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DD1 ASC - Chapter 7 - Class
🕑 Added 2021-06-01 11:13:59 +0000 UTC*You have 1 class with an additional 3 open class slots available.
Would you like to take a second class?*
The Great Systems words were innocuous as they were terrifying. It still wasn’t too late for him to back out; while a second class would give him the room to grow into the power that he needed now, it would forever slow his growth. Going from a single classed to a double classed dragon would more than double the 100 years it was supposed to take him to reach the end of the next tier in his species class, but without the high ambient mana at the peaks of the Dragonspines, quick and easy passive levelling was forever denied to him. Typhoeus had raced through a tier before, relying on the influx of mana in the form of combat experience to push him ever faster through his class levels and some gut feeling told him that he would likely have to do so again. Typhoeus mentally accepted the prompt and was rewarded with his available options.
*Choose a starting class…
He skimmed through the long list of choices that the Great System had presented him with, most of which he could discard out of hand without a second thought. There were the basic three, warrior, rogue and mage, the base classes that had requirements so low that almost every enlightened soul on Creation had access to them. Much to his disappointment, none of the great dragon tagged classes were available to him, but that was hardly a surprise as he was both several hundred years and levels too low for all of the known requirements for even the humblest of those prodigious classes.
Some of his options were downright insulting, classes like feral and savage that promised him the kind of physical strength that he so dearly wanted. However, the class descriptions for each one were little more than System sanctioned insults to his species and more evidence of the humans meddling where they do not belong. Other classes were even worse; dungeon bound, for instance, offered him more power than he could ever ask for, the only catch was that the class would also strip him of his free will and eternally bind him to the chained core, leaving him as little more than a mindless puppet to an already enslaved creature until the end of his days.
Even a non-combat class managed to pique his interest, accountant, which offered him of all things more control over his material wealth and the wealth of others. He hadn’t a clue what it would rank up into or the skills that it would provide, but it had never really occurred to him before that he could take levels in something so directly tied to his love of money.
Eventually, after much delaying, he had narrowed down his choices to one of three classes.
Maneater - You have primarily subsisted off the flesh of humans, and as a result, you have the option to improve your talents at hunting and killing your chosen prey.
+2 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Vit, +3 Free Stats at each interval, [Ranger] tagged.
Highborn - You possess an unbroken noble bloodline stretching back millennia that gives you the right to rule over your lessers. As a result, you have the option of improving your natural leadership talents.
+2 Str, +2 Cha, +3 Free Stats at each interval, [Noble] tagged.
Sorcerer - You possess a potent magical bloodline, and as a result, you are given the option of strengthening your natural talent with mana.
+1 Vit, +1 Int, +1 Will, +1 Cha, +3 Free Stats at each interval, [Mage] tagged.
As much as maneater appealed to him, there was the issue of taking a class that was so reliant on physical stats when his [Alternate Form] skill capped them at such a low value. While that would likely change over time as the skill grew in power with its continued use, he was hesitant to take a class that he would see so little benefit from in the near future. Denied the use of his [Sovereigns Body] skill while he remained disguised as ‘Typh’ he would have to choose between taking skills redundant with his species class to maintain his disguise and safety or taking complementary physical skills that would leave him dangerously unbalanced in his [Alternate Form]. This was not even mentioning how he had designed ‘Typh’ to have very little muscle mass, which would ultimately waste most of the class's potential.
He felt that highborn was arguably the best fit for his nature, and he was deeply curious about the skills that it would reward him with. However, from what little knowledge he had gathered in his brief time amongst humans, nobles were detested by the commoners in Rhelea and without the backing of a powerful house, choosing the class with a noble tag was an excellent way to get himself isolated and killed. Still, he could always come back to it at a later date; taking a second class now was practically guaranteeing that his level would plateau eventually, and when that day finally came, it made sense to fill his remaining class slots.
