The Apocalypse Grinder (LitRPG Apocalypse, Timeloop)

Ronan jolted awake. Something had him by the shoulders. It shook him from side to side, yelling incoherently.

"Fuck off, prick," he groaned, feebly slapping in front of his face.

"Ronan! Get up! There's only twenty seconds left until the next stage," Keith screeched. "I need you."

Ronan felt a phantom tingle in his right arm. He put his weight on it to haul himself to his feet and immediately cursed out loud.

What the hell? I thought leveling up healed all wounds, so why does my arm still feel as if it's been drilled out by a nest of termites? he wondered.

Using his left arm instead, he managed to clamber upright. It helped that he could use the stone wall behind him for support.

He opened his eyes once he was upright, gently rolling his shoulders. That wasn't too painful, at least.

Keith stood crouched in front of him, panic on his face. Why the man thought Ronan was his personal bodyguard was an unsolvable mystery.

"Thanks for waking me up," Ronan said, scratching his head and immediately regretting using his right arm when a dozen needles of pain lanced through it.

18…

Keith could wait. He had to figure out what was wrong with his arm. There were also stat points to assign and a flickering symbol in the corner of his vision that demanded attention.

To be honest, he wanted to wait and see what stage four of the tutorial held before assigning the points. If it was more goblins he might kill himself first…

He was sick of the hideous green bastards. The fact that the damn shamans could turn their dead into vile, stinking lumps of flesh didn't help their cause.

Give me some cute slimes, system, he silently prayed. Or maybe wolves. Wolves are a great starter mob!

Having decided to save his free stat points for now, all he could do was mentally give in to the demands of the flickering symbol. It resembled a book, but that could mean anything.

Skills, perhaps?

He'd earned his first two through tomes, so it would make sense. However, when it turned into a message and the system started to drone on, he realised this was something far bigger than a skill.

Congratulations for reaching Lv. 10!

You have unlocked Class Selection!

You have not unlocked any special classes due to your achievements

You have not unlocked any special classes due to your heritage

You have not unlocked any special classes due to your race

You have not unlocked any special classes due to alternative methods

Please select a class from the following:

Fighter (Common)

Mage (Common)

Rogue (Common)

Healer (Common)

Tinkerer (Common)

Ranger (Common)

Defender (Common)

Ronan barely had time to reel from the wave of insults about his insufficient accomplishments, insignificant race, and lack of ingenuity before he was presented with a rather boring list of classes to choose from. He did wonder why his heritage hadn't given him anything fun to select, given how mysterious it had been so far.

Then again, being brought back to life was already reward enough. He would make do with a boring class.

System, can I get some more detail or do I have to go purely on vibes? he chuckled to himself. It had been generous with information before, but also stingy. Hopefully this time it would share…

He let out a sigh of relief when each of the classes expanded to reveal a brief description. Brevity over colour. His grandma would've approved, but he'd hoped for a bit more than a few sentences…

Then again, he only had fifteen seconds until he was thrown into the next tutorial stage. Perhaps time might come to his rescue again and freeze, the same way it had while he was receiving his trait?

Fighter (Common)

Fighters are masters of combat; armed to the teeth or kicking and clawing like a beast. Gain a minor boost in damage when performing physical strikes.

Gain mastery for weapons and unarmed combat infinitesimally faster.

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+2 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Free Stat Point on level up

Receive Class Skill [Swift Strike (Common)] on class selection

Not bad. Right up Ronan's alley, in fact. Given that he'd spent most of his time in the tutorial punching the living daylights out of goblins, he was tempted to take fighter without even checking out the other classes.

The timer ticking down didn't help either. Ronan briefly glanced at the counter to see how long he had left.

It was frozen. No, it flicked down to 16. Then back to 17. And again.

Huh, time really did stop again. Is that just for me or does the system do this to everyone during important moments? he wondered.

Ronan was glad it had. He knew for a fact he would've rushed this decision if he had the timer ticking away in the back of his mind. Fighter was already tempting… but he steeled himself and checked out the next class, mage.

Mage (Common)

Mages are masters of magic; deftly manipulating mana and casting complex spells.

Gain a minor boost to mana regeneration.

Gain mastery over mana and magic infinitesimally faster.

+2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence, +1 Free Stat Point on level up

Receive Class Skill [Mana Bolt (Common)] on class selection

This was one was further from the norm. Magic was real. Ronan still hadn't quite wrapped his head around it.

The goblin shaman's voodoo and even his own magic strike were 'magic' in nature, but they weren't magic. Mana bolt? That sounded like real wizard shit.

However, the lingering pains in his right arm reminded Ronan that he had little talent for mana manipulation. The class appealed to his childish dreams, but he knew it wasn't a sensible choice to ensure his continued survival.

