Glancing around Kitty made a humming noise as she identified the twenty odd people in the room. All of them had a rare class with several actually having a level close to twenty in that rare class, one even at twenty two. She assumed these were people who had started with a rare class from the start. It was an impressive show of power. Yet, she didn’t see him there. Not that she really expected to find him answering a quest summoning by the Haven Lord, considering the rumors. Nor she reminded herself had she been looking for him. ‘Screw that guy.’ She thought, her annoyance at him not stemming from the accusations he was an invader from another world. Or that he had somehow turned the Haven Lord into an undead. She really did doubt that last part. And it definitely wasn’t because he ran off and left her behind while ignoring all the hints she had dropped. No, it was most definitely NOT because of that. She ground her teeth some before sighing and looking around again.

Still, she had to compare the feeling of pressure these people gave off to him. Her eyes settled on the gruff looking man who had a level of twenty two and a class called Berserker. For some reason, she found the sense of danger coming from him lacking compared to that annoying prick. He was strong, stronger than her. But she didn’t feel as overwhelmed. At the very least she doubted he could kill nearly a hundred monsters with a look.

Settling into the back of the room and avoiding most of the others she waited. A few more people entered, all with rare classes. Then finally a door opened and in walked a woman. Followed by something that made Kitty stand up straight from leaning against the back wall. An honest to God robed skeleton walked in. Their white bones almost glistening and flickers of flame hovered in those empty sockets. Without hesitation, she used identify on them.

Race: Undead: Skeleton

Class: Skeletal Lord Level Three.

Profession: Noble Level Four

Her reaction wasn’t unique and there was a noticeable shuffle of movement in the room. No one moved to attack, but there was a sense of unease from all present at the appearance of something so wild as a walking skeleton.

“Thank you for coming. I will make this short and simple. We wish to issue a quest to kill the invader that attacked our Haven recently.” Speaking clearly the woman accompanying the skeleton got things started. Kitty glanced at her and recognized the Seer even if she hadn’t actually met the woman yet. Then turned her attention back to studying the skeleton. By now so many strange things had been thrown at the inhabitants of Earth that this wasn’t beyond their ability to handle. It was more a curiosity or oddity than anything else. But it raised many questions. Could they really change their race? What other races were there?

It was only after a moment that she processed the woman’s actual words and without meaning to let out a loud snort. “You want to kill Dren? Good luck with that.” She snickered and only then realized she was speaking out loud. Made more apparent by the fact everyone was now staring at her. For a moment she started to sink into her shoulders but her fiery will swelled and she squared them instead while meeting the gaze of the room boldly.

“You know Dren?” It was the Seer’s calm voice that spoke first.

“What? No no.” Her bravado slightly faltered as she realized she didn’t know what to say here. “I mean… I’m from Little Garden. I saw him fight in the monster surge.” She shrugged. “He's a real monster.”

She could feel the identify skill of most of the room wash over her and several of the looks upon her changed. Seeming to carry a bit more respect. Her level made it obvious she had recently evolved but was high enough to show she had put in a fair amount of killing since then. Her level of power was probably higher than that of those who had started with a rare class. Considering her rare attributes from her basic class had been retained. It was why the term Evolvers was starting to become popular and they were considered more powerful than those that had started with a rare class. Of course, then there were those like the Haven Lord and the Seer. It was well known they had been a rare class to start with and evolved that to an even stronger one. How powerful they were, was unknown. It was part of the reason the Haven Lord had maintained his power even after turning into a monster. No one was sure what they could do.

“So, how strong are we talking about.” The berserker asked, a huge grin on their face.

“Stronger than you.” Kitty said bluntly, not trying to insult the man but just saying what she felt.

The man scoffed. “My class gives ten attribute points total per level! You have no idea how powerful I am, girl.”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Ten? Is that good? I get that much in agility alone.” She left out that she only really got three more points. One each in dex, vitality, and endurance.

Eyes bulging the man turned red faced. “Liar.”

Kitty just rolled her eyes at him, making him angrier. It looked like he would charge at her any second now. But the voice of the Seer brought their attention to her. “Please, we can not fight amongst ourselves. The enemies of Earth as a whole have come far sooner than we expected. While the main invasion is still months away it has become clear that advanced operatives are on Earth already. We must stand united. Or divided we will fall.” Her voice had a calming effect on the crowd. Only slightly ruined when the Haven Lord spoke in a horrible voice like scraping bones.

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“Yes. Besides, comparing your pathetic power to one another is pointless. I get seventeen attributes for my class and eighteen for my profession. Plus my starting class was far above the pathetic classes most evolvers started with. Let me guess you were a basic archer before you evolved.” Their unnatural gaze was locked on Kitty and she felt a wave of revulsion, only partly from the fact it was a skeleton glaring at her.