Whether he remained in his [Alternate Form] or not, his greatest strength was easily his [Sovereigns Arcana] skill that enabled him to manipulate mana and his high intelligence score that vastly empowered his spellcasting. It would be a criminal waste of a class slot not to build upon this arcane strength, especially when taking a physical class would force him to give up his greatest weapon so long as he wished to maintain his disguise.
He had to make a choice, so he did.
*You have 2 classes with an additional 2 open class slots available.
Would you like to take a third class?*
He was almost tempted, but splitting his future experience three ways on top of the increased inefficiencies that came with every additional class simply wasn't worth it. So instead, he rejected the prompt and opened his eyes.
Name: Typh
Species: Human
Age: 18
HP: 360/360
SP: 360/360
MP: 5042/5050
Strength: 36
Dexterity: 36
Vitality: 36
Intelligence: 121
Willpower: 121
Charisma: 81
Free points: 3
Class: Sorcerer - Level 1
Unassigned Skills x2
Typhoeus felt a rush of power run through him, it was small to be sure, but it was the first time in over a year that he had managed to increase his base stats without relying on the temporary boost of a spell. He wasn't sure what to do with his free attribute points; he wanted to improve his dexterity so that his true abilities were more rounded, but while his physical scores were limited by [Alternate Form] that seemed like a waste, especially when he was likely to spend the majority of his time as 'Typh the human’ for the foreseeable future.
For an alleged level 1 his stats were all far too high, and now that he was in the position that he would actually be expected to use his abilities, it was going to prove challenging to constrain his power to 'acceptable' levels, and an extra three points in his mental attributes could very literally push him over the edge.
Rather than think about his free points, he instead decided to focus his attention on choosing his two class skills.
*You have two unassigned class skills.
Choose twice from the skills listed below…
Initiates Aura Manipulation - This skill grants you to create and manipulate a crude magical aura. The size and strength of this aura is determined by your charisma score + this skills level.
Initiates Bloodline Arcana (Draconic) - This skill allows you to directly expend mana in order to create magical effects. Effects conforming to your ancestral dragon’s aspects will be easier to create. Maximum mana expenditure is determined by your intelligence score + this skills level.
Initiates Meditation - This skill allows you to enter a meditative trance, increasing your effective willpower by this skills level for the duration.
Initiates Runecraft - This learning skill provides you with increased knowledge and comprehension of the runic alphabet.
Sorcerous Empowerment - This skill allows you to expend equal amounts of health and mana in order to add this skills level to your intelligence score for determining the potency and finesse of any magical effects you create. The bonus added by this skill is capped by your vitality score.
Sorcerers Reservoir - This skill allows you to imbue objects with a mana supply separate and distinct from your own. This mana can be recalled at will. Stored mana exceeding 10 * this skills level will dissipate naturally over time.
The skills offered were largely unappealing, [Initiates Bloodline Arcana] and [Initiates Aura Manipulation] were the inferior human starting equivalents to his own sovereign dragon skills. They were completely redundant, weak, and tier 0, so he quickly skipped over them.
[Meditation] was boring. Sure it increased his mana regeneration but with his willpower score now at 121 and the improved regeneration that came with his [Sovereigns Arcana] skill being in its 4th tier, he really didn’t need the increase any time soon. While it would likely become much more versatile as it advanced through the tiers, the idea of spending his precious free time meditating galled him.
The fact that some humans even needed to devote an entire skill slot just to better understand runes was as shocking to him as it was depressing. However, he supposed that it did go a long way in explaining away the generally abysmal quality of the runework that he had seen scattered throughout Rhelea. Either way, he had no need for [Initiates Runecraft] as his ancestral knowledge gave him near-complete mastery over all the runes known to dragonkind.
[Sorcerous Empowerment] seemed like a great way to kill yourself, but it was also the only ability that actually offered him an increase in his offensive power. It wouldn't make a difference if he was discovered today, but in a few months time when he had the chance to push it through a few levels, it very well might do so. [Sorcerers Reservoir] was also a potential game-changer; while significantly weaker than the dragon equivalent, he was curious as to how it would grow as he ranked it up.
