Teresa Of All Trades (Book 1 Complete)

Too much was going on at once and Teresa was getting overwhelmed. Firstly, she had her class level up. That was a new skill she had to think about and select, which was great. Next was the C4, which is where Teresa started to get a little lost. Then she had her personal level up, meaning she had another unallocated point to put somewhere. Sure, it would probably go into Agility again, but all of her previous ideas about how her status worked were being thrown out the window.

What was this about a class change?

Class Change Available!

She looked at the notification anxiously. Sure she had been complaining about being stuck as a healer, but she didn't actually expect anything to change. Was this being offered because she wanted to change classes so bad? Ages ago, Madeline had been offered a skill called <Familial Duty> which had literally said it was offered because of her strong desire to reunite with her family. Teresa hadn't thought about it much at the time, but did the System reflect desires?

She had been wanting to heal Sarah for quite a while now, and a lot of the skills she had been offered were healing skills. Was that because it was a reflection of what Teresa wanted, or was it just because she was a healer?

Was the class change being offered because of her desire to stop being a healer, or was it due to something else. She had just reached level 15 when it became available. Did everyone get offered a class change at level 15?

Most importantly, would Teresa lose her healing abilities if she changed classes? She was hesitant to even look at the notification in case she accidentally started an irreversible process. One of the first things she had discovered about the System was that it did not respond to intrusive thoughts or uncontrolled mental impulses. She had to have deliberate intent to select that notification and begin the class change process, but what did that include?

What was a better decision? Change classes now, assign her stat point and select her new skill after? Wait, would she even be able to choose a new skill after changing classes, her class level up was for the healer class. If she suddenly changed to say, medieval basket weaver, would she still be able to select a skill or would that opportunity be gone forever?

Should she even change classes? Sure, it might suit her own needs more, but she still had a responsibility to Sarah. If she changed classes, that would be deliberately slowing down her progress to become a better healer. That would be a selfish decision, literally putting Teresa's desires over Sarah's life.

Teresa wasn't a selfish person… right? Well, she had tried to kill herself and she considered that a pretty selfish decision. Teresa had fully known that her suicide would devastate her family, and she had chosen it anyways. They had been good people, and Teresa had been willing to throw all of that away just because she was sad inside. Maybe Teresa was a selfish person…

Nope, not doing that. This was not the time for some depressing introspection, there was other stuff to focus on. Yeah, that's why she wasn't going down that rabbit hole, she had to focus. Yep.

Choosing her new skill should probably come first, since she wasn't sure how a class change would affect that. She opened up a screen to display a list of available skills. Before her were all of the previous skills she had passed up on. The skills she had considered before were laid in front of her. <Purify>, which might help Teresa with cleaning, was a super useful improvement to her quality of life but not exactly necessary. <Magic Wellspring> would let her buff someone's Intelligence or Wisdom. The issue was it said only one buff could be applied to someone at a time, but her <Facilitated Restoration> did not have that descriptor. She wasn't sure if they would conflict or even cancel each other out.

Of course there was also <Weakness Of The Mind>, which would let her shoot something with a ball of stupid to make it dumber. In other words, it was a debuff spell for someone's Intelligence and Wisdom stats. Not really useful, but the thought of shooting her brother with it was still incredibly funny to her.

She couldn't just pick a skill as a joke, this was something that had to be a serious decision. Unfortunately. Now, what options did she have?

<Restorative Drain: lv 0>

Type: Anti-Restoration Magic

Absorb the restoration Mana from a foreign source, draining what could be one's saving grace. Claim the restoration Mana as your own, so that you may use it as you see fit.

That one was… interesting. It was possibly the shortest description for a skill she had seen yet. It was kind of a cool idea, but it seemed really situational. Teresa hadn't exactly been fighting enemies very often who were actively being healed, the Clubbers just a minute ago were hopefully a one time issue. If she continued to use this strategy on the next monster stronghold, then sure it might be useful. Still, beyond the Tutorial Teresa couldn't see herself using the skill very much, if at all.

Next up:

<Healing Burst: lv 0>

Type: Restoration Magic

Send all of the restoration Mana within an individual into a frenzied state, causing all of the restoration Mana within them to be expended at once. The individual will experience instant healing proportional to the restoration Mana already within them at a greatly reduced efficiency.

That one seemed incredibly useful. Teresa almost immediately picked it, thinking about how this was the one stop solution to saving Sarah. There was an issue with it, however.

