Melena sat at her table yet again, though this time angled differently to show different plants. She also had a strange device in front of her, though not in the frame, it was beside her. It was a cone cut horizontally in half, with the inside of it bowl-like and a spike coming out of the center of the bowl, reaching just above its rim. Above the spike floated a ball of some clear material.
"Today, I will be talking about classes. Where to get one, what they are, why they're important, and various topics relating to the quality of Classes. First up, where to get them. The first, and by far most common, place to get a Class is from a Village. I will eventually cover Villages on their own, but a good enough explanation for this video is that they are locations where you can get Classes and build permanent Dungeons.
"The only other way to get a Class is to have someone craft one for you. There are only three people capable of creating Classes as of making this video, and their rates are excessively high. You cannot remove your Class once you get one, so it is very rare to both have enough money to get a Class from one of them and not have a Class. From what I have seen of your world, I would be highly surprised if multiple from your world do not learn how to make a Class. The theory is not very difficult, but it is very difficult to put into practice, and your world, on average, learns things so much faster than what I am used to.
"To create a Class, you need to 'simply' create a Class structure using someone else's soul material, then imprint a Class Ideal onto the soul material, then have them absorb that soul material back into their soul without modifying the structure. This device," she said, patting the device on the table, "helps with the process. It has the inside of the bowl has the perfect diameter for a Class structure and the orb helps in both imprinting the Class Ideal and keeping the soul material in tact while being reabsorbed.
"Class Ideals are effectively permanent images that the System uses to determine what Level rewards the Class gives. When you evolve a Class, the System changes the Class Ideal to a measurably more potent image, usually based at least partially on what you have done since you obtained the Class, but except when evolving a Class through Intentional Class Evolution, it is entirely based upon what you wish the Ideal to move toward. The System never strays too far from the previous Class Ideal when evolving a Class, though 'too far' is actually quite far.
"There was one person whose original Class was all about creating, applying, and manipulating poisons. Over the course of a major war on their planet, they helped remove poisons from their side more than they applied poisons to their enemies. This went on for around 23 System years. When they finally got a Class evolution, their Class completely changed and became a cleansing support Class with only a minor focus on applying poisons.
"Point being that what the System considers 'too far' does not align with what we would consider 'too far.' Class evolutions will never be detrimental, though the strengths of the new Class may not align with its original strengths. If the System offers you a Class evolution, there are very few rewards you should choose over it. Additionally, Class names, while not directly important on their own, are indicative of the Class Ideal and power of the Class. The more specific, the more Stats it gives.
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"If you ever get offered a Class that starts with the word 'The' when going through a non-Minor, non-Intentional Class evolution, take it immediately. 'The' classes are exceptionally powerful, usually granting Class Level rewards equal to someone with 2 or 3 tier 11 Paths completed, which is not possible without a great many Architect Tournaments. Depending on your actions, you may even become the Class Ideal for the Class that shares a name with yours, excluding the 'The,' making the Class give Level rewards that match your Stat distribution.
"Finally off that topic, we move to the much shorter topic of Class Skills. You gain a Class SKill once every 10 Levels. They are effectively Skills given as if you had used an image to make them, with the exception that they are not a Skill Set. When you evolve a Class, these Skills may be upgraded, but their function will never change, unlike a Skill originating from a normal image.
"Unlike Skills from images, Class Skills are capable of creating effects you have no idea how to create when obtaining that Class Skill. While you must have knowledge of how to perform a Mana conversion to electric charge to create a lightning bolt, a Class Skill has no such limitations.
"Finally, we Class evolutions. Class evolutions can be obtained primarily through invasion Quests and some Achievements. Anyone who deals more than ten thousand damage to a Level 20 or higher invasion's final boss get a Minor Class Evolution Token. This is upgraded to a Class Evolution Token after Level 26, and at Level 30, it becomes a Major Class Evolution Token. Intentional Class Evolution Tokens can be obtained for completing the Defense of Origin Village quests by preventing your Village Spirit from being eaten by the Village Monster.
"To use a Class Evolution Token, you must visit a Village Spirit and give it to them. It does not actually matter what Village Spirit you go to, but they may claim that it does. For a reason unknown to us, the Village Spirits want to obtain the various Tokens and will, non-intrusively, try to get you to use your Tokens at that Village Spirit. Regardless of what Village Spirit you use your Token at, its result will be the same.
"Intentional Class Evolution Tokens will see you imagining where you wish your Class to go, and taking your Class Ideal in that direction about as much as a Class Evolution Token would. Minor Class Evolution Tokens will very slightly change your Class Ideal in a beneficial way based on your actions since your previous Class evolution. They will increase your Class Level rewards by roughly fifteen percent.
"Class Evolution Tokens will give you three options from which to choose which direction your Class Ideal will go. One that is a direct upgrade to your current Class Ideal, one that is based on your actions since your previous Class evolution, and one that is almost completely random, but still related to your Class Ideal. Class Evolution Tokens will increase your Class Level rewards by around twenty-five percent.
"Finally, Major Class Evolution Tokens will offer nine different options. One that is a direct upgrade to your current Class Ideal, three that are based on various degrees to which your actions since your previous Class evolution could affect your Class Ideal, three that are based upon what others think about your actions since your previous Class evolution, and two almost completely random options, like with the Class Evolution Token. A Major Class Evolution Token increases your Class Level rewards by fifty percent.
"The exact percentage can vary by as much as half of the base change, but both the mean and mode of the changes in Class Level Rewards are those percentages."
Melena: I miss you! I do not believe you would not respond to me if you were not busy, so I hope whatever it is you are doing goes well and ends as soon as it can.