The night stayed quiet. I didn't see any Stalker-Hound near our camp through my numerous magical detectors. It was possible I missed them, they had impressive stealth capabilities after all, but they didn't mount an attack. Our sudden change in behavior had probably bought us some time until the next attempt.
While my other minds were busy, I talked about magic theory with Elyssa. She had the Fire Magic and Ice Magic skills from her two classes though she didn't share the precise names. When I asked, she explained that information about most of the common and uncommon classes was available to pretty much anyone, including their weaknesses. If someone knew your exact classes they could more easily find a gap in your defenses. This meant most people used the general classification of their class when talking about them.
"It's less of a problem for people with rare classes," Elyssa said, "they are much more versatile so two druids could have vastly different capabilities. And that's not counting that they will have a secondary class as well. Knowledge about Epic and Legendary classes is mostly kept secret by their holders."
"That's good to know." I said. "What about a third class?"
"Unless you're talking about support classes, I've only heard rumors. And I had never met someone with three classes until now."
"What do you mean?" I asked but my poker face didn't seem very convincing.
"Identify shows your class as a rare mage with two stars. I wasn't certain it meant three classes until now but you've more or less confirmed it. That and the truly staggering selection of spells you have."
"Four actually," I sighed. "Arachne appears as a special class on my status."
"Does this mean a monster's species is their class?" Elyssa wondered. "Can monsters even get classes?"
"No idea," I shrugged, "I don't even know if monsters have access to the system."
"Good point. But back to you and Vel. Three rare classes? No wonder you two can keep up. How did you get them?"
"I went through my class ceremony like everyone and got two classes, Druid and Arcanist," I bent the truth a little, some of the Druid abilities to self-buff were close enough to what Mystic Knight could do, "then I received the Priestess class at the same time as I turned into an Arachne, as did Vel. I don't clearly remember what happened but I think that Gaia saved my stupid ass."
"Not really repeatable," the snow elf chuckled. "It does fit with the rumors I've heard here and there. And don't worry, I'll keep it to myself as will the rest of the group if they figured it out."
From everything I'd heard Elyssa, Katherine, and the rest of the group talk about adventurers it seemed that, despite being fond of money and adventure, there was a strong companionship between them as well that the guild was happy to foster. It was unlikely that I'd get much trouble from them but news spread fast and other individuals, like the many nobles of the surface kingdoms, were potential problems.
Katherine had a very low opinion of human nobles and if they were like the one from Earth I understood her. They were a lot less scrupulous about obtaining wealth or power and a third class was a status symbol in and of itself.
"Thanks," I smiled.
We resumed out discussion about magic and spells after that. At the end of our watch, Elyssa and I woke up Gwynn and Hamak for the last watch shift. I returned to my web and snuggled back against Vel for the rest of the night.
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Morning slowly arrived and we prepared ourselves for another day of travel. I lowered everyone down in groups of two and stayed ready in case the Stalker-Hounds chose that moment to attack. Thankfully, it seemed that they were still weary of our change in tactics.
On the way, we discussed how to best tackle the problem. Several probing attacks by groups of two to three hounds while we were fighting showed that they hadn't abandoned their pursuit. The relatively easy fights gave me the opportunity to test out my new Mesmer skills.
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I wisely summoned my Phantasm for the first time outside of combat. It was disorienting, almost as if I had two bodies at once. After a few seconds, everything returned to normal as my mental partitions reordered themselves to be able to handle the new sensory inputs.
"This feels weird," both I and my Phantasm said.
"That skill looks a lot like the Shadow Clone skill high level shadow mages or rogues can use," Katherine said.
"Full of surprises," Gwynn chuckled. "I bet those shadow wolves won't like that."
"No, they won't."
From that point, I started to create phantasms during fights to strike from unexpected angles or provide help to the tanks when Stalker-Hounds tried to flank us. The path briefly took us through the territory of a pack of rune panthers but we didn't meet any of them. Then, we crossed a more marshy area that was known to host many varieties of Jagras including a trio that was close to rank six.
Your group has defeated [Adult Barbcat (Level 150-160, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Giant Iris Carniflex (Level 178, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [Poisonous Strangler Vines (Level 140-160, Rank 5)] x 6
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 145-155, Rank 5)] x 9
Your group has defeated [Adult Red Jagras (Level 155-160, Rank 5)] x 4
Your group has defeated [Adult Blue Jagras (Level 155-160, Rank 5)] x 3
Your group has defeated [Adult Yellow Jagras (Level 155-160, Rank 5)] x 6
Your group has defeated [Rainbow Jagras (Level 176, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [Black Jagras (Level 174, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [White Jagras (Level 175, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by 70% or fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 510 ES (5x3x34)
Reached Level 158 (Rank 5, +5 levels)
Gained: 27 ES (3x5 + 12)
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Several hours before nightfall, we stopped. Darrel and Hamak had chosen the place where we would make our stand against the Stalker-Hounds. One of the many ruins strewn about in the jungle. That particular one was another fort like the one Vel and I had visited during our first mission though in a worse state. The outer wall was almost entirely gone save for a few pillars that were strangled by vines. The upper levels of the main building were missing entirely, likely blown off as I could see large chunks of them strewn about through Alan's eyes.
"Didn't expect it to be that beaten up," Darrel said. "When Liscura and Velatha described the one they saw, I expected something a bit more … defensible."
"It will be good enough for our purpose," Hamak said. "Let's make camp on the second level. It looks to be the most defensible position."
Everyone nodded and we climbed the stairs which were thankfully still intact.
Once at the top, Darrel and Gwynn started to prepare a camp as they were the only two members of the group that didn't have any kind of trap skills or spells. The rest of us got to work turning the entire fort into a death trap.
Vel and I started by using Earth and Plant magic to close holes in the walls and create as many layers of defense and choke points as we could. The main way to access the second floor was reinforced with spiked wooden barricades and large stone blocks to make it harder for large groups to pass through at once. Any other access corridors were covered in poisonous plants and all kinds of traps. If some hounds tried to flank us, we'd know from the explosions.
I also used a new type of catalyst I developed just for the occasion, the proximity mine catalyst. As the name implied, it could store a spell and release it when someone stepped close. I spent a large amount of mana to create a field of them around the fort. They were loaded with a variety of area spells from ice and lightning storms to clouds of corrosive mist. Velatha prepared many pits filled with venomous spikes covered by a thin layer of leaves and dirt.
Elyssa, Vel, and I took breaks in shifts to meditate and let our mana regenerate in case the hounds chose to attack early. Time was also set aside for everyone to sleep in shifts. As the hours passed, the fort slowly regained its title. Once the defenses were in place, Vel and I made use of the alchemy kits we had in storage. We strengthened health and mana potions with ingredients we had picked up along the way. Some stamina and regeneration were also brewed. If the fight went on too long, stamina depletion was a real risk.
Thanks to Earth manipulation, I was also able to fashion clay vessels to store more … volatile potions. Alchemist's Fire was often used as a fuel for forges, stoves, and other appliances in Niu but it could also serve as magical napalm if brewed correctly. Katherine also borrowed our tools to prepare her own poisons.
As the hours passed and the crystals dimmed, the tension rose. As much as we had prepared, we had no idea what we would face. On the fire, our cauldron of soup simmered.
"The wait is always the worst," Katherine said.