Adam felt the heat wash over him from the blast. There was no sound. His eardrums were gone again. All he felt was the heat. Then he felt the pain. The scorching flames enveloped his entire party. Adam saw nothing but red and the party menu in the top left of his vision. He watched in horror as every single one of his party members HP dropped deep into the red. Adam knew they were dead then. There was no saving anyone. His Emerald Leaves spell was on cooldown. He had wasted it on his ears. Like an idiot all he could do was watch as they all slowly died.

Then the flames were gone. The heat was cut off, and the cavern was quiet. Even though Adam and the rest of his party wouldn’t have been able to hear a thing. He knew there was no sound. His HP bar read 10/110. He tried to move and as he stood he fell straight backwards to the ground.

Josh and Mina collapsed the same as Adam. They had taken the brunt of the explosion. The wolves looked half-cooked, missing hair and burned flesh. Skyeyes and Drox on the other hand looked relatively unharmed. Their HP bars were in red but just barely. They had been protected from most of the flames and the damage to their bodies was miniscule.

Skyeyes leapt out of the pile with his daggers raised. Drox had his book floating above his paw with the other raised and ready. Adam saw the bear’s mana was almost drained from the two spells, but he stood ready nonetheless.

Adam just closed his eyes. He was too tired to fight anymore. His body was wrecked and he was just thankful that the pain wasn’t bad. He guessed that the flames were hot enough to burn away his nerve endings. He was pretty sure he saw that in some doctor show once. He just laid there for a bit in a state between waking and dreaming.

“By the gods,” whispered Drox.

Adam opened an eye. The exclamation in Drox’s voice had him curious in his delirium. Then he realized he could hear. He sat up and felt his body scream in agony. His HP was still only 20/110, and the tightness in his burned skin ripped and tore as he moved. He looked down and noticed his shirt was gone, burnt away from the explosion with some of it melted to him. His pants were now shorts, but his boots seemed okay. As he looked around he noticed he was the only one to share that unfortunate fate.

The cavern was piled with bodies. There were hundreds of the small corrupted goblins splayed all around the room. Most were burned toward the entrance of the tunnel, but there were still a massive amount that were completely untouched by the flames. They lay dead just as the others. The Foreman was completely gone. Not even a tooth or stray bone remained near the blast area.

The gems that burst from the room were blinding. There were more than Adam had ever seen and he had to close his eyes as they rushed into him and his party. He felt the level before he saw the notification. His HP and MP shoot to max, and his body tingled like mad as his burnt and melted skin healed. The pieces of melted clothes and skin came off his body like a snake’s skin. He saw Josh going through something similar as he tried to scratch at his back and tail. The notifications filled his vision.

You have gained 2000 experience points

Congratulations, you have reached level 5!

You have gained +1 to all attributes

You have +5 unallocated attribute points

Your Hand-to-Hand skill has reached level 15

Your Nature Magic skill has reached level 10

You have unlocked a class choice!

Adam’s eyes widened. He would finally be able to choose a class. He felt nervous and excited all at the same time. He could feel his body tingling all over. He brought up the menu and read through his choices.

Congratulations! You have reached level 5 and can now choose a class. The classes you are offered are based on your skills and it may upgrade or change completely in the future. This is only the beginning.

Druid - Wield the power of Nature Magic against your foes and bolster your allies. The Druid uses vines to snare, thorns to tear, and the earth to heal. They can commune with animals and masters of the class can even take on the shapes of the mightiest of beasts to rake and claw their enemies.

Monk - The monk’s body is their weapon. They have trained and honed their skills to strike fast and hard. Their bodies are like water, wind, fire, or steel depending on the discipline they train. Masters of the class are rumored to be able to break through the gates of their spirit. Few know the benefits of such a feat.

Brawler - the brawler fights their foes with fist and feet and anything else within their grasp. They will fight until the last breath and sometimes even beyond. Brawlers use a plethora of combat abilities in order to dish out as much damage as they can in a short amount of time. It is said that a brawler is one step away from a true berserker.

Adam weighed the classes in his head. He focused on the last few lines of each. They were obviously a hint at what future class upgrades might entail. He had to admit he really liked the idea of shapeshifting, but the monk called to him. Deep within his bones the class resonated to him and he wasn’t sure why. He never even liked fighting. He never did martial arts. He usually played some sort of archer or spellcaster in games before. It was foreign to him, and the thought that might be the reason it called to him so completely. It was something new. Something he had never done before. The whole reason he came to the place was to live. He had no desire to live the same life he had before.

Would you like to choose Monk as your class upgrade?

Y/N

Warning! If you choose this class your Nature Magic skill and any associated spells or abilities will be replaced.

That was unexpected. He knew they needed healing. They had all almost died, but even with his spell it would have only saved one person. He sighed and mentally accepted. Risk versus reward. He just hoped he’d made the right decision as he accepted the class.

You have become a Monk

Nature Magic has been replaced with Spirit

Emerald Leaves has been replaced with Inner Focus

Inner Focus Activated Ability Cost: 25 MP Cooldown: 5 minutes Description Regenerate your HP every second for each point of vitality you have for 15 seconds.

You have a new ability to choose

*

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Adam waited for the rush of knowledge that had become so familiar over the last few days. He was eager for it now. He waited, and waited, and it never came. There was no sudden change, no surge of power, there was just the notification. So, slightly dejected Adam opened the notification for his new ability choice. He saw three abilities to choose from this time, and they all had a distinct feel to them.

