 meters to restore health equal to maximum CP every 10 seconds. User cannot move (Cost: 5 CP per tick) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]
[Minor Restoration: (Novice) Launches a ranged heal with staff, wand, or bare hands. Upon impact, restores health equal to 150% CP. Additional 150% CP health restored over 60 seconds (Cost: 35 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]
[Celestial Touch: (Novice) Lay hands upon the physical remains of a target to restore their life at 5% health and 0% other resources. Death penalties reduced by 90% (Cost: 100 CP) (Cooldown: 300 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Aid) (Price: 2000% AT)]
[Purify: (Novice) Cleanses a toxin, venom, poison, and paralysis effect on touch (Cost: 30 CP) (Cooldown: 20 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Detoxify) (Price: 1000% AT)]
[Guardians Embrace: (Novice) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Defense by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes) (Price: 1500% AT)]
[Guardians Comfort: (Novice) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Defense by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes) (Price: 1500% AT)]
[Guardians Armament: (Novice) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Damage by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes) (Price: 1500% AT)]
[Life Drain: (Novice) Lay arms or hands upon a target to absorb health equal to 200% CP (Cost: 15 CP) (Cooldown: 6 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Blast) (Price: 1000% AT)]
[Ray of Judgement: (Novice) Launches a ranged attack against a target within sight using mace, wand, or bare hands dealing 200% damage (Cost: 5 CP) (Cooldown: 3 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Blast) (Price: 1000% AT)]
[Sense Death: (Novice) Detect the direction of undead or those who have recently killed in a 50 meter radius for 10 minutes (Cost: 50 CP) (Cooldown: 15 minutes) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Far Sight) (Price: 1000% AT)]
If Raine were being honest, he wanted all the available skills. Of course, that wasn't possible since he didn't have any extra general skill points. On the other hand, the exact wording of unlocking the cleric skill shop made him wonder if he wouldn't lose access to it after using his class change token. That thought opened a whole new world of possibilities and he sent a quick prayer to Morty’s Great Computationals that it would be so.
Going through the list by section, he first chose a general healing skill. Healing Ray was a trap, as standing still to channel was incredibly dangerous. Sure, it was cheap and strong, but in almost every battle that mattered, it couldn't be used. Minor Restoration was the most balanced of the three, giving range and flexibility, though at a higher cost. Raine chose Healing Burst. Most of his healing would be aimed at himself, so there was no reason to take something more expensive that healed for less, just to gain some range he didn’t need.
Guardians Embrace was next. One of his biggest weaknesses when fighting above his level was not being able to take a hit. Anything that potentially solved that dilemma would be a huge boon. It was slightly more AT since it didn't consume a general skill, but still an obvious choice. He passed on Guardians Armament as his damage was already ridiculous and the additional draw on his Celestial Power would leave him unable to heal as much as he might need.
The third skill was the toughest choice. He waffled back and forth between Life Drain and Ray of Judgement. If he retained access to the cleric shop, then it didn't matter as he would eventually get both but that was only a vague hope. The massive range of ray was great, and so was its damage, but his expertise was melee. Drain’s healing, plus the short cooldown, made it just as appealing.
What finally sealed the decision was how ray worked. It wasn’t a point and click, but a beam of light that came from the air above the target. Any decently competent opponent would see it coming and dodge, which meant the skill was often relegated to forcing an enemy into a disadvantage position rather than actually dealing damage.
After buying Life Drain, he opened the skill upgrade shop and examined the grade enhancements he’d been dying to have.
[Leap: Novice > Beginner (Cost 250% AT)]
[Lunge: Novice > Beginner (Cost 250% AT)]
[Parry: Novice > Beginner (Cost 300% AT)]
While it might seem like upgrading general skills was a waste because they would almost all eventually be consumed to buy class skills, that wasn’t necessarily true. Once re-purchased, they retained their previous grade, and some skills like Lunge never went out of style. There was no need to hesitate. Raine bought all three.
