Magnus carefully snuck his way up into the first floor, there was a passable replica of himself still sitting in the core room as he made his way into the upper floor. He was quite pleased with how the dungeon was growing, the second floor was expanding well and the lizard boss was getting stronger. It was still pathetically weak as was right for a creature of its low tier but even now its draconic blood was starting to shine through. If Magnus had to guess he would put the boss at around level five, it wouldn’t be long now before it would evolve.
Although the first evolution was quite easy it was still an accomplishment and the first step on the path to greater power. It was a pity that it would be so long before the tiny lizard became worthy of a class. He would have loved to have someone to discuss the finer points of magic with.
Magnus reached the entrance of the dungeon hopefully undetected, the aura of a dungeon was very perceptive and it would only grow stronger with time but for now, his magic should still be enough to conceal him. He carefully deactivated the remaining runes that he had placed around the entrance of the dungeon. It was fine for Valens to have a vague idea of the power of runes but it wouldn’t do to have him trying things he wasn’t ready for. Malformed runes tend to go wrong, explosively wrong, Magnus hoped his caution would prevent the young core from trying anything too risky just yet.
The rune script dimmed and faded into inactivity and the disturbance of the surrounding mana slowly ended. The runes had served their purpose but were now no longer necessary, with Valens’ first boss being discovered by the sentient races would no longer be a problem. Even the stupidest lord in the human lands would hesitate to try and quietly destroy a fully-fledged tier one dungeon because of the riches such a dungeon would eventually bring.
While most of it was no doubt his influences on the core, Magnus was still impressed with how well Valens was developing. Most dungeons didn’t figure out how to create bosses until long after they were born, and the complex system that he had proposed had been beautifully integrated into the dungeon. Valens was already starting to encourage the growth of its more powerful species, and this would pay off in spades once things started to evolve. Sighing the drake corrected himself, once things could evolve.
Dungeons could only have normal monsters that were the same tier they were, so as a tier one dungeon Valens could only have tier one monsters. The exception to the rule was bosses which could be one tier higher than the dungeon, which meant that hopefully, the lizard would be evolving into something more powerful soon. Magnus himself was a rather big exception to the tier limitation as well but he would be limited to his current power for quite a long time.
Magnus slipped back into his spot in the core room and settled down to take a well-deserved nap. At least his evolution was now only a matter of time instead of a vague improbability, a perk of being a dungeon creature was that normal evolutionary requirements didn’t apply. Valens only had to grow strong enough and then Magnus would once again spread his wings.
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Celia gasped in pain as she limped down the alley, her leg throbbing and broken. It hadn’t even been intentional this time not really, adventurers were just so much stronger than a weak unclassed like her. Even a casual bump could leave her bruised and battered, and this time it had been a mug carelessly tossed across the room. To the other adventurers, it had probably been a careless throw easily avoided but she had barely even seen the missile until it had struck her.
Working in an adventurer’s inn was dangerous work, but for someone who grew up on the streets like her, it was better than nothing. It paid better than any other job she could have gotten, and for the most part, she was ignored as she brought the adventurers food and drinks. They were just so careless, broken bones scraped in her leg as she lowered herself painfully to the alley ground. It would take most of her savings hidden under a loose cobblestone to pay a healer, and she would still be limping for weeks afterward if not her entire life. Most of her money went to treating injuries now that she thought about it.
What Celia needed was to finally unlock her class, a benefit of being around so many adventurers all the time was they were loud, very loud. Over the years she had managed to get a rough idea of what the different classes were which was better than just guessing and hoping for the best. There were three main classes that she could choose from when she finally unlocked her class: apprentice, novice, and page. Out of those classes, Celia had decided that she would choose page as her class.
Jiggling the stone next to her until it popped up Celia reached in to pull out her stash of bronze coins she had underneath. Her questing fingers scraped dirt and she bit back a curse leveraging up the stone to look underneath. Sure enough, it was empty. Someone else must have found her stash and helped themselves meaning she had no money to pay for her leg and probably not enough to pay for a place to sleep.
Celia frantically dug through her pockets counting the coins she had been paid with today and sighed in relief. It had been a good night, as far as the pay was concerned, she had just enough for one of the shadier inns in the city that don't cater to nobles or adventurers. That was good, it was dangerous at night especially with an injury like her’s. It would be a setback but she would scrimp on food for the next few weeks to get enough money for a healer.
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Chittering sounded in the alley behind her and Celia turned to see beady eyes glimmering in the evening gloom. Celia painfully pushed her way to her feet putting her back against the wall behind her, this was the real danger in the city. It wasn’t the gangs that she had managed to escape when she was younger, it wasn’t the city guards or adventurers or even the nobles with stuck-up indifference for everyone. No, it was the monsters. For the most part, the really dangerous monsters were kept outside the city by the guards but not all of them.