Restoration Mana was already expended pretty quickly in an injured person. When Teresa used <Facilitated Restoration> on herself, sure she was full of restoration Mana for a while until the skill's duration ended. However, when someone was injured and she used <Healing Touch>, the restoration Mana flowed directly into the injury rather quickly.

Still, it would make an amazing combo with <Facilitated Restoration>, but would it be better than just using <Healing Touch> with <Facilitated Restoration>? Teresa's idea was to use <Facilitated Restoration> on Sarah, then use <Healing Burst>, then repeat again and again to provide healing as fast as she could. However, Teresa only had two hands, and she still only knew how to cast spells from her palms. She had spent some time trying to use <Healing Touch> using her entire hand rather than just her palms, and she actually had seen progress on that. Still, she couldn't cast two spells from the same hand.

Could she?

She thought about it for a bit, but eventually came to the conclusion it would be way beyond her and not as useful as it sounded. If she even could, it would probably greatly reduce the efficacy of both spells to the point where their sum would be less than their combined parts. Super not worth it.

If Teresa was constantly using <Facilitated Restoration> and <Healing Burst>, it might wind up eating all of her Mana depending on just how efficient the skill was. Teresa had quite a lot of Mana now compared to the start of the Tutorial, boasting a Mana pool of 530, so she actually might be fine in that regard.

It would be useful in the long run though. It might start out really weak but become way more useful over time, which was Teresa's general interpretation of how skills worked anyways. It would be a solid choice, but there was still another skill available.

<Dead Restoration: lv 0>

Type: Restoration Magic

Allows the user to cause restoration Mana to produce dead organics within a consenting individual. Restoration Mana from a single source can only produce living organics or dead organics at a time.

That was it. That was what would let Teresa grow her hair back, wasn't it? Dead organics probably referred to dead cells like hair or fingernails, probably even dead bodies. If using this skill provided experience for her healer class, then it probably could have been an amazing source of levels if she wasn't just about to possibly change classes. Cut her hair, grow it back, repeat? It might not grant a lot of experience, but it would be easier to level up than her other skills.

Was it her best option? Maybe? If it could give her a bunch of levels then sure, but that was a stretch. Even her other skills seemed to have some hidden caveats about when they gained experience, as the only one to have ever leveled up outside of combat was <Mana Control>. Well, her <Identify> also kind of leveled up outside of combat before, but she immediately engaged in combat right after and still had to use it on another living being. She was literally 1% away from leveling that skill up again, though she was yet to figure out what leveling up <Identify> even did.

It would be kind of a waste to pick though. It had the same issue as <Purify>, where it was a very nice improvement to her quality of life but not really necessary. Ultimately it was down to either <Healing Burst> or <Magic Wellspring>. She had actually considered <Restorative Drain> since Jake, Preston, and Madeline would all have restoration Mana still in them from <Facilitated Healing> once she left the Tutorial. Issue was at the time her healing magic had been way weaker, and probably wouldn't provide much benefit.

Once again <Magic Wellspring> had the risk of not working with <Facilitated Restoration> which would defeat the point. Sometimes Teresa really wished the System would provide more details on these possibly life-saving skills, but she had to work with what she got. It would be incredibly useful if she ever got any other spells that weren't healing focused, but Teresa would kind of feel bad if she acted too selfishly with this decision.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

But was <Healing Burst> so much better than what she already had? It's not like when she chose <Totem Of Life>, where it was another skill she could use simultaneously with her already existing skills. If <Healing Burst> and <Facilitated Restoration> wasn't better than <Healing Touch> and <Facilitated Restoration>, then there wasn't much point in picking the skill. She would have to level it up from scratch, and if that was the case she might as well just keep leveling <Healing Touch>.

She decided to risk it. <Magic Wellspring> might not work with what she had, but it had more potential long term. After another moment of deliberation, she selected the skill. The knowledge on how to activate the skill was poured into her mind once again, and she immediately cast it on herself.

Rather than summoning a ball of flame over her palm, a burst of what looked like blue sound seemed to shoot out of her palm and into herself. Immediately, Teresa's mind felt a little more clear and thoughts became smoother. Right after, Teresa used <Facilitated Restoration>, and found with great relief that it still worked with <Magic Wellspring>.

