NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Got Class?
<Alex, Real - Prepare>
Alex and Natasha ran for a bit before he glanced her way, the death of the pedestrians, the wight, and his own near-miss heavy on his mind. "Thank you."
She smiled in return. "I would be a pretty awful teammate if I just let you die."
"How did you know that I needed help?"
"Team Sense. You were close enough that it alerted me as soon as you entered combat. I came as quickly as I could."
He smiled at that. "Well, thank you again."
"Of course."
It took them less than five minutes to get to the school yard fence.
Natasha glanced at his shoes. "Is that going to be a problem?"
He looked down and saw the blood still on them. "There's no magic to the gunk any more. The blood that started to turn those other people all had magic linking it to the wight."
After a moment's hesitation, he bent down and wiped some off on the back of his hand.
"No prompt. No infection, nor notice of an infection resisted."
Unfortunately, because the blood was just blood now, it stayed on the back of his hand.
"Oh… well, this is gross." He scraped it off on the fence, then they turned and ran toward the gym.
She grunted at that. "And if being slashed open didn't infect you, a bit of blood on your skin won't do it." She examined his chest. "That is a bit weird to watch close up, even as slow as it is."
"Yeah…" He looked down. The wounds themselves hurt like a rabid chihuahua. The healing was going slow, and it itched like mad. It took a considerable effort of will to keep his attention off of the gashes and his fingers away from the wounds.
Now that he allowed himself to think on them, he had a thought. Wounds closed easier when held shut, didn't they? He was pretty sure that they did. Thus, he reached up and forced one of the jagged tears closed, sucking in a harsh breath at the pain his action caused.
His eyes widened, and Natasha sucked in a breath as the now mostly closed gash began to heal at an easily visible rate as the two sides were pressed together.
He checked his wound status.
Wounds:
Deep, ragged gash x 3
[100HP x 3 required to heal]
Deep, gash, closed
[9HP x 1 required to heal]
"Well, I'll be." The one gash healed over the next twenty-five seconds, and he moved to hold the second one, then the third.
He also now thought he better understood the difference between healing and curing wounds within the system.
The wight had only done 10 HP of damage per claw, but the wounds that it left would have taken him a massive 100 HP to heal before he could restore his base health pool, assuming he didn't do anything to treat them.
So, first aid is still useful in this world, at least to some degree? That's neat.
To take his mind off of things, he checked his Character Sheet.
Character Sheet:
Alex Johnson
Life-Aspected Human (Rare), F, Level 2
Class: NA
HP: 303/360
SP: 297/360
MP: 30/50
Physical Stats:
Power: 17
Agility: 25
Fortitude: 18
Mental Stats:
Power: 15
Agility: 25
Fortitude: 18
Magical Stats:
Power: 5
Agility: 5
Fortitude: 5
Unused Points: 0
Attributes:
Blood:
Life Finds a Way (Unique)
Temporary:
Apology Tutorial Skill Acquisition -
Acquire Skills organically with vastly reduced requirements until a Class is Selected
Skills:
Great-Blades Basics - Dadao (Common)
Advanced Kinesthetics (Common)
Intercept Projectiles (Common)
Inventory (Common)
Team Sense, Temp
Analyze (Common)
Danger Sense (Common)
Basic Mana Sense (Common)
Basic Mana Manipulation (Common)
Spells:
Force Burst (Uncommon)
Basic Life Transfusion (Uncommon)
By the time they reached the gym, less than two minutes later, all four gashes were sealed.
Thankfully, the entrance they were to use was the one oriented out of the school compound, letting out onto the street.
This street was blessedly almost entirely free of cars. For whatever reason, the traffic patterns had made it so no vehicles were left on the whole block save a couple parked in front of buildings across the street.
That wasn't important at the moment, though.
They saw James furtively looking out of the open doors as they ran up, and they could sense the other three within.
James waved them inside before pushing the doors closed and barring the entrance.
Alex frowned. "Aren't public building doors supposed to open outward?"
James shrugged. "Might be yet one more reason they don't use the gym any more? Or it might just be that this is another world. There could be different safety regulations and statutes."
Alex supposed it didn't really matter. His danger sense felt a lot happier now that the door was closed and barred.
"Come on, everyone else is already here, including quite a few people who you sent, I think?" He gave Alex an odd look.
Alex shrugged. "I did what I could to get some people here, yeah."
Both he and Natasha jerked slightly as System notices popped up in front of them.