Shakily Celia pulled a small knife out of the folds of the server uniform she wore, it was more of a deterrent than a true weapon but it would have to do. Rats were everywhere in the city, and the city guard had long since given up trying to exterminate them. To most people, even most commoners like her rats weren’t a threat at all but she was alone, hurt, and unclassed. The monster could probably sense her weakness and any monster would gain quite a bit of power from bringing down any human, even one as weak as her. Tightening her grip on her knife Celia braced herself determined not to go down easily.
...Scanning
...Requisite Spirit Integrity Detected
...Choose Starting Class: Apprentice, Novice
...Beginning Countdown… 10
Tears streamed down Celia’s face. She was saved, at last, her class choice but something was wrong. Where was the page class? She gulped hard, she had known that some people didn’t get all three class choices but she had heard it was unusual and had assumed it wouldn’t happen to her. 9 Even if all her plans had gone out the window she still needed to choose before the Voice chose for her. 8 Apprentice was a no go, the class of mana and mages was the favored path of nobles but it required teachers and spells to be powerful, teachers and spells she didn’t have. 7 Novice, on the other hand, used chakra, she didn’t know much about the class, it was rare for someone to choose it, and whenever she had heard it discussed it was someone cursing out assassins.
6 Page would have been perfect, all she needed to do was train to make use of the chi class even if it was the most common class in the kingdom. 5 Focus Celia you’re running out of time, I need to choose between the options I do have and not focus on what I don’t. 4 The chittering rats closed in and she lashed out with her dagger trying to buy enough time to make her choice. 3 Novice is almost completely unknown to me, but I’m positive that I’ll be practically useless as an apprentice. 2 Celia took a desperate gamble, kicking out and shouting at the rats starting to surround her.
...Selection Confirmed
...Class: Novice
...Beginning Integration…
Heat erupted in Celia’s chest and wormed its way through her body. It felt like her very blood had been set on fire, but before she could even cry out it was over and the energy settled. She felt stronger than before, like a coiled spring waiting to be released, the rats around her chittered uncertainty at her. Celia’s fear was rapidly being washed away as her new strength settled into her very being.
Instinctively she reached out to her chakra and the energy sprang forth at her call flowing through her blood from her fingertips to the soles of her feet. The world seemed to slow and the pain of her injury faded as she lunged forward with her tiny knife. The first rat died in seconds as her knife plunged through its eye. Yanking back her arm with a spray of blood she slashed at another rat lunging towards her, a sharp snap rang through the alley. The shards of her pathetic weapon logged themselves in the open mouth of the rat as Celia spun aside to let it smash into the wall of the alley.
One particularly brave or foolish rat took the opportunity to lunge at her back but she could hear its claws scraping against the stone and its very breath as it soared through the air. Taking a small sidestep her elbow drove down into the back of the rat's skull bearing it down to the ground as its bones snapped like kindling.
The intoxicating rush of power left her and Celia swayed on her feet held in place by pure adrenaline. Dozens of eyes still glinted in the darkness as the rat hoard faltered with uncertainty. With a wordless howl, Celia lurched towards the uncertain shadows raising a bloody fist, and yelling for all she was worth. The rats broke and scattered, running farther back into the depths of the city in search of prey that would put up less of a fight. Grinning to herself Celia halted her forward charge and promptly collapsed on her face.
Pain flooded her body as her muscles cried out in protest at their abuse. Dull throbbing pain came from her leg as she remembered it was broken, her elbow also felt broken as her arm gave way beneath her. Painfully she crawled to the side of the alley and leaned back against the wall exhausted and in pain. Slowly her eyes closed as she at last faded into blissful unconsciousness.
Waking with a start Celia groaned as her sore muscles complained as she painfully stretched her arms above her head. Looking around she recognized the alley from the night before and shivered, she had been lucky nothing had found her during the night. She couldn’t believe she had been stupid enough to fall asleep in the middle of the city who knows what would have happened to her if she had been found in such a vulnerable position. Checking her pockets she confirmed that she still had her remaining coins.
Slowly she pushed her way to her feet, muscles straining and complaining the whole way. Carefully she put her weight on her bad leg and was surprised to find that despite definitely being broken the night before it only felt like a bad fracture today. Checking her arm she found a large angry bruise running up her arm but there was no discernable pain as she flexed her arm.
She could get used to this, the healing must be a part of her new class. She was glad to be alive but her class seemed to be a little self-destructive. Hopefully, she could figure out how to use chakra without leaving herself a quivering mess on the ground. Stepping forward into the new day Celia steeled her determination, she had a class now. Strength and power were no longer distant dreams but rather attainable goals. Classes were the great equalizers of power and she had only just begun her climb.