Chương 9: To Be Classed or Unclassed, That is The Question.

Nythera shot up and immediately rifled through the class options. This feels like my birthday's in Ramalia… back when everyone was still alive. Her jaw fell open. 27 options? That shouldn't even be possible. Three or four, thats what I expected. Every single class option had ~knight or an equivalent attached, they were all authority classes. Explosive-Magic Knight Allow the power of explosions to compel you, obliterate enemies with detonation after detonation. +4 fixed stats, +2 free stats. 2 subskills.

Pyromancer Knight Burn your enemies to ash, fire lights your path. +4 fixed stats, +1 free stats. 1 subskills. These descriptions are so vague. Classes started at 4 total stats per level and offered at least 1 subskill, but higher classes did exist and were generally offered for exceptional acts, this was common knowledge.

"Pick well Child, this is not a trivial choice you are making." Talvik said.

"Yes yes I get it, go peck some seeds or something, I'm busy." Nythera shooed him out with a wave of her hand. Artillery-Marksman Leader Lead artillery battalions into battle, obliterating your foes. +4 fixed stats, +2 free stats. 2 subskills. Ballistic Knight The allure of the Ballista compels you. +3 fixed stats, +1 free stat. 2 subskills. What the fuck are some of these? Nythera thought. The worst one she found was easily: Self-detonating Zealot Commander Lead your minions in glorious self-sacrifice.

Show the world the power of explosives. +3 fixed stats, +1 free stat. 1 subskill. Right at the end of the list, Nythera found her answer. This shouldn't exist, Father said classes range between one or two subskills and six to eight stats…. Heavy-Ordnance Siegewright Commander Design, build, and command heavy ordnance. Command battalions in decimating enemy positions. +6 fixed stats, +4 free stats. 4 subskills. The description sung to her heart.

I'll never have to be anywhere near my enemies again, I can just bombard them to bits from a mile away. She ecstatically selected the Heavy-Ordnance Siegewright Commander. A tad bit long though. Oh well, perfect regardless. As she clicked the button Nythera felt… nothing. The remaining notification for her Profession options pestered her so she opened the interface. Survivalist Learn to live on roots and berries. + 2 fixed stats. 1 subskill. Rock-Rider Embrace the power of rock, be one with your companion.

+2 fixed stats. 1 subskill. Bomb-designer Dedicate yourself to the design and manufacturing of bombs. +3 fixed stats. 2 subskills. Nythera went through over two dozen professions and not a single one approached what she considered halfway decent. I am not taking any of these dead-weight jobs, I'll just wait for a reasonable choice. She opened her status, to finally see what she had been waiting for. The notifications of her new skills and class greeted her. Class Acquired!

Stat gain per level: +1 Wisdom, +2 Flow Quality, + 1 Flux Control, +1 Resonance +1 Authority, +4 free stats. Wow, this is… a lot more than I expected, two whole flow quality? Four free stats… I didn't believe a class like this existed. I'll be able to make some huge spells with this. Now time for the real stuff, the primary skill and the subskills. Nythera practically vibrated in place on the bed in anticipation.

"You picked well. Child. I cannot say it is undeserved, despite your propensity for recklessness, you should review your full status." Talvik said and strutted, looking oddly proud. She pulled up her entire status.

Nythera Vel Aurendor (20) Heritage: Legacy of Aurendor Class: Heavy-Ordnance Siegewright Commander Lvl 0 Profession: None Authority Level: Knight (1) Titles: Little Leviathan, Rebel-Spark, Lucky Shrimp, Self-made Lord, Mythic One, Plucky Kid Domain Cores: Myrraval Population: 2, 358 Per level gain: +1 Wisdom, +2 Flow quality, + 1 Flux control, +1 Resonance +1 authority, +4 free stats.

Strength - 20 Dexterity - 22 Constitution - 31 Endurance - 22 Intelligence - 22 Wisdom - 21 Charisma - 21 Flow Quality - 47 Flux Control - 47 Resonance - 44 Attunement - 16 Authority - 101 Health: 310/310 Flux: 1, 144/1, 144 Stamina: 220/220 Tokens: You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Evolution Token x 1 Primary Skills: Aether Bombard (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Heritage: Legacy of Aurendor: Gain access to the primary skill: Aether Artillery: Summons a bombard construct, 30 flux per shell with 50 flux summon cost, 1 flux consumed per 5 seconds. Minimum Flux Quality: 40, Minimum Flux Control 40. For every level, increase blast radius, breach depth, and explosive yield by 1%.

New Synchronized Thunder (lvl1) (0 tokens) Control a single vessel and all mounted artillery pieces on it, including aiming, firing, and reloading. Available ammunition will be automatically loaded. The artillery on the vessel gains +1% reloading rate and +1% aiming speed per level. The vessel gains +1% speed and +1% physical resistance per level. You can alternatively control all artillery within a radius around you of 2 meters + 2 meters per level. Each artillery controlled costs 2 flux every 5 seconds.

