Chapter 43: Chapter 40: Picking the Wrong Class

The lack of any skill evolutions was a shame, and reduced the likelihood of me getting any new classes out of that training session, but it was still very much worth it, in my opinion. Lots of levels, most of which would be useful, and even two new skills. Time to find out what options I had for my second class.

"I demand a running commentary," insisted my zombie twin, who was currently doing a slave collar powered headstand against one wall, as my revenge for her earlier kissing attack.

Available class: Scout (Basic)
Information is power, and there is a great advantage to spotting your foes before they spot you. This class will offer skills that aid in detection, stealth and exploration.
Unlock requirements: Possess at least one scouting skill.
Class features: Increased physical dexterity and heightened perception.
Skill domain: Scouting

That was unchanged from last time, but where did warrior go? "First one is scout this time," I called. "No change from last time."

"Boring. Next!"

Available class: Mage (Basic)
Magic can warp the rules of reality, conjuring ice or flame, earth or air. Difficult to master, but powerful beyond imagining if mastery is ever achieved, mages tend to start out weak but have almost unlimited potential.
Unlock requirements: Possess at least one magic skill.
Class features: Increased intelligence. Increased mana storage and regeneration.
Skill domain: Magic

"Next is a basic mage class. Starts weak but good growth potential, according to the description."

"Finally! But you have two magic skills, so there should be some better versions later."

Available class: Warrior (Common)
Hold the stick by the blunt end and poke the pointy end in your foes. Simple, but effective, and this common warrior class will aid you in doing just that.
Unlock requirements: Possess at least two second tier combat skills.
Class features: Increased physical strength and endurance.
Skill domain: Combat

Oh, that's where warrior got to. The rarity and unlock requirements went up. Nothing else seemed to have changed, though. Surely it should have improved somehow? Would the skills it offered be better? Did the stat boost increase a bit? "Found warrior. Apparently having tier two combat skills made it common instead of basic."

"Still boring. Skip over all the repeats," she replied.

The next one was aranea hunter, completely unchanged from the first time. Berserker didn't appear at all, presumably because I no longer fulfilled the requirement to have an offensive skill higher than my defensive. Gardener did, and was dutifully ignored. That left some common versions of scout and mage.

Available class: Assassin (Common)
The next logical progression of spotting a foe before they spot you is to dispatch them before they spot you. This class is for those who do not wish to fight, but who simply want their enemies dead. Backstabbing, poisons or traps, there are many ways to take out an opponent without them ever seeing your face, and this class will help you with them all.
Unlock requirements: Use poison against an enemy. Attack any enemy while undetected. Exploit the environment against an opponent. Possess at least two scouting skills.
Class features: Increased potency for poisons you produce. Attacks while undetected deal more damage. Increased physical dexterity and heightened perception.
Skill domain: Scouting

"Oh, here's an interesting one. Assassin, an upgraded version of a scout. Good for backstabbing and poisoning things. When did I exploit the environment against an opponent, though?"

"Probably when we tricked the arch-priestess into killing a room full of warriors? Anyway, that one sounds decent."

Right, that did happen, didn't it? It had been an eventful few weeks. And I agreed. Best sounding one so far.

Available class: Explorer (Common)
Someone needs to be the first to set foot in unexplored dungeons or forgotten ruins. And if someone has to do it, it might as well be you. This class aids in exploration and keeping yourself safe in unfamiliar terrain.
Unlock requirements: Be the first of your kind to set foot in a dungeon, and accurately map out at least one floor. Possess at least two scouting skills.
Class features: Intuitively recognise dungeon floor monster and trap density and variety. Increased physical dexterity and greatly heightened perception.
Skill domain: Scouting

"And the next one is explorer, which is only common yet has an unlock requirement of being the first of a species to enter a dungeon."

"Maybe dungeons are really common and short-lived?"

"They'd have to turn up under every sofa for this class to actually be common. Assassin was better, anyway."

Available class: Flame mage (Common)
Magic can warp the rules of reality, conjuring ice or flame, earth or air. Difficult to master, but powerful beyond imagining if mastery is ever achieved, mages tend to start out weak but have almost unlimited potential. This particular class specialises in flames, showing greater proficiency with fire than other elements.
Unlock requirements: Witness high level flame magic. Possess at least two magic skills.
Class features: Increased damage with flame based spells. Increased intelligence. Increased mana storage and regeneration.
Skill domain: Magic

Did the dragon's breath count as magic? Probably, or he'd have melted his own throat, and I couldn't think where else I'd have got it.

"Flame mage. Like a normal mage, but with more fire."

"Interesting. Setting things on fire sounds fun, but I still think assassin would be cooler."

"Might let me finally cook some food, though."