Safe location Notice:
You are in a safe location
Prerequisites for Class(es) Met
Experience earned
Apology Tutorial Addendum:
It is recommended that you select a class first, if you are going to choose one at this time.
"Classes?" Alex asked, looking her way.
"Yeah." She smiled excitedly.
James sighed. "You must have had an adventure. Take a minute to deal with your notices, but please be quick? We need to keep working. The quest timer is near the halfway point, and I doubt we'll be as free of danger as we have been. And I'd bet that the change will happen sooner than we'd like. As it stands, we aren't ready for what I'm sure is coming."
Group Quest [Prepare]:
Create a base of operations from which you can survive the end of the world.
Outbreak will begin within:
03 hrs 58 min
Alex had had magic for thirty-one minutes.
That was pretty cool, also a lot shorter than he'd thought it had been.
Alex smiled. "Alright, let's be quick. Natasha?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but… how do we do this?"
<John, Real - Prepare, A City Falling Apart>
John was incredibly glad that they'd stopped through that Magic shop and been able to find a basic matter creation spell.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
In that same vein, he was insanely glad that he'd been making his own rounds for years now—down to the details of researching the metallurgy and chemical compounds to optimize his competition rounds.
He was one hundred percent sure that the spell wasn't supposed to allow him to make anything like a bullet, but his own knowledge had made it possible.
The System had rewarded him by upgrading the skill to the point that he could refill a magazine with standard rounds for only a couple of points of mana.
This was useful as he was running through magazines at an alarming rate.
The tat, tat, tat of his pistols acted as a cadence behind the quick-march of the group he and his wife were escorting toward this school their quest insisted they go to.
I hope that it is actually safe…
His wife had selected a basic fire starting spell and used her knowledge of chemistry and her own material creation spell to spoof herself as a fire mage of some kind.
They'd picked up Basic Mana Sense for both of them, and they'd absorbed it just before their Basic Mana Manipulation skills. That had netted them some interesting Starter Spells as well as allowing them to actually absorb and use their matter creation spells.
That was just before two nasty creatures had tried to kill them, but something about the situation felt off right beforehand, and John was accustomed to following his gut in difficult situations. Thus, he'd been ready when the two wights had tried to take them by surprise.
He'd needed to empty a full magazine into each at close range—while avoiding their vicious claws—before they'd gone down, charred by his wife's fire as well.
Regardless, after the wight incident, the two of them had gotten into a steady rhythm, where she counted his shots and used bursts of fire to keep away the relentless dead whenever he needed a moment to reload.
They had increased their group as they went, drawing people out of hiding and into safety, and now they were escorting nearly two dozen people, some few armed.
It was then that the variants began to show up.
John emptied two magazines to bring one down before realizing that that was untenable. The wights hadn't been the anomaly he'd assumed them to be at first.
Alright, heavier powder load, more penetration.
At that point, he created a bullet already in the chamber, specially made for the larger zombie loping toward them.
Tat.
It dropped, half its head missing.
"Nice shot, sweetie!" Pilar called from the back of the group.
"Thanks, honey! Let's keep moving," he called back.
We just might be able to do this.
<Alex, Real - Prepare, High School Gym>
Alex and Natasha needed to select classes but weren't exactly sure how to do that.
Well, it probably worked like absorbing a skill or accepting a level up, "Um… Accept Class?"
Class Acquisition Requirements Met:
You are in a safe location
You have met the requirements of one or more classes.
You have requested to accept a Class.
Apology Tutorial Addendum:
Please Note, a second class cannot be selected until your race and the first class have both reached at least level 10. Though, your first class can be evolved when the prerequisites to do so have been met.
Available Classes:
[Displayed selection reduced for convenience. Request a full list if you so desire.]
Class Qualifications Met:
Force Mage (Uncommon)
You have unlocked your Magical Stats
You have a Force Magic spell of at least Uncommon rarity
You have defeated an Uncommon enemy of your level or higher, using Force magic as the main source of damage (90% or more of the total damage)
Class Qualifications Met:
Great-Bladesman (Uncommon)
You have unlocked your Magical Stats
You have a Great-Blade skill of at least Common rarity
You have defeated an enemy of Uncommon rarity of your level or higher, doing 90% or more of the total damage to that enemy
You have survived due to your use of a great blade
The first two of the four offered classes were interesting. He'd been offered both a melee and a magic class. Though, he supposed that he had used both liberally in the short fight.