That brought him to the next choice. Even at a glance Ronan suspected this wouldn't suit him, but he checked it out anyway. Don't want to miss a hidden gem, even if they are just the 'basic' classes.

Rogue (Common)

Rogues are stealthy and agile tricksters. They'll steal your coin and be half a continent away before you realise it's gone.

Gain mastery over one handed weapons and stealth infinitesimally faster.

Deal infinitesimally more damage when landing—and gain an infinitesimally higher chance to—land critical hits.

+1 Agility, +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma, +1 Free Stat Point on level up

Receive Class Skill [Sense Weakness (Common)] on class selection

It was exactly as he'd expected. The class for pussies. Keith would do well with that one. He could hide and not make trouble while Ronan did the actual fighting.

He'd already known critical hits were a thing after the shaman had brutally clocked him on the temple that one time. He wasn't aiming to become an assassin, but more damage was never a bad thing.

Figuring out how to apply that to his own combat would take his lethality to a new level. He guessed it was the luck stat which governed crits. Yet Rogues didn't gain any luck when they leveled up. Strange.

He didn't waste any more time wondering about crits. The next class on the list appealed to him even less, but knowing what it did was still useful knowledge to tuck away for the future.

Healer (Common)

Healers are gifted in the art of restoration, able to use their mana to heal wounds, both seen and unseen.

Gain a minor boost to efficacy of healing spells

Gain a minor boost to mana regeneration

+1 Wisdom, +1 Regeneration, +1 Acuity, +1 Charisma on level up

Receive Class Skill [Minor Heal (Common)] on class selection

Ronan glanced at Keith. The man was frozen, staring at a screen of his own. Thinking about how the system wrangled time like this made his head hurt.

He smirked. If he could convince Keith to take the healer class he might not be completely useless anymore. For him though, it wasn't appealing in the slightest.

Tinkerer (Common)

Tinkerers are crafty inventors, able to use whatever scraps they find to produce useful items for themselves and their allies.

Gain mastery over crafting professions infinitesimally faster

Gain a minor amount of experience upon successful creation of an item

+1 Dexterity, +2 Acuity, +1 Free Stat Point on level up

Receive Class Skill [Tinkerer's Appraisal (Common)] on class selection

This one intrigued Ronan. He wasn't going to choose it, but it gave him some tidbits of knowledge that might be useful.

Crafting was rewarded by the system, to the extent that one of the seven basic classes was based around it. It also showed him where the stats he found useless could be put to work, enhancing his knowledge of them where the system had refused to explain.

Ranger (Common)

Those born with keen senses are suited to the Ranger's path. Become the hunter, not the hunted.

Gain mastery over ranged and one handed weapons infinitesimally faster

+1 Agility, +1 Dexterity, +1 Acuity, +1 Free Stat Point on level up

Receive Class Skill [Keen Eye (Common)] on class selection

Receive Class Skill [Set Caltrop (Common)] on class selection

Two class skills. The only class so far to receive such preferential treatment. However, it was at the cost of one of the passive bonuses.

Ronan wasn't sure if that was a worthwhile tradeoff, but he was no ranged fighter. He'd leave that judgment up to those who actually wanted to take this class.

There was only one option remaining. To be honest, none of the classes called his name more than fighter—aside from the temptation of magic that mage presented—but he would follow through and check out the final class anyway.

Defender (Common)

Stalwart hearts and impenetrable bastions against blade and spell, defenders are the first line of protection in any battle.

Gain mastery over shields and armour infinitesimally faster

+1 Vitality, +2 Resistance, +1 Tenacity on level up

Receive Class Skill [Taunt (Common)] on class selection

Receive Class Skill [Tough Skin (Common)] on class selection

Of all the classes, defender was the most streamlined towards a single goal. Most of the classes gave a free stat point when leveling up, but this only provided stats that would make you harder to kill.

Both skills were designed to make you get hit more and take more hits, protecting your allies from harm. Even the bonus to mastery locked you into defensive excellence—although Ronan already knew how deadly a shield could be when used as a weapon. There were plenty of dead goblins who could testify to that. If they weren't pulverised that is.

However, while Ronan loved getting into the thick of battle, he wasn't the type to sit around and let himself get smacked about. No, he believed the best defense was a potent offense—or heavy pair of fists, in his case.

Ronan was glad he'd taken the chance to explore the other classes. Even though none of them really appealed to him more than fighter—or mage—he had learnt a lot about the system, skills, and stats.

He'd believed it would be an easy choice. Fighter made the most sense with his style of combat, innate talents, and the fact that his foremost priority was survival.

But…

Magic! Spells! Tossing fireballs at screaming goblins, he wistfully thought to himself. This was going to be a tough decision.