The next few were mind, ice and decay mages, which were identical to flame mage but with the element swapped out. Mind mage was interesting... I noted that one down as an option. And that ended the common classes.

Available class: Chilopoda hunter (Uncommon)
Whether by circumstance or design, some people end up coming face to face with a significant number of chilopoda. Most people would get fed up with them. Some people do not, and make chilopoda hunting their career choice, in which case this class will help to ensure they continue to survive the encounters.
Unlock requirements: Kill at least a hundred chilopoda of any species. Possess poison resistance. Possess at least three combat skills of tier two or above.
Class features: Increased physical strength and endurance. Damage bonus against chilopoda. Resistance skills are more effective against any venoms produced by chilopoda.
Skill domain: Combat

"Chilopoda hunter. Like aranea hunter, but uncommon, with higher unlock requirements. Presumably aranea hunter didn't get the upgrade because I'd have needed to kill a hundred of them instead of ten."

"Nope. I don't think either of us want to see another one of those. Were they still treating you like family when you went for the mana crystal?"

"Yup."

"Gross..."

"Yup."

The next one was vulpes hunter, which was worse. I'd not killed any of them. Did it count everyone who had died in the brief civil war or something? That was followed by an upgrade of survivalist, with the same unlock requirements except requiring all the skills to be second tier. Despite the upgrade, it was still labelled as uncommon, but the class features had changed to count as an achievement for rank two skills.

Then there were my old rare classes, two of which were unchanged. The third, perverted masochist was gone, thank goodness, presumably because having pain nullification disqualified me.

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The old classes were followed by a few more extras, although I almost feared to look at what weird things I'd picked up this time.

Available class: Bondage aficionado (Rare)
Just how, exactly, do you keep ending up in so many compromising situations? Bound by the roots of an angelica vorax, cocooned by an aranea volito, entombed by a chilopoda sagacitas, twice, repeatedly tied up by a vulpes sagax, enslaved by an enchanted collar, webbed and paralysed by the kiss of an aranea regina. But it's not as if you hate it, right? You even invented a ranking system and started taking comparative notes.
Unlock requirements: Take your love of bondage far and wide.
Class features: Increased sensitivity to touch. Your body becomes immune to damage suffered from holding uncomfortable positions for long periods.
Skill domain: Special

Ah, so perverted masochist didn't go away. It just mutated into something fractionally less objectionable. I dismissed it with a sigh.

"Oi! What was that one?"

"Nothing."

"It was a perverted masochist upgrade, wasn't it? Admit it!"

"More of a side-grade. No, wait! I said it was nothing!"

Available class: Blighted champion (Rare)
There are, for reasons of desperation, insanity or greed, those among the living who choose to aid the spread of the undead blight. Such people tend not to remain living for very long, whether because saner individuals murder them, or because they fall to the blight themselves. Should that be your desire, this class shall seal your fate, sending you into the eternal grip of undeath, as a true champion of the blight.
Unlock requirements: Infect over a thousand creatures with the undead blight. Willingly infect yourself with the undead blight.
Class features: Race transition to undead revenant. Increased transmission of undead blight.
Skill domain: Special

Oops... Guess the blight must have spread pretty well upstairs, then... So that would be why the other class had claimed I'd killed a hundred vulpes. "This one says it'll change my race to undead revenant," I read out.

"Ooo, you should take that one! We could be proper zombie twins!"

"Yeah... No," I answered. I think I'll pretend I never saw that one. Whatever happened upstairs was nothing to do with me. Nothing at all. I was never there.

Available class: Chilopoda kin (Rare)
You have somehow convinced a nest of chilopoda to accept you as their kin. Why you did such a strange thing doesn't matter; it's still an achievement that's more than worthy of being awarded with a rare class.
Unlock requirements: Be accepted as part of a chilopoda swarm consisting of more than a thousand individuals.
Class features: Gain chitinous skin. Gain shape-shift as a free skill, with available forms linked to the members of your swarm.
Skill domain: Special

Hah. That wasn't anything I did; their big boss told them to treat me that way! "Next one is chilopoda kin," I said, reading out the text.

"If that shape-shift skill let you turn into the big-arse centipede, that would be awesome!" exclaimed my upside-down twin. "Unlikely though."

"Yeah, I agree. Also, two legs is the correct amount of legs, and my skin is fine as it is."

