I can think of ways to level up skills and spells by considering the four options. Initially, I thought about Death because I have Laxreal, who is right here and could easily walk through some of the easier spells and abilities I could use. Nature is another option because of Zul'Zara. With her being closer to that field, I could get information about how to develop spells from her. I don't know anyone who has worked with corruption mana, so learning spells in that category will be a lot of trial and error. My last thought falls on Life. It has more uses to me right now than the other options, and while there isn't anyone who is versed in spells of life, that doesn't mean it is hopeless. I assume there might be someone with some form of healing affinity or even light that I could tap into to learn.
Another thing that has been bothering me is the note provided by the class; what does it mean when it says there will be physical changes during the cycle? A couple of ways I can think of are the changes that occur for the entire cycle until the class evolves again or after every four levels. Will my appearance change when another affinity is the primary affinity, or will it stay with the affinity chosen at every level? If I think there will be significant changes to my physical appearance, I should stick to something that will cause the least apparent change, and I could only think of my life affinity. Maybe I won't have anything significant happen, but I don't know until I pick one.
Turning to everyone in the room, I tell them, "I think I know what affinity I should start with, but I would like your opinion since they all have good potential. If I pick one of them, then it might be a while before I get to the next affinity."
"Think of it this way," Koto starts, "As you level up, you will have a higher threshold to get to the next level. So, picking an affinity that might be useful to you now will take longer to get back to. While I have heard of people with classes like this one, they rarely receive them so early. Usually, they are in their sixth or seventh tier before they can pick up a class involving more than two affinities. So, you are an incredible oddity, and that makes you have a special circumstance."
Confused about why she would call me an oddity with special circumstances, I hold onto that thought momentarily to ask about it in a little bit. "What do you think I should pick for my first affinity then? Life seems the best of the four currently since I have the most spells with it, and it would allow me to get those spells to a higher level and evolve quickly."
"That is probably the best option; we can also see what physical traits are altered when you pick that affinity." Laxreal agrees, "It will also allow us to figure out what it means with the other portions of the class, and I don't mean with the stats. I am talking more about the positive percentile increases and the negative percentile decreases."
Ritotorous nods his beak, "I agree with him, Drake. You should proceed with your initial thought of Life being your first affinity."
Seeing that Koto had nothing to add, I shrugged and selected Life as the start of my cycle.
- Congratulations, your class is now Apprentice Mage of the Cycle (Life). Additional stats have been granted to you to finalize your class.
+2 Intelligence
+2 Wisdom
+1 Charisma
+3 Free Points
Bonuses for your affinity have been applied:
+25% Damage to Undead creatures
+25% Potency to Life Healing/Support Spells
+25% learning speed to Life Spells
-25% Damage to Living creatures
-25% Potency to Death Necrotic/Support Spells
-25% Learning speed to Death Spells
Note: Your body has been adjusted to your affinity. Since this is the first cycle, the physical changes done are minor.
Note: Stats have been applied for Level 10 Cycle: Life 1 of 4. -
Looking at what the class has given me, I can only sigh. It looks like I will have a more challenging time fighting any monsters that aren't classified as being undead. The increase in the life spells will be a nice bonus for the first swarm of monsters, but I don't know how it will affect the battle overall.
Shrugging once again, I know I can't do anything about it now that I have picked it, and I look to Laxreal and Koto. "So, now I know exactly what the class does for me. Do either of you notice anything different about me?"
Laxreal looks at me and then walks around me. "There is one minor difference that I can see. Your eyes have changed color. They were brown, but now they are more golden brown. Other than that, I don't see any other changes to your body. What about you, Koto?"
He turns to her and finds her walking around me, "There was a slight shift in the sent that you put off. It is hard to place it, but I know the change exists."
"Alright, if it is just those small things, then I don't think we will have any issues for some of my future cycles until they are more prominent. There is something that I wanted to sync up on, though, and that is something that you said, Koto. What makes me special?"