Kitty just snorted and crossed her arms over her chest but didn’t say anything. Before things could get out of hand again, the Seer reclaimed control of the meeting. “As I said. We are willing to issue a quest for the death of the known Invader. They are called Dren and while they have an ability that shows their class is Beast Tamer. They are not one.” At this Kitty’s attention was perked again. She had just been about to leave the room but decided not to at those words.

“Their real class is called a Profane Blade.” She let the words and the sinister sounding name settle on the room.

Then the berserker spoke up. “How many attributes does it give?” It had become apparent with more people evolving that all rare or evolved classes weren’t the same. The easiest way to compare a class was the amount of attributes it gave. Although the strength of skills could make a difference. But most seemed to agree that the more attributes a class gave the stronger their skills were as well, making that a mostly moot point. As for gear, craftsmen were just now getting to the point of making stuff that really had noticeable improvements. In contrast, dungeon gear was generally better but far fewer in number. But even then unless you had something really rare and powerful like a Prime Reward item it wasn’t that much better than crafted gear. With there only being one prime reward given per dungeon, ever. The chance of someone having even one let alone multiple was considered an impossibility.

Thinking about gear Kitty remembered the commotion Dren’s exploding knives had made. Somehow he was able to improve crafted items to become even stronger than dungeon rewards. ‘That lying asshole. I bet he isn’t a leather worker either. I wonder what his profession really is. When I see him I am going to make him tell me.’ She scowled when she realized what she was thinking, again. She reminded herself she was done following after that asshole. She didn’t care about him in the least. Then her attention was ripped back to the Seer as she said his name again.

“Dren’s class is a mystery to me. It is not one I have been able to get any information on from the system. So we have no idea how many attributes it provides or what its skills are like.” Her gaze turned to Kitty. “Thus it is lucky we have one who has seen him fight that can add their knowledge to what we have seen.”

Kitty glanced around at everyone looking at her. “Uh.” She stammered for a moment torn on what to do. Then she mentally shrugged and a grin grew on her face. “What can that asshole monster do? Well, he killed like two hundred level twenty eight monsters with just a look. Like it was nothing, they all just fell down. Dead.” She emphasized the last word. “He is crazy fast, can teleport all around while throwing explosives like it was the fourth of July. Not to mention he is tankier than any defender I’ve met and seems tireless. Fought each of the twelve hour waves without even breathing hard like it was nothing. Oh, and he has a spider girl pet that is probably just as crazy strong.” She shrugged. “But I never even saw them fight.”

She felt an odd sense of pride at the uneasy looks most were giving her. Despite the fact she wasn’t describing her own power, she felt a wave of satisfaction at their nervous looks.

“Bah, I call bullshit.” It was again the loud mouthed beserker speaking.

Kitty just snorted. “Sure, believe what you want. But I was there. Saw him standing on a mountain of corpses not even breathing hard. Oh yeah, speaking of that I saw him breathe fire like a dragon too.” She shook her head. “Honestly, as much as I would love to give that asshole a piece of my mind. I’m definitely not fighting against them. I suggest those that want to live do the same.” She pushed off the wall she had leaned black against. Then paused to look up at the Seer and the obviously fuming skeleton. “How many people did you throw against him when he supposedly attacked and killed the bone bag?” Kitty pointed a thumb at the skeleton making him sputter the nickname in indignation. “Or should I say how many did he kill before he probably walked out of here?” She gave them only a split second before adding. “Yeah, never mind. I don’t need to know. But I am NOT going up against them. Even if I did believe that dense dork was some big bad invader from another world.” Kitty made a flippant gesture with her hand to cut off the protests of the skeletal lord and strolled out of the room not listening.

She felt pleased when she sensed many of the others following her out. Reminding herself she just did it because she didn’t like authority. Not for Dren’s sake, definitely not. Yet, she smirked unable to wait until she found him so she could rub her actions in his face. He definitely owed her another drink.

*****

Maria had her work cut out for her in calming down Richard but eventually managed to get a party of eight together to go after Dren. Then she had to calculate where they should find him and was aggravated to see that all her previous predictions were already falling apart. Had the fiery girl from the meeting’s words altered things this much? Or was there something else at play? Or had that boy just ruined all her careful calculations himself? Either way, it took an hour of using her abilities on the party until she found a promising intersection of their fates with the Invader. Yet, she couldn’t get a feel for their chances, there were just too many unseen variables. She hid her frustration as she finished. The group would need to leave the Necropolis in two days. Most seemed fine with that announcement, while a few like the loud beserker named Burt, complained but had little choice but to go along with the plan. Besides, Two days would give her time to work on her contingency plan. One that involved giving Richard what he wanted the most right that moment. To question that woman tied to the Invader. Maria sighed, not looking forward to what was coming but not finding any better options. While her skills had grown with her evolutions, they seemed annoyingly impotent when it came to a troublesome individual now. “He is almost as bad as scrying Scourge’s fate now.” Maria muttered to herself as she watched the eight go for their first mission. To capture the woman named Kitty for her.