Thank fuck, Teresa thought, seeing she had made a good decision. Since it worked with her other skills, <Magic Wellspring> absolutely was the right move. It had just been the risk that had pushed her away from the option.

Now, should she allocate her stat point or do the class change thingy? If all it did was change her class, then it shouldn't affect something unrelated like her current stats, right? It was one point, surely it would be fine.

Teresa selected the class change notification, and with some mental intent a new screen opened up.

Class Change

You have unlocked a Class Change upon reaching level 15. You may choose to change classes now or later. Bonus stats lost by delaying Class Change will NOT be retroactively awarded. All current stats and skills will remain after changing classes, excluding unawakened Class Perks. Changing classes is only possible via a Class Change or Class Perk.

Available Classes:

Class: Combat Medic (F+)

Not all injuries are treated in perfect conditions. You save lives and you claim them. The battlefield is where a healer is most needed, and you are familiar with this environment. You will rescue your allies even if you have to take a fight to do so. Focus on Restoration Magic with a hint of combat effectiveness.

+1 Strength, +1 Agility, +3 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +1 Perception, +1 Unallocated per level

Wait wait wait wait wait- hold on. Teresa stopped reading after the first class on the list and was already shocked by what she saw. This first option was clearly just a better version of her current class. It also had an "F+" next to it, what was that about? Now that she thought about it, a lot of stuff had a letter next to it. All of the classes at the start of the Tutorial had an "F" next to them, and Teresa's personal level in her stat screen had an "F" as well. What the fuck did that mean? If Preston were here she would ask him about it, but Teresa had never really thought much about what those letters meant. Was it supposed to be obvious?

Well, F+ was definitely better than F, and it showed in the stats. Currently, Teresa gained 2 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom, 1 Perception, and 1 Unallocated per level as a Healer. That was a total of 6 points per level. The Combat Medic class had the same stats improving plus some extra, giving a total of 9 points per level. It was just all around better, and it still seemed to follow the general path of healing as far as Teresa could tell.

There were actually quite a few options to choose from, so Teresa kept reading.

Class: Cleric (F+)

There is more to saving lives than healing injuries, for you prevent them. While you may heal your allies when they are injured, you shall also make them stronger. Strengthen your allies with buffing magic, and heal them when they are hurt.

Class Perk (unawakened): You may cast two buffs on any given individual

+3 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, +1 Perception, +1 Unallocated per level

Okay, so far Teresa had been offered a combat oriented version of her class and a buff oriented version of her class. Weirdly enough, this one only provided 8 stat points per level. What the hell? Why was that? The System clearly favored one class over the other, what gives? It didn't seem fair. There were bound to be a lot more healers out there than just Teresa, so why would the System punish people for choosing to walk down a path of buffing allies and healing as opposed to fighting and healing?

Then again, the Cleric class had a "Class Perk." It also said "unawakened," next to it, but the perk seemed incredibly useful. It was probably enough to make up the difference in stat points awarded, but Teresa was cautious of something that had been in the notification.

All current stats and skills will remain after changing classes, excluding unawakened Class Perks.

That seemed to say that the perk would not stay forever. If Teresa changed classes again someday, then she would lose the perk associated with her class. It was short term gain for long term pain.

There were more options to read from, and it was too early to make a decision.

Class: Tempest Ranger (F+)

The bow is your instrument, and the arrow is your song as it dances along the wind to the melody of the Apprentice Ranger. You fire your weapon with your body and you guide the attack with your Soul. Focus on air-based Elemental Magic and Archery.

+1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +2 Perception, +1 Unallocated per level.

Once again Teresa was presented with a class that granted a different number of stat points. It seemed like a peculiar option for her, as it was entirely unrelated to her current class. Additionally, it only granted 7 stat points and it didn't even have a perk.

There had to be a reason for it. The starter classes had all given 6 points per level, making them equal in a sense. Now they were very clearly uneven, and it was incredibly strange to Teresa. Why would a Tempest Ranger get less stat points than a Combat Medic?

After some thought, Teresa had a guess. Teresa had been in a lot of combat despite being a healer, so that was probably why Combat Medic had such a good number of stat points per level. Alternatively, Teresa had certainly used the bow quite a bit but it wasn't really her main thing. Archery had mostly just been a means to an end to her. She did have some experience in using magic, but not the kind that was being described in the description.

