Chapter 30: Nightmare during the day, wolfing at night.

Before long, Edward was inside Circe’s study with her giving him a weird look.

“You want to borrow money so you can register for two subclasses? Where did that idea come from?”

“Well…” Edward started telling her everything that happened recently and how the leader of his soon to be party advised him to pick up two new subclasses.

Circe frowned after hearing his story as she said: “You know, not branching into other classes has it’s own advantages as well. You will progress into your main class a lot faster. Picking a subclass means you’ll have to spend more time learning new skills and leveling up, which will eventually delay your progress by quite a lot.”

Edward nodded in understanding before saying: “That is true, but I imagine that, at the same level, the person with more classes will always hold the advantage.”

“Yes, that is true, but with the same starting point, the person only having a single class would have probably out-leveled you by a lot with the same starting point. A level advantage, in the end, is still the biggest advantage and, if you end up pissing off someone with a level advantage over you, don’t think for even a second he will shy away from using that advantage against you.”

The two of them bickered for quite a while, until in the end, Circe finally gave up under Edward’s stubborn insistence and said: “Fine. I’ll give you the money you need, but it will come with a condition.”

“What condition?” asked Edward, curious what this master of his had in mind this time.

“You’ll have to reach level 20 and intermediate water mage in an one year time.” She then placed ten gold coins on the table and continued: “If you agree, I will give you all these gold coins right now and won’t ask them back, but if you fail the condition, I’ll have you expelled from the guild and you will have to pay me back 10 times the coins I gave you today. What do you say?”, a wide smile plastered on her lips as her words ended.

Edward gulped and asked: “What does one need to do to become an intermediate water mage? And what will happen if I get expelled from the guild?”

“You will need to pass the advancement trial, which consists of you having to demonstrate you are able to cast an intermediate level spell together with a duel exam. As for getting expelled from the guild, you will not be able to take any advancement trials in your main class, which means you’ll be unable to become an advanced water mage.”

Edward was starting to have second thoughts about this deal, but just as he was about to decline, the wolf mark on his arm heated up and Fenrir voice sounded inside the room: [You can accept the deal if you want to.]

Both Edward and Circe froze on the spot, Edward not expecting Fenrir to speak in front of Circe like that and Circe not understanding why there was a woman’s voice coming from Edward’s arm.

Fixing her eyes on Edward’s arm, Circe asked: “Is that your secret girlfriend?”

Edward, understanding the meaning behind her words, gave Circe an weird look before saying: “It’s in fact the water spirit I formed a contract with. I’m now able to freely speak with her whenever I want.” He then turned his eyes on his hand and asked: “Are you sure about taking this deal, Azure?”

[Yes. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is leveling up to twenty. The intermediate level spell is no problem.]

Edward nodded and turned to look at Circe before saying with a wry smile on his face: “I guess I will accept the deal.”

Circe nodded and pushed the coins towards him with a large grin while choosing to not ask Edward more about Fenrir, even if she knew he was not being completely truthful. “Take them. It’s a win-win case for me anyway. If I win the bet I will have gained 90 gold coins from you and if you manage to win the bet I’ll for sure be promoted in the guild for finding such a young intermediate water mage and bringing him in.”

Edward felt like he fell in some sort of trap once more, but he just sighed and picked up the gold coins from the table. Since he didn’t know how long it will take to register for two subclasses, he decided to take his leave and, after saying goodbye to Circe and informing her he will be heading to the dungeon tomorrow, he headed straight for the rogue guild.

The process of picking a subclass was indeed as easy as Ingvar said and, after telling an employee there the purpose of his visit, he was presented with a list of rogue classes. After browsing all the classes, he finally decided on one.

<Shadow walker - rogue class.>
<Class specializing in stealth movement and enhanced acrobatics>
<Increases stamina and dexterity>

It was a class not that different from the dancer one, only with this class being more inclined towards stealth. After playing the clerk 1 gold coin, Edward received a sub-class registering token and a small book which contained descriptions of all the base skills a shadow walker could use.

Since Edward looked confused at the book, the employee said: “it seems that this is your first subclass. Having a subclass means that you can also learn skills that are specific to that subclass, but only after passing an advancement on you main class. For example, an intermediate level main fighter can learn only basic rogue subclass skills, but a basic main fighter won’t be able to learn any skill and will only obtain the attributes the subclass provides on leveling.”

“I see…” Edward took the token and the book before heading for the ranger guild since he was relatively close. There, the procedure was identical but the classes seemed a little dull to him so he ended up picking the Night Hunter class since it would seem useful when paired with his Shadow Walker one.

<Night Hunter - ranger class>
<Class specializing in always hitting it’s target, no matter the visibility.>
<Increases strength and dexterity>

“I’m becoming a stalker…” muttered Edward as he was exiting the ranger guild with his token and book. As he was about to leave the class guilds part of the city, he passed by the fighter guild and he stopped in his tracks.