He immediately picked the [Sorcerers Reservoir] and [Sorcerous Empowerment] abilities, although if he was ever asked, he was going to admit instead to taking something like [Arcana] and [Meditation] as he hoped it would help explain his much larger mana pool and already exemplary spellcasting abilities.
Name: Typh
Species: Human
Age: 18
HP: 360/360
SP: 360/360
MP: 5039/5050
Strength: 36
Dexterity: 36
Vitality: 36
Intelligence: 121
Willpower: 121
Charisma: 81
Free points: 3
Class: Sorcerer - Level 1
Sorcerers Reservoir - Level 1
Sorcerous Empowerment - Level 1
Finally, he decided to raise his true dexterity score to 80. Having it sit at 3 points shy of 80 for over a year had been getting to him and if he kept raising his [Alternate Form] levels, then he would eventually see the benefit sooner rather than later.
"A mage huh, I guess Myorik owes me a drink; he was certain you'd come out of this warrior tagged," Riyoul said, shocking Typhoeus out of his thought process, the smiling rogue having gotten much closer to him than he was strictly comfortable with while his attention was elsewhere.
Typhoeus removed his hand from the dungeon core, feeling it whimper one last time before he cut the connection and the crystalline entity stopped glowing as it ran out of mana to sustain its consciousness.
Typhoeus turned to face Riyoul, his irritation plain on his face. Gaining his second class was supposed to be the most momentous occasion in a dragon's life. After finally achieving wyrm status, it was expected that he would conquer one of the great dungeons and force its core to give him suitable classes to fill his slots before he began his journey down to answer the Call. Trust the humans to strip all the majesty away from such an achievement. Instead, they had a chained core tucked away in a small room only three doors down the hall from where drunk adventurers went to relieve themselves. For a moment, he very nearly bit Riyoul’s throat out for sullying the momentous occasion even further by gambling of all things on the outcome. Fortunately for the rogue, the urge passed as Typhoeus once again tried to coerce the muscles on his face back into a vague approximation of a pleasant smile.
"I'd wait more than a few more levels before looking at me like that Typh, you're Mara and Caeber's pet project, not mine," Riyoul said, his face twisted into his customary joking smile while his eyes looked at him with a menacing glint. The rogue took his time as he bent down further, lowering his height so that he could look at Typhoeus eye to eye as he spoke again, his warm breath smelling faintly of apples and cloves. “Don’t go thinking you’re special now just because you have enough of the gift to pick a mage class. Those two pick up strays all the time. In a couple of months, they’ll have forgotten all about you and have moved onto the next poor waif. Now, if you know what’s good for you, don't go making any more trouble for me like you did at the seamstresses today, and I’ll make sure to forget about you as well. And trust me on this, you do not want me paying you a visit.”
Typhoeus dropped his attempts at a smile and settled instead for a dispassionate glare as he assessed the human breathing in his air. From what he had seen of Riyoul so far, he wasn’t particularly impressed, Typhoeus had always killed rogues first when he was attacked by adventurers because they tended to be the most fragile and easy to reach, but if they all behaved like this one, then perhaps he might have to start going for them out of spite. The man before him was a predator, of that much he was certain, every one of the rogue’s movements exuding a deadly grace that was only emphasised by how he made a point of always having a knife to hand as if to remind you that he could kill you with as much ease as he sliced an apple.
"What now?" Typhoeus asked, his voice level as he bit down on his simmering anger.
"For you?" Riyoul shrugged. "You're on your own for the rest of today. Caeber asked me to get you clothes and a class, and I've done that so I'm off. You know how to get back to the inn by yourself, right?" He added almost as an afterthought.
Typhoeus was almost tempted to lie and pretend that he didn't, but he wanted nothing more than to be rid of the rogue as soon as possible, so he merely nodded his assent and watched as the man left the room and perhaps more concerningly left his sphere of [Sovereign's Perception] a little earlier than he should.
Typhoeus waited in silence for a few minutes as he steadily breathed through his anger.
"I'm going to eat him first."