Maybe the more a class aligned with your actions, the better it would be? Or was it that class options were awarded based on your actions, and only after that alignment was taken into consideration. Teresa was not sure, but there were quite a few classes that seemed reminiscent of the starter classes.

Class: Magic Light Swordsman (F+)

The blade is an extension of your body, its edge an avatar of your will. You use your weapon to ensure your enemies do not remain whole, and you use magic to gain an advantage over your opponent. Focus on hand to hand combat, quick movement, and Buffing Magic.

+1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Intelligence, +3 Agility, +1 Unallocated per level

Class: Masochist Tank Of Self Restoration (F+)

An injury is nothing when you can restor-

Nope not that one. Teresa wasn't even going to bother reading it, though she did glance at the stats. She felt annoyed it gave 9 stat points per level, what was the System trying to say about her? She was not about to keep getting hurt during fights as a part of her plan. Hell no to taking more injuries, and hell no to any class that had fucking "Masochist," in its name.

Next.

Class: Mage Of The Twin Arts (F+)

To specialize in only one branch of magic is to cut a wing off a bird. In one hand, Restoration Magic. In the other, Elemental Magic. Walk along two diverging paths, and make them one within your Soul.

+3 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, +1 Perception, +1 Unallocated per level

This one seemed like a good contender. So far, she had only really crossed off one option. Some provided better benefits than others, but Teresa found some of the lower quality options interesting. Sure, Tempest Ranger provided the least stats of all of the classes so far, but using magic to control the wind while shooting a bow would be pretty badass.

She was being selfish again.

Teresa stopped, not reading the last option of the list yet. What was she doing? She couldn't change to a class that didn't involve Restoration Magic, that would risk Sarah's life. For a few minutes there she had really been considering all of the options, but could she really decide to step away from Restoration Magic? Sure, she would keep her skills, but she wouldn't get any new healing skills. She would have to level up what she already had.

That wasn't impossible, she was honestly fairly confident at this point she could get strong enough to heal Sarah before leaving the Tutorial. Still, accidents happen. What if she is forced to leave early by a pack of level 20 Clubbers? If she chose a class with Restoration Magic she would have a higher chance of getting new skills to increase Sarah's odds sooner, putting her at less risk.

But this was a long term decision. Teresa would still have this class after saving Sarah, and who knew how long she would be stuck with it? Teresa could still save Sarah if she chose a different class, but it would be slightly harder. With the new stats being offered, Teresa would only need maybe two or three more levels before she was solid. At the moment she had 42 Intelligence, which made her spells far quicker and more effective.

There were multiple options that would increase her Intelligence per level by 50%. Sure, 50% more really just meant 3 points instead of 2, but that was still a difference. Some of these classes even offered less Intelligence, which would make Teresa rely more on leveling her skills.

Her skill level really did have the largest effect on her healing, so surely it wouldn't be that bad to change to something new, right? Was Teresa just trying to justify this to herself? Was Teresa being a bad person?

She paused and took a breath. She would read the last option, go grab the C4, and make her way back to Liberty Island before making a decision. Her heartbeat was racing, and she had begun sweating just from thinking about this choice.

The C4 would go in her backpack, meanwhile the detonator and the receiver would be carried by hand. She couldn't put the detonator in her bag and accidentally pull the trigger, who knew what would happen? It would activate the receiver, and Teresa wasn't sure if it could be used multiple times. Activating it even without attaching it to any C4 might render it useless.

Teresa packed away her new loot and began to run towards the Statue of Liberty in the distance. She decided to read the last option while running, though truthfully she was feeling overwhelmed. For her first readthrough, she wasn't really paying that much attention. The words went right through her brain and out the back, as she didn't really process it too much. Her increased mental stats helped a lot with thinking, but they didn't seem to do much to keep her anxiety from clouding her mind.

Oh well, she would read it again later once she calmed down. Besides, it's not like it was going to be a glaringly obvious choice.

Class: Jack Of All Trades (F+)

Jack Of All Trades, master of none, oftentimes better than a master of one. Excel at nothing to experience everything. The multiverse holds many mysteries, why only solve one?

Class Perk (unawakened): Gain the ability to unlock skills of any type you have a basic understanding of upon a class level up. Class level ups take 150% experience. General skills gain experience 5% faster, and other skills gain experience 5% slower.

+1 Strength, +1 Fortitude, +1 Endurance, +1 Vitality, +1 Agility, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, +1 Perception per level.