Available class: Shrine maiden (Rare)
You have acted as a caretaker to the shrines of the Goddess, defending those that are under attack and repairing those that have been desecrated. But the forces that seek to defile the holy places are endless, as is your task. This class will aid you in your blessed work.
Unlock requirements: Repair 3 damaged shrines.
Class features: You can hear the cries of any damaged shrine in the area, or those that are under attack. You can repair shrines using your own mana instead of requiring a mana crystal as an intermediary.
Skill domain: Special

Hmm? A rare class that didn't immediately ring any alarm bells? It was a bit too specialised for me to want to take, and it would be nice if I could use it to locate all shrines instead of just the ones in trouble, but otherwise it looked okay. I read out the details.

"You're lacking imagination," said the other me. "You're assuming it would tell you the location of damaged shrines, when you'd probably just hear screaming. At all times. Have fun with that."

Well, I wasn't going to take it anyway, but she raised a valid point. The ambiguity was dangerous.

Available class: Aberrant monster tamer (Rare)
The path of the monster tamer is uncommon, but not unheard of. Monsters can fulfil a multitude of jobs, from assassin or guard to maid or blacksmith, if you find an appropriate species and successfully bend them to your will. You, however, have chosen a different path. You have fed an angelica vorax with your own flesh, willingly bore the young of a chilopoda sagacitas, welcomed the kiss of an aranea regina, and even offered your servitude to the undead blight. To an outside observer, it might appear as if the monsters have tamed you instead, or as if you were a monster yourself. They may not be completely wrong, but the choice was your own. You knew full well the benefits to yourself for each action you took; you simply don't see the need to deprive monsters of their freedom or lives to seize those benefits, willing to pay an alternate price, however costly, instead. This class will grant you a portion of the power of these monsters, despite you not bringing them under your control.
Unlock requirements: Strike a mutually beneficial deal with a wild sapient monster. Receive benefits from a wild non-sapient monster while offering it something it desired in return. Aid a monster of your own free will.
Class features: Gain a part of the ability of any monster species with which you have a friendly relationship. Skill selection based on monster relationships.
Skill domain: Special

Oh? Another rare class that wasn't obviously negative? It was a shame it wasn't specific about the monster abilities I'd get, though; given the monsters I'd dealt non-fatally with, it had the potential to be horrifically powerful. From the description, it might even include the giant centipede, even though I murdered him. Would I get his mind magic powers? That would make this class worth it all on its own. Alternatively, it might not give me anything for encounters prior to taking the class. What were the chances of befriending more monsters?

"This one is interesting," I said, reading out the details.

"Hah, servitude to the undead blight. Think that was from you letting me put a slave collar on you? That hardly counts; you could take it off any time! Speaking of which..."

If it was, then the training session was more useful than I'd thought. Not that I'd let that shorten her punishment. "No, you're staying there until you learn your lesson."

"I'm supposed to be the evil twin, dammit. We can't both be! And unlike you, I can't item box it off. This is unfair!"

"So you say, but I know full well you're capable of pouring mana into it to seize control, and I haven't ordered you not to."

That comment got me treated to a rather pointed upside-down glare.

Anyway, that was all of my classes. I'd spent most of the time thinking it was between assassin or mind mage, but aberrant monster tamer was interesting. I could be fairly sure what sort of direction the assassin or mind mages classes would take me in, but tamer was a gamble. While the class features of the rare classes were all powerful, they weren't always beneficial, and often came with horrific side effects. Picking that class would be taking a big risk. It could screw me over as easily as it could aid me.

So, the choice was between the safe, or the unknown. When picking my first class, I'd refused to gamble. I had been different back then. Saner, for a start. The old me would have refused to pick the class out of fear of its side effects. The current me didn't mind as much, particularly now that I was sharing a room with an undead version of myself. What could happen that would be worse than that? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Secondary class set to aberrant monster tamer
For forging a symbiotic relationship with an angelica vorax, your bodily fluids gain paralytic and numbing properties, as well as improved taste and aroma.
For crawling your way into a chilopoda swarm, your skin takes on some of the properties of their chitin.
For successfully dealing with an aranea regina and making extensive use of her webs, your body develops silk glands and spinnerets.
For forging a friendly relationship with a sapient blighted husk, your eyes gain the ability to perceive true darkness.

A sudden, intense itch spanning my entire body, combined with a very unpleasant sensation on my rear, accompanied my realisation that I may have just screwed up. Stripping off my armour, I was happy to find my skin was approximately the correct colour, merely looking as if I'd suddenly overdosed on a cheap tanning spray, and that the texture wasn't obviously changed. It did seem rather less supple when poked, but I could live with that.

"Why did you strip?" came the voice I didn't want to hear. "Hey, your eyes have turned yellow! And what's that thing on your bum?!"

What an utter idiot I was... I knew all rare classes were horrific traps, and yet for some reason I picked one anyway! In retrospect, perhaps I should have put more weight on that bit of the description that said that people wouldn't be entirely wrong to call me a monster myself.

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