“That staff must be really important, then,” Haydith whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
“It will become the cornerstone of my ‘build’ in the years to come. The Staff of Imogene Drac, also known as the Crimson Star Staff, was literally made for me. The original Thale Feldrast used it up until he became a lich,” I said while smiling and waving to the many commoners who had accumulated around the gate.
“A lich?”
“Oh, yeah. I haven’t told you that, yet. The original Thale Feldrast was the leader of the Lich Cult.”
“Is that the same person that is inside of your head right now?”
Hello, Princess Haydith.
“That’s the one.”
A concerned grimace tightened Haydith’s face as she said, “Is he completely under your control?”
I am under no one’s control, girl.
“Yes. He was weakened significantly by whatever process he used to send his consciousness back in time.”
My cart stopped in front of a stable that was located a few dozen meters inside of the city. Eadric dismounted from the carriage in front of my own and went to talk to a nearby stablehand. The city’s streets were far too cramped for us to navigate easily with our large carriages, so we would have to leave them here at the stable.
A few meters away, there was a large collection of stables waiting in three long columns. Their horses were resting in the massive stable next to which we had parked. To me, the sight seemed uncannily similar to a parking lot from Earth.
Eadric’s voice called out from ahead of us, saying, “I’ll go pay for our stay at the stable. How long should I reserve our spots for?”
“Two days. I don’t want us to overstay our welcome.” I called out loud enough for our ever-growing audience to hear. Some of them loudly expressed their displeasure at my statement, but Haydith was obviously pleased that we would not spend too long in her hometown.
“I’ll go in with Sir Eadric. I recently gained the [Barter] [Skill], and I want to see if I can get the owner of the stable to give us any bargains,” Haydith said, smiling slightly at the thought.
“Okay. I’ll stay with the carriages,” I said, closing my eyes and crossing my arms.
“And, Johan, is it true that you killed one of the brigands?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you killed many people?”
“No,” I sighed. “That was my first, but I know it won’t be my last.”
“Well, uh,” Haydith broke eye contact with me as an awkward silence lingered between us. “Thank you, again.”
“You’ve already thanked me once; you don’t have to do it again,” I muttered.
Haydith didn’t hear me. She was already halfway to the front door of the large structure that held the stable before I had even opened my mouth. That was fine by me, as I had already started communicating with the System by that time.
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System: Open notifications.
Congratulations! Your new level allows you to advance your [Class] from mage to one of the second-tier. Would you like to see a list of classes that are available to you?
I wondered why I did not get the option to change my class at level 20. The System probably recognized that as a priest level because I started the battle that got me to level 20 as a priest.
Yes, please list available classes in alphabetical order, but omit descriptions of those classes.
I already knew which subclass I wanted to take, but I figured that it would be a good idea to at least look at all of them before I made a decision.
Available classes: Abjurer, Enchanter, Illusionist, Necromancer, Scribe, Sorcerer, Thaumaturge, Transmuter, War Mage.
The only immediate benefit I would glean from those classes was an increase to spellcasting power. Taking the war mage class would grant me a 10% increase to my spellcasting power for all schools of magic, and the other classes would grant me a 25% to my spellcasting power for a specific school of magic.
Change my class to sorcerer.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Bells chimed lightly in my ears, and a warm feeling flowed through my body. The warmth spread throughout my whole body, but it was concentrated primarily in my lungs and hands. Those were the “points of Expression” where mana would be transformed into spells and rituals that could be used to affect the world. I could feel it as my body was changed to be better aligned with sorcerous magic.
NEW CLASS: SORCERER
Have I built up enough Experience to unlock anything interesting?
Affirmative. You have acquired enough Experience to learn two [Spells] or increase your [Persuasion] Skill to level 4.
This text lingered in my vision for a few seconds before more text appeared under the existing text, taking up all the space behind my eyelids.
BE ADVISED: Your Talent, [Observe, Lvl. 9], can be evolved to [Eyes of the Philosopher, Lvl. 1]. In addition to the benefits from [Observe], [Eyes of the Philosopher] would also allow you to sense the mana of any other person within a certain range who is not protected from Observation abilities.
It was strange. I had never heard of [Eyes of the Philosopher]. Thale and Beltane were much more skilled than me with the [Observe] Talent, yet they had never told me about this potential evolution. That evolved Talent might have been for Reincarnates specifically, so Thale and Beltane had never run into it.
If I take [Eyes of the Philosopher], will that reset my skill with the [Observe] Talent?
Yes. Until you gained more Experience in [Eyes of the Philosopher], you would only be able to learn a person’s name at a glance.
It would be a short-term detriment, but a long-term benefit. A part of me wanted to take the evolution immediately, but I knew that I would need [Observe] in the near future.
Can I take this evolution at any time?
Yes. If you have enough Experience, you can.
In that case, I would like to allocate my current Experience to learning the [Volcano Cannon] 3-Point Sorcery and increasing my [Persuasion] Skill.
Spell [Volcano Cannon] learned!
[Persuasion, Lvl. 1] → [Persuasion, Lvl. 3]
A strange sensation that bordered pain shot through my brain, causing me to wince and grab my head. My neural pathways shifted as the arcane knowledge flooded into my brain. Three Ancient words, “Mulciber ignis tormentum,” rattled in my head, and an arcane symbol flashed across my synapses. The symbol was a triangle contained within a circle, and arcane runes flashed at each of the triangle’s edges. Two of the edges held fire runes, and one held a wind rune. Through an unseen force, I was made aware that I would have to pour mana into the circle at the point exactly opposite the wind rune, otherwise the spell would fail.
My eyes opened slowly, and I saw a middle-aged woman wearing the clothes of a menial laborer and looking up at me expectantly. She must have been the first of the commoners to build up enough courage to walk up and talk to me. Seeing me open my eyes, she curtsied awkwardly and asked, “Hello, my lord, Thale. The others are wondering if you could tell the story of how you defeated the brigand and the beast. We don’t see many tales of heroism these days, and we feel that it would help the town if you…”
“Absolutely,” I cut the woman off, jumping off the front seat of the carriage. “I’m always happy to recount my exploits. Now, where should I start?”