Controlling the vessel costs 15 flux every 5 seconds. Subskills: Flux Sight (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Flux can be seen, type distinction and distance scale with level. Giant-Slayer (lvl 1) (0 tokens) When fighting those higher level than you, gain 1% more to all stats per level of this skill. Grand Administrator (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Controlled domain crop and ore yields increase by 1% for every level of this skill. Increase all yields by 1%.

New Artillery-Command (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Any artillery under your command or control, gains +1% reloading rate, +1% projectile speed, +1% detonation radius, per skill level. New Manufactorium (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Domain mines produce +1% ore per level. In-Domain Artillery and shells are manufactured at +1% speed per level. New Ordnance-smith (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Your understanding and ability to design and make artillery pieces increases by +1% per level. Your manufacturing speed increases by +1% per level.

New Shellwright (lvl 1) (0 tokens) Your understanding and ability to design and make artillery shells increases by +1% per level. Your manufacturing speed increases by +1% per level. Domain Edict: New Cascading Fire (lvl 1) For every piece of artillery in your domain, launch a projectile equal to the projectile currently loaded in that artillery piece from a point above a designated target anywhere within your domain. Gain 5% explosion area per authority level. Cost: 1000 flux. These skills… are unbelievable.

I can manufacture and design new artillery and shells from scratch… knowledge skills are rare enough, but two of them at once? I get to… control my own ship? But the flux cost is insane, that's about 200 flux per minute, at least! She got up and headed downstairs to tell Lance. She asked the secretary for his location and went out to find him. Really, does he work here too? What is his actual job, because he seems to do a dozen things.

Nythera opened the tavern's wide double doors to find it mostly empty, scattered round-tables dotted the floor, too early yet for patrons to be here. Lance was behind the bar table cleaning empty beer glasses.

"Lance! Lance! I got my class! And a skill that you might like." Nythera said, running up to the bar counter.

"Woah there, slow down a bit, miss." Lance said. He shoved a ready-made platter of eggs and bacon in front of her. Nythera, distracted by the food, immediately dug in.

"Was it a good class? Get some fun skills?" Lance asked. Nythera nodded her head up and down, but stayed focused on defeating the bacon.

"Rrly gddd" she tried mumbling through her food. Nythera flicked the new skill, Manfactorium before Lance.

"Well, that is a darn useful skill, between that and Grand Administrator, the mines will be very happy. Not sure what use we have for artillery though, all we got is some old ballistae in the barns up at Halsbury, haven't seen much use either". Lance rubbed his chin in thought. Nythera grumbled over her food again and flicked another skill before Lance.

Domain Edict: Cascading Fire (lvl 1) For every piece of artillery in your domain, launch a projectile equal to the projectile currently loaded in that artillery piece from a point above a designated target anywhere within your domain. Gain 5% explosion radius per authority level. Cost: 1000 flux. His eyes widened "That is one powerful Edict, it's one of those fixed-types too, I've heard of them before. Who was it again?

Ah yes, one of the Tide dukes has a fixed-cost wave skill, but it scales with each domain he had, I heard he could sink nearby islands, let alone attacking fleets." Lance said. He slammed a glass on the table.

"I will mention this to the council, I suspect we are gonna have to start making artillery now". Lance said, as he cleaned out the last mug.

"Leo will be by to pick you up and take you to the dungeon, one of the few things they could agree on yesterday, was that you need levels, and fast." Lance said.

"I assume you got another primary skill with your class, that's fine, but only use one of them, two will draw questions…" he said and walked out the front of the tavern, leaving Nythera alone to finish her breakfast. Suppose I can get behind leveling a bit, even if it is the mayors pushing me to. Nythera gobbled up her food and then sat, waiting as she wiped the crumbs off her face and clothes. A few hours passed as she waited. If it's Lance's man, he should be competent at least.

"Hey miss witch, I am here to pick you up! Lets go!" shouted a boy with red-tinted and bright blonde hair. He burst through the doors, one arm held in front and walked straight up to the counter beside Nythera, slamming his hands down on it.

"Lets go go go, no time to waste miss witch, we got places to be and things to do!" The boy would not stop slamming his hands on the counter. He had a small sword sheathed at his belt and a thick-padded leather vest. Standard greenhorn adventurer. Nythera thought, before remembering that she too, was a greenhorn.

"Hey now, thats a pretty bird, can I feed him? Him? Her? It? Can i pet it? Can it fetch….." Leo went off on a tirade about Talvik. Nythera stuck out her hand, "Hello, I am Nythera, stop calling me miss witch and lets get going" She said. Leo turned, stared right at her for 5 seconds, and then grabbed her hand with both of his and shook it up and down "Yes yes, lets go! We don't have all day to waste moping around, times a wasting, I'll take you straight there miss witch, oh have I introduced myself yet? No?