Flying Kick Activated Ability Cost: 20 MP Cooldown: 1 minute Description: A powerful kick that can be activated from a distance of up to ten feet.

Palm Strike Activated Ability Cost: 25 MP Cooldown: 1 minute Description: A powerful melee strike of the palm bolstered by mana.

Headbutt Activated Ability Cost: 15 MP Cooldown: 1 minute Description: A powerful headbutt able to devastate enemies from close quarters.

Each ability was pretty straight forward. It was some kind of attack Adam just had to choose which one suited him. He could tell that Flying Kick would be beneficial, but the training he did hadn’t really covered kicks, or anything really besides punching. That seemed a bit strange to him actually. He thought back for a moment trying to sift through the implemented memories. There were blank spots. Adam knew they were there like a word on the tip of his tongue. He couldn’t, however, seem to access them.

For that reason he chose Palm Strike. It was something familiar and something he felt that he could take advantage of. He hoped these missing parts in his knowledge would work themselves out eventually. He had a strange feeling that they would.

Congratulations! You have learned Palm Strike!

After the notification disappeared Adam decided to put his extra attribute points in. He put two into strength and dexterity and one into vitality.

“I’m a, um, Demon Squire.” That was the first thing anyone said. It was Josh that had spoken. Adam erupted in laughter.

“What the hell is a Demon Squire. Are you like a servant to a demon now?”

“No bro! It said that I'm training to be a Demon Knight. I call forth the powers of my ancestors to bolster myself and hinder my enemies. Also, I smash shit with my sword. I even got a new ability. It’s called Demonic Domain. It slowly drains the HP of any enemy within an area and gives the HP to me.”

“Whoa,” said Adam, “that’s like, way better than mine. I chose Monk and got Palm Strike. It’s exactly what it sounds like. I also lost Emerald Leaves and Nature Magic for Inner Focus and Spirit. Inner Focus is pretty good. It's like a self heal over time, but losing our only healing ability that could help others is rough.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Josh. “We’ll just have to be more careful. What about you guys?” He looked around toward Drox, Mina, and Skyeyes. Josh seemed unconcerned with the loss so Adam relaxed a bit about his choice.

“I have become a Guardian,” said Mina. “I got an ability called Shield Bash which summons a ghostly shield to strike out at my enemies.”

Adam and Josh’s eyes widened. “That’s so awesome,” said Josh. “Drox?”

Drox looked away from the group and cleared his throat. “No class for me.”

“What?” said Josh. Outrage was clear in his voice. “That’s not fair.”

The bear just shrugged and moved away from the group looking pointedly at nothing at all. Adam got a strange feeling and decided to examine Drox. He focused for a moment before the familiar window appeared.

Name: Drox Level: 5 Class: Teddy Bear of the Flame

“You liar!” accused Adam. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “You do have a class. It’s Teddy Bear of the Flame.”

“Oi, don’t make fun of me. It was my only choice. It said I’m somehow connected to this stupid book.” Drox’s head sagged as he kicked around dirt with his small legs.

“I think that it sounds very scary, Drox,” said Mina. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Really?” The Teddy Bear looked up toward Mina with what looked like a hint of tears forming in his button eyes.

“Of course, a Fire Bear is very scary.”

“Correction,” said Josh with a sharp finger raised in the air. “Fire Teddy Bear.”

“Leave him alone, you bully,” said Mina. She hid the hint of a grin well enough from Drox, but the others saw it. “He is a formidable foe for any who dare fight him.”

“Yes, I will burn my enemies to ash!” Drox was looking more confident by the second.

“Okay, okay I’m sorry for making fun of you. What did you mean you’re connected to the book?”

“That stupid god magic told me if I wanted another class I would have to start from level 1 and get rid of my book. It said the book is bound to me for some reason.”

“It must have been something to do with the summoning,” said Josh. He had his hand on his chin looking thoughtful. “Did you get a new spell at least?”

“I did. I got Summon Fire Spirit. I can summon a fire spirit to control that will last–” He looked at the skill. “–one minute and attack enemies.”

“Damn,” said Adam, “all of your abilities and spells sound awesome. Skyeyes, did you get something amazing for level six too?”

Skyeyes nodded as he spoke, “Yes, Eye of Beast, I see through wolf eyes.”

“Nice,” said Josh. “That sounds cool as hell.”

“How long is one minute?” asked Drox.

“About the time it took you to scarf down that jerky last night,” said Josh.

“I see,” said Drox thoughtfully. He didn’t seem to notice that Josh was making fun of him.

Adam looked around the room. It was cleared of all the bodies and death, but the impact from the explosion remained. There was a crater where the boom bag barrel exploded that was five meters around and about a meter deep. It was black and charred like the rock had been burned to ash. There were other chunks of rock laying around, but the dust was still settling so he couldn’t see everything.

Adam thought he saw something glint in the middle of the blackened crater, but he wasn’t sure. He moved toward the area. He and his group had ended the fight back near where they had entered the cavern. He walked toward the tunnel that was still somehow uncollapsed. He could see something glowing faintly as the dust finally started to dissipate.

He moved closer to get a better look. As he moved up the crater came into view and he looked down into the hole. There in the middle of the blackened stone were a pile of glowing items. On top of them sat a single bronze key.