“Fenrir, will it be too crazy for me to take three subclasses?” he asked, ignoring the people that were passing though the streets as he was too focused on the thought that passed through his mind.

[You will delay your progress too much and having another increase in either strength or stamina will do you no good since your main class will not benefit from any of them. There is no problem with it, but I wouldn’t recommend it since it’s of basically no use to you as of now.]

“Hmm… but as Ingvar said, it would be a shame not to take advantage of all that potential. What is 50 more monsters needed to increase a level? I’m immortal anyway, no? And not to mention that I will eventually have to take on an actual God… “

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This time Fenrir remained silent and Edward ended up taking her silence for agreement as he made his way towards the fighter guild. Inside, he picked the simple swordsman class before heading for the registration hall.

As he reached the registration hall, it was already way past noon and Edward walked directly to the class registration counter. After waiting in queue for ten or so minutes, it was his turn.

Edward placed the three tokens on the desk and said: “I’d like to register for three subclasses.”.

The employee behind the desk froze, thinking he heard wrong, prompting him to ask: “Did you just say you want to register for three subclasses?”

“Yes.”

The employee looked at Edward like he was a freak but still went on with the registration procedure. Once that was done, Edward took a look at the tablet in front of him.

<Name: Edward Black>
<Race: Human, ******>
<Age: 18>
<Level 2>
<Class: Water Mage>
<Sub-class: Shadow Walker>
<Sub-class: Night Hunter>
<Sub-class: Swordsman>
<Sub-class: Shape-Shifter>
<Title: N/A>
<Guild: Magician Guild>
<Affiliation: Adventurer Guild>
<Achievements: N/A>
<Crimes: N/A>

“Huh?” both Edward and the employee said at the same time, noticing the new class that appeared right after registering as an swordsman. Edward quickly took out his status tablet and activated it while making sure the employee couldn’t see it’s contents.

<Name: Edward Black>
<Class: Beginner Water Mage>
<Sub-class: Shadow Walker>
<Sub-class: Night Hunter>
<Sub-class: Swordsman>
<Sub-class: Shape-Shifter(Unique)>
<Mana: 128/158>
<Stamina: 10/10>
<Strength: 1.1>
<Dexterity: 1>
<Level: 2>
<Level Life Force: 1/450>
<Spells: Water Ball, Cost: 2 mana;
Water Blade, Cost 5 mana;
Water Barrier, Cost 1-10 mana;
Elemental shifting, Locked>
<Skills: Wolf Shift: 1 stamina/second;>

Edward almost had a heart attack the moment he saw the requirements to increase his level and left the place without even saying a single word to the employee at the registration hall. Once outside, he quickly went into an unpopulated side-alley and said: “Fenrir, what the hell is that? What is with the shape-shifter class and why do I need 450 life force for a single level?”

[That is indeed unexpected. It appears you have somehow fulfilled the conditions to activate your unique class.]

“Unique class? Can you tell me what the fuck is that?”

[Well, do you remember when you checked your aptitude before and one class was unknown? That was the shape-shifter class which activated just now. As for the leveling requirements, it probably needs a total of 200 life force because of it’s unique status.]

“But, how the hell am I supposed to hunt 450 monster to increase each level? I’m fucked….”

[It is indeed troublesome…]

Edward sighed and rested with his back against a wall and a dispirited look in his eyes.

“They will definitely kick me out of the party now… I had to be an idiot and bit more than I could chew…”

After grumbling for quite a while in the lonely alley, the sun finally started setting and Edward stood up, resigning himself to his fate.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do now…” he muttered as he started heading towards Minx. Once he reached his trusted companion, he laid down next to her, hid the remaining coins under a tree nearby and pulled out his tablet once more.

After looking through his new status for quite a while, he fixed his eyes on the new skill displayed there.

“Fenrir, this Wolf Shift should be coming from my new class, isn’t it?”

[That should be the case. If I had to take a guess, you’ll be able to inhabit the wolf form without losing your control over your body. Too bad you only have the stamina to hold the form for only ten seconds.]

Edward nodded and decided to try it. He never used a skill before, but he felt instinctively what he should do and, after focusing slightly, his body started turning. The reality of the situation was even worse than he expected. Not even mentioning the horrible pain the transformation brought with it as he felt his flesh tearing, bones cracking and organs twisting, his stamina ran out just as he was about to finished it and he immediately returned to his human form which brought with it a new wave of pain.

“What fucking bullshit skill is this? Can’t that skill start using stamina after I fucking transform and not during it? And what’s with all the torture.”

[It looks like you’ll have to increase your level at least once if you want to use this skill. Or you could overdraft your stamina, but I wouldn’t recommend that.]

“Sigh… this was indeed a horrible day…” said Edward as he undressed and rested his head on Minx’s soft fur without even paying attention to Fenrir’s words.

“A fucking nightmare…”

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