Well I am Leo, just call me Leo or Le for short." Leo let forth another torrent of blabbering and then pulled Nythera out of the door. His grip is surprisingly strong. She grimaced under the grip. They flew out the door of the tavern, several people looking up to see the disturbance. A few children pointed at her and whispered "She's the new lord?"

"that witch is?"

"Mom said to avoid people with strange hair colors". Leo didn't seem to notice, dragging her straight up the road that led up past the back of the tavern and townhall. Talvik clung painfully to her shoulder to avoid being tossed off.

"Wow miss witch, you're awfully famous around these parts, so much fun to be walking around with a celebrity" Leo said, rushing through the streets.

"Please stop calling me miss witch, my name is Nythera" She said in protest.

"Gotcha, really nice to meet you miss witch Nyth, your hair is nice, is it natural? So shiny. Red eyes, wonder how you got that." Leo said. The houses had thinned out, farmland dominating the area as the road turned to dirt. Nythera and Leo walked on, farmers occasionally looked up to watch them pass. Green, well-forested mountains loomed on either side. I am going to find a bridge and jump off it. Leo would not stop peppering her with questions, "Where are you from" "whats your name" "can I see your status".

More often than not Nythera would simply say no, and he would proceed to the next, far more invasive question. After an hour of pointless small talk, they reached a small hamlet of farmhouses.

"Alright missy, this is Halsbury, the dungeon is in the center of town." Leo said, grabbed her hand and pulled. At the center of the town a circle of palisades lay with a small reinforced-wooden gate, two wooden watch towers flanking it on either side..

"Hey let us in Rich, I've brought Miss witch" Leo shouted before the gate. The flux swirled around, patterns of red and grey intertwining and heading straight into the palisades area.

"Alright alright, calm down Leo, I'll open the gate" A voice called down from one of the towers. The gate lifted open hatch-style from two large creaking chains hanging down from the towers. Inside a huge slate stone stuck out of the ground, with a small stone door embedded in the surface. Flux poured into the structure rapidly, but it was far less than the Quartz dungeon had been. At least they have one dungeon properly contained.

Off to the side of the entrance was a low wooden table with two men, fully decked out in leather armor. The bigger one had an axe hanging on his back and the smaller man had stuff bulging out of every pocket and behind his ill-fitted armor. He calmly sipped tea and looked off into the wistfully sky, ignoring them.

"Hey, you finally arrived, I'm James Karth, our Group Leader." The big man said and offered his hand. Nythera took his hand, grimacing as he crushed it"Hey James, I'm Nythera" she said. Huh, that's the same ring that Lance had.

"Ok ok ok, Brought the witch, lets go go go, no time like the present" Leo wheeled straight for the dungeon entrance.

"Hold it Leo, you damn kid, we got to figure out our formation" James said, grabbing Leo by the shoulder and holding him in place.

"Alright, me and Leo have the highest Constitution, we'll front line. Edwin, our resident bomb-happy alchemist will take up the back line, be careful with those things this time, if I get so much as a whiff they are landing near us, I will haul your ass straight out of the dungeon." James said.

"Understood, Captain, rest assured that the bombs will be nowhere near you" Edwin said, "This time.". Yeah… He sounds totally safe, is that what all those things under his clothing are? Bombs?

"So Nythera, just what do you do? Surely the first domain holder of Myrraval has some interesting tricks." James asked, prodding for a reaction. Yeah as if I'm just going to drop my entire status…

"I can hit things from a pretty far range, but low ceilings can be a problem for me. My abilities also cause explosions, so we have to be careful, but they also cause a huge amount of damage." Nythera deflected.

"Great another exploding lunatic, just what I need. Ok let me give you the run down. You activate your ability only when I say so, no stray shots, no "I just thought I was helping" or anything like that, stay out of the way and I'll tell you when you can get a hit in" James said. He sighed.

"Kronan be damned, Lance said to get you a few levels, so we are going to do that and only that, the loot will be split between me and Leo, unless one of you two actually gets a kill, am I understood?" James said. He strode for the dungeon, gesturing for them all to follow.

"The bird… can stay, but keep him controlled, if he goes wild in there, don't blame me if I accidentally cut him in two thinking he's an enemy." James said. Nythera nodded. This guy is an ass.

"Yes I suppose so, what's in the dungeon, what are we fighting?". Nythera said.

"Thats on a need to know basis, and you don't, alright lets go." James brushed her off. I wonder if I can order him to kiss my boot.

"Very well, but can I finish my tea first?" Edwin said.

"No, we are going in now." James said, he ripped open the dungeon door with ease. The party was enveloped in darkness.