Chương 43: Chapter 10

Classes can upgrade… just like that?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I got a System message; it says I have a Class Upgrade available. The message says 'You have a Class upgrade available. You may choose to upgrade your Class to Spellweaver, or choose to remain as a Mage' and that's it." Omar explained. Spellweaver?

"What did you do earlier, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked him tentatively, as pain flared in my leg with every other step I took.

"Honestly, I don't know. I was just angry and desperate, and I remember I tried channeling everything I had in my spell to somehow make the goblins leave" he answered. So he probably overcharged the spell with mana in his desperation.

"Oh!" Omar exclaimed, his eyes still hovering in blank air.

"What? Another message?"

"No, I just noticed Spellweaver is green while mage is gray" he answered. Another Uncommon Class. If Classes can upgrade based on actions or intent, then that means I was wrong. There was no need to start with the perfect Class. If Classes could evolve, then maybe I could shape one into exactly what I wanted. The more I thought about it, the more this line of thinking made sense. Earlier, the System's messages implied that Class selection was just one decision to be done and dusted with. But now…

Everyone will keep growing stronger, while I'll stay stuck. My musings were put on hold as crashing through the bushes up ahead reached our ears. We glanced at each other and separated, getting into a combat stance. I was starting to get a bit dizzy as my leg kept bleeding, but I had no choice but to stay standing. I'll not go down without a fight. I raised my club as the sounds of movement got louder. Voices also started reaching us. Voices?

Soon, Ben broke through the brush up ahead, with a dozen other people following behind him.

"Oh, thank God, you guys are okay. We got separated earlier, and I turned around as soon as I realized you weren't with us" he explained as he came towards us. Separated? Right, that's what happens when you run away and leave your comrades behind. I couldn't entirely blame him. In his position, most people would've done the same. I actually did something similar when I was being chased by the snake just this morning… it just doesn't feel nice when it's done to you.

"Oh, you're hurt. We bought someone who took a healer Class with us" Ben said as he moved to the side. Behind him, amongst the crowd, there was a thin, wiry man with a sharp nose and sunken cheeks, wearing white robes. He stepped forward and immediately winced at seeing my leg.

"I'm Marcus, I used to be a surgeon so I thought picking the healer class would make sense" he said as he crouched down to take a closer look at my leg.

"This is nasty, and I only have one spell called 'light heal' but I'm not sure how much help it will be. Would you like me to try?" he asked, finally looking in my eyes. His black eyes were clear, and his manners radiated authority, like someone in his element. I felt lightheaded, my mind felt like it was covered in a light haze. I nodded, and saw as he gave a sharp nod back and focused on my leg.

"Why don't you lie down?" he asked, as I idly followed his instruction. He asked for a knife and roughly cut away my trousers, revealing a deep, nasty gash on the right side of my thigh, covered in blood. Without any noticeable reaction, he lifted his hand and brought it closer to the injury. His hand covered in a greenish-white light, as a soothing aura radiated out. As soon as the light touched my leg, immediate relief spread out and the gash visibly started closing in front of our eyes.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Amazing" I heard Marcus mutter. The effects stopped after a few seconds though and the light faded. The wound was still there, noticeably better than earlier, although it was still bleeding. His hand lit up again as the same process repeated. It took yet another attempt, by the end of which Marcus was breathing heavily, before the gash closed entirely.

"Amazing" I heard again, as Marcus sat back and kept his eyes on my leg, where the injury was just a minute ago. I gingerly sat up, and felt with relief that moving my leg no longer hurt as bad. There was still pain there, but noticeably better than before.

"Thanks" I said, reaching out a hand to shake Marcus's. He gripped my hand in a surprisingly firm grip for someone so thin, and replied with a smile "No problem." My mind started clearing up as I heard Ben say to everyone that we should start heading back. Right, it's not safe. I stood up shakily and immediately felt Omar reach out to help me out. I gave him a grateful glance as we, as a group, moved toward the safe area. Wait! He didn't say the name of the spell when using it, did he? I realized suddenly.