[Leap: (Novice > Beginner) Increase jumping power after a short charge (Cost: variable up to 10 > 12 discipline)]
[Lunge: (Novice > Beginner) Ignoring momentum and inertia, accelerate to maximum speed in a chosen direction (Cost: 5 > 4.5 discipline)]
[Parry: (Novice > Beginner) Nullify the damage and redirect the force of a physical attack (Cost: 5 discipline) (Cooldown: 10 > 8 seconds)]
Increasing their grades again, from beginner to adept, required he use the skills two hundred times each. Additionally, their costs had multiplied by the law of five so he could no longer afford to upgrade them again anyways.
He glanced over the upgrade costs for his new cleric skills and each was a thousand Attunement to raise to beginner. There were too many unknowns with Armsman to sink so many resources into them so he closed the upgrade menu. Pleased with his choices, and setting aside any potential FOMO in advance, Raine pulled out one of his most priceless possessions and crushed it in his palm.
[Class Change Token: Activate to discard current class allowing for a new class advancement test to be undertaken]
He waited a moment for any system messages, but none appeared.
Is it so rare to discard a class that there was no need to create a notification? Lazy.
He checked his status, and sure enough his class displayed as none. Surprisingly, he still had access to both the cleric skills shop and the upgrade shop.
Pumping a fist for the huge win, he walked around the corner of the building to confront the scam of a trainer. The man shot him a knowing smile, nodding affectionately, “Don’t feel bad. That’s a tough challenge and often failed. How about a tip? It'll only cost you a gold. Good deal, eh?” He popped his tabard, nose in the air, “I'm known among my colleagues as being quite generous.” He flashed his brows again.
Raine simply blinked at him, annoyed, “What would be the point of paying for a tip if I can’t even take the test again for twenty-four hours? Let me guess, that little detail was going to slip your mind until you got a coin off me? Just give me the choices again.”
Taken aback, the trainer huffed, “Well, I never. Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you fail miserably at the next class, too! And I’ll be charging the standard rate of five gold per tip for you in the future!” He flapped his fingers and the selection appeared again. Raine frowned when he noticed Cleric was available to retake.
Guess it only starts the day timer for failures. They really were lazy with this feature.
Shaking his head, Raine selected Armsman. The man’s head jerked back and his eyes grew five sizes larger, nearly falling from his skull, “Wha-how-who-why-but. I-I’ve never seen something like this. Well, well, well, it appears we’re in for quite the treat!” With a skip in his step, he brushed past Raine, “Come along then, sailor. You’re going to be front and center!”
He led Raine to the main training yard. The sergeants had already cleared out the soldiers and they surrounded the dirt field, standing shoulder to shoulder. Two of them moved aside, allowing Raine to enter. The trainer filled the gap behind him, effectively blocking him inside.
A series of rumbling booms announced dark clouds that quickly gathered above the academy. They churned and roiled, spitting flashes of light back and forth. The sun was blotted out, casting a pall across the field. In the next instant, three bolts of lightning combined and slammed into the opposite end of the arena. Raine wasn’t alone in covering his eyes. He blinked away his blindness, revealing a daunting figure.
[Ancient Armsman (Noble): Level 20 (HP ???/???)]
[Defeat your foe. Time limit: 10 minutes]
The skeleton was much larger than those from the mystic realm. Its armor wasn’t patchworked either, completely encasing its four-meter-tall frame in layers of protection topped with barbed spikes. It held a wickedly sharp great-axe in one hand. The weapon caught and absorbed the light in the air, polluting it to radiate pulses of malevolent energy. The other hand held a greatsword that oozed corrosive blood. Each drop that hit the dirt sizzled, releasing streamers of sickly orange smoke.
Raine took a step back on instinct. Noble monsters were an entire class above elites, sporting boosted attributes and combat standards. If an elite usually required five people to take down, a noble needed fifteen to twenty and were rarely found outside special instances and raids. Running into one alone was a death sentence. With only three question marks beside its name, he knew its health resided in the hundreds of thousands.
Nothing he'd fought before came close to matching the threat of this monster. The onlooking sergeants and liveried instructor felt the danger as well. They raised their hands, erecting a magical barrier that boxed in the arena. The massive monster’s sockets glowed fiercely and it smashed its weapons together with ear-twitching Potency, jaw clacking with wild anticipation of the slaughter to come.