Equally interesting was the fact that even the Great-Bladesman required the unlocking of his magic to qualify. … interesting. Are Magical Stats required for all classes? They are at least for all those that I qualified for.
Class Qualifications Met:
Life-Aspected Warrior (Rare)
You have unlocked your Magical Stats
You have a Race of at least Uncommon rarity
You have survived due to your own Life-Aspected ability of Rare rarity or above
You have a melee combat skill of at least Common rarity
You have defeated an Uncommon opponent of a level higher than yourself, doing 90% or more of the total damage
You have survived due to your use of a great blade
So, my Unique ability is rarer than Rare… that makes sense, actually. It was rather obvious in retrospect.
Class Qualifications Met:
Undead Bane (Rare)
You have unlocked your Magical Stats
You have a Race of at least Uncommon rarity
You have defeated an undead opponent at least double your highest level, doing 90% or more of the total damage
You have resisted being turned into an undead at least five times
You showed no hesitation when expunging those who had been corrupted, even when others might have hesitated
Apology Tutorial Addendum:
Oh, aren't you classy?
These classes seemed to be precisely aligned with what he'd just done. That made him suspicious.
"Full list?" He frowned, looking over the expanded pane.
Every class that had been unhidden was just a lower form of one of the three classes the System had offered at first. Quite a few were even repeats but with different sets of requirements that he'd also met.
So, those three classes were precisely aligned with what he'd done in the sense that they were the classes with the most extreme requirements of those he'd qualified for. The fourth class was the only stand out, not really having a lower equivalent that he'd qualified for.
"Reduced list… details?" Nothing happened.
He pulled out his System Basics book and found the section he wanted before showing it to Natasha as well.
Alex had a class to select, and that meant reading through the benefits and weighing the pros and cons.
He also needed to do it fast. Even so, he needed to think carefully before making his choice. "Class Benefits."
Class Benefits:
Force Mage (Uncommon)
Stat Gains per Level
Mental Agility +2
Magical Power +4
Magical Agility +2
Magical Fortitude +4
Free Points +1
Total Points: 13
All Force Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Force effects occur 25% faster.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Class Benefits:
Great-Bladesman (Uncommon)
Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +2
Physical Agility +4
Physical Fortitude +4
Mental Agility +2
Free Points +1
Total Points: 13
Your effective Physical Power is 25% greater for physical attack and defense.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed with a great blade and unrestrained.
Class Benefits:
Life-Aspected Warrior (Rare)
Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +2
Physical Agility +4
Physical Fortitude +4
Mental Power +1
Mental Agility +4
Mental Fortitude +1
Magical Power +3
Magical Agility +2
Magical Fortitude +3
Free Points +1
Total Points: 25
All Life-Aspected Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Life-Aspected Spells' and Skills' effects occur 25% faster.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 10 x Physical Fortitude.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 25% greater for physical attack and defense.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.
Class Benefits:
Undead Bane (Rare)
Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +4
Physical Agility +4
Physical Fortitude +4
Mental Power +1
Mental Agility +4
Mental Fortitude +4
Magical Power +4
Magical Agility +4
Magical Fortitude +4
Free Points +5
Total Points: 38
All Attack Spells cost 50% less to cast when cast against Undead, otherwise they cost 50% more.
Your attack Spells' and Skill's effects occur 50% faster when used against Undead, otherwise they occur 50% slower.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 20 x Physical fortitude.
Your MP is calculated at 30 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 50% greater for physical attack and defense when fighting Undead, otherwise it is reduced by 50%.
You are immune to any form of turning where the result would be undead.
You can exude an aura that will prevent any undead of a lower level than your class level from approaching closer than a desired distance. Additionally, your aura will prevent any of a lower level than you from being turned while they still live as well as protecting them from damage from 'turning' effects.
You take 50% less damage from all attacks when fighting Undead, otherwise it is increased by 100%.
No Experience can be earned from fighting anything other than undead.
Alex almost choked as he fully processed what Undead Bane meant. How can it possibly still be just a Rare class? It's got 50% more stats per level than Life-Aspected Warrior.
He would be effectively an unstoppable titan of obliteration for this section of the tutorial…
For this section…
…of the tutorial…
He sighed.
It was a golden cage.
Well, that is really unfortunate… I want the most powerful class… But he would be incredibly limited in any other circumstance.
He didn't want to be forced into fighting undead for the rest of his life either…
As he thought about it, the extra stats were likely in recognition of the vast limitations placed upon anyone with the class.
Let's look at the others then.