She looks at Laxreal and Ritotorous to see if she can speak her thoughts. I found that interesting. Something else that I might have to ask her in private. Laxreal answers in her stead. "Usually, classes in the first tier branch out from the primary classes. So, mages would get some form of lesser affinity mage or even something that is a combination of the two initial classes, depending on their training. For example, you have several leadership-based skills, but no classes came up for leadership. The only thing I can think of that would prevent that is because you have the Noble class. Then you also have skills like swordsmanship and archery. These would have combined to make a stronger version of the initial courses, like an all-rounded class leading to higher stats than the two classes combined. Your class combinations are odd because they are all affinity-based mage classes."
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Koto picks up from where he left off. "Affinity-based classes show up in the third and latest fourth tier of class evolution if you ever get to that point. And those with higher-tier affinities can acquire them earlier. The only reason I can see you would have any of the classes is due to the notes that have been provided with the classes. One God from each of the affinities has taken note of you. This can be both good and bad, but honestly, the best option for you was the last class. It didn't offend any of the Gods, and honestly, I don't think they even know about it." She gives Laxreal a small side-eye. Not seeing him comment on anything, she continues. "Stats for the first-tier classes usually only increase by a couple of points. You could say that the initial class is the tutorial for PUN, but it is rare due to how high the points you receive per level in your class. I would have expected your first-class evolution to be only a few points higher than normal. A normal first-tier class evolution would increase the stats gained per level by one or two points depending on what that person did. Three additional points are possible, but you had four classes that gave seven points as options, and the last one gave eight points."
"The extra stat points will put you ahead of the curve, which can snowball into a huge advantage once you get into the higher tiers since your class will be head due to the higher foundation." Laxreal finishes.
"And how would you know about the higher levels?" I ask him.
"To be a better advisor, I asked Koto some questions and got her to reveal some information."
"Is there anything more you can share with me now?"
"Keep doing what you are doing, and by the time you get to your next evolution, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of most of the people here. We need also to start expanding the settlement as fast as we can. The closer we can get to becoming a small town. We should be near the point that you could be into your second tier, if not close to your third tier of class." Koto responds to my question.
"How long before we get to that point?"
"With you going for the next settlement tier soon, you will be at the Hamlet stage. During this stage, you are required to do some of the things for the settlement change. Instead of population amounts, you have to accomplish tasks. Typically, with those already a part of PUN, we can see what our tasks could be ahead of time due to not being blocked. For you, it is going to be a bit more complicated."
"So we will need to wait until we upgrade the settlement before we can continue our tasks?"
"Exactly. But with the token, you will have no issues doing just that."
"I guess the next thing we can do is upgrade the settlement?"
"Exactly, but to do so, we need to summon some more people into the settlement," Laxreal says.
"Ok, let's get that settled here in a bit. I want to look at my stats and see what has changed.
- Status
Name: Drake Taldrit
Health: 130/130
Mana: 62/520
Race: Human (F)
Gender: Male
Planet of Origin: Culhara
Bloodline: LIFE NURTURING, DEATH CORRUPTING DRAGON
Awakened: 0.01%
Class: Apprentice Mage of the Cycle: Life 1 of 4
Class Level: 10
Experience 27/2000
Affinity: Life, Nature, Death, Corruption
Special Class: Noble
Level: 6
Oaths of Fealty 75/100
Profession: Apprentice Enchanter
Profession Level: 12
Experience 47/375
Attributes:
Strength 1
Intelligence 21
Wisdom 26
Charisma 8
Dexterity 2
Constitution: 13
Free Points: 8 -
Noticing the eight free points, I can only sigh at how stupid I have been since I haven't spent them for a little while. With how quickly I can get stat points now, I can consider increasing my dexterity even further since I need at least 50 Dexterity to wield the bow we won at the auction. And with me having cycles, I might be able to use it further. Placing my points, I raised my Dexterity to 10. Only 40 more points to go.
Looking around to see if there was anything else that I needed to do, I turned to the final items that needed to be opened: a couple of chests of wealth and the resource box. Wanting to wrap things up quickly, I opened the boxes. The resource box gave 200 Tier 1 Wood, Stone, and Metal and an additional 80 Tier 1 Food. The wealth chests gave 132 Gold, 4 Silver,, and 59 Copper.
With everything opened that I wanted to open done, I move on to our next steps. Getting more people and then finally tiering up the settlement.