A small pair of eyes followed the humans as they trailed back. Its eyes were focused on the large one, the one that had caused the most damage. It followed them silently, not a sound escaping as it kept pace easily. Soon, the trees ended, and it stopped, peering from behind the last tree. There were more of them, a lot more. They gathered around massive wooden structures. They were not uniform; different shapes, sizes, and colours were ever-present amongst them.

It committed every detail to memory before slipping back toward its kind. Not a single person having been aware of its presence.

We had made our way back without further incident. Overall, our group lost seven people to the goblins. All for nothing, as the other group led by Sara had found a massive river flowing just about five minutes away. The mysterious thing about the river was that people who had come from that direction during their assessment swore there was no river on that side when they came here. More than twenty people were saying the same thing, so I was inclined to believe them. Means that this tutorial is not static.

The System is changing things in real-time. The good thing was that Lucas and Sara had already started people collecting water in large buckets, which they claimed were available in the System Store. I gladly quenched my thirst; the water was cool and extraordinarily crystal-clear. Definitely the best water I had ever had. Our group was the only one who faced combat, while the others came by completely unharmed.

Lucas flew into a panic when he saw my pale face and heard what had happened, but I managed to calm him down. I could see anger still simmering in his eyes though, as he kept staring at the group who left us behind.

"Leave it" I told him.

"We have all been thrust into an extreme situation, and you can't blame others for panicking" It took a bit more before Lucas finally calmed down. Sara, surprisingly, helped as well. The group left behind in the central square had gathered a list of all Classes and their starting skills and spells, which I was extremely interested in. But first, there was something else I wanted to observe.

Me and Omar were sitting across each other in a random room on the second floor inside one of the longhouses, the sun starting to set outside. I convinced him to come with me so that he could upgrade his Class in private. I could see him fidgeting in excitement, as his eyes kept reading the system message repeatedly.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, again.

"Definitely!" he excitedly said, once again.

"Shall I accept now?"

"Sure" I said as I put all my attention on making sure I didn't miss a thing. I could feel the exact moment he accepted the prompt, as something about him shifted. There was an edge to him now that was definitely not there earlier, but nothing else happened outwardly as far as I could see. His excitement, though, reached new heights as his eyes roved around, presumably reading new system messages.

"It's done! This Class is Uncommon! I have a new spell now called Spell Weaving, and I now get 2 Wisdom and 1 Intelligence at every level up instead of just 1 each like earlier. Oh! And I also levelled up to level 3!" he finished, still fidgeting. Better level up rewards and reached level 3? I congratulated him, genuinely happy for him. The big guy was growing on me, especially his action of staying behind with me. He spoke animatedly for a few minutes, completely taken aback with what his new Class could mean.

I made a few comments here and there, but mostly my mind was preoccupied.

"Damn! I got carried away, didn't I?" asked Omar a bit sheepishly.

"I should let you rest; you lost a lot of blood" he said as he got up. I didn't stop him, as honestly, I wanted to be alone for a bit. As he closed down the door, I looked out the window at the sun setting outside. The shadows lengthened as my mind worked. My thinking about waiting for a better Class was not flawed, it would allow me to get a better class and gain more stat points per level. However, this would mean I would stay as I am right now. My leg ached, and my back still throbbed from the earlier fall.

My body felt sore at suddenly having to be physically active after being basically a couch potato for so long. And I was sure it would be stiffer tomorrow. I killed a couple goblins, but again, didn't get anything as I haven't picked a Class yet. I took a look at my Class options again. There was no change. My eyes kept going towards Assassin. I'm interested in magic, and Omar's strength solidified that feeling. However, I also saw how every goblin immediately targeted him.

Picking mage or warlock may give the highest immediate impact, but I'm no longer thinking of Classes as fixed molds. Picking a Class now felt less like choosing a fixed path and more like selecting a starting point to shape over time. And to be honest, I'm more comfortable striking from the sides, unseen, rather than fighting in the frontlines. My stats are more inclined towards a magic class, but I don't want to be physically limited any longer. That being said, I'm safe right now.

It would be foolish to commit to a decision without additional experimentation. Should I try learning magic?