Chapter 81

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

•—|-Grasp of the World Shaper-|—•

•[Ancient]•

Isolate a distinctive characteristic from an object, plant, or animal and extract it. Success rate of extraction dependent on skill level.

•—|-Breath of the World Shaper-|—•

•[Ancient]•

Infuse an isolated characteristic into an object, plant, or animal. Success rate of infusion dependent on skill level.

•—|-Philomathy of the World Shaper-|—•

•[Ancient]•

Synthesize properties to create brand new compounds. Success rate of synthesis dependent on skill level.

•—|-Pocket of the World Shaper-|—•

•[Ancient]•

Gain access to a pocket space which greatly facilitates the crafting of talismans. Size and complexity of pocket space dependent on skill level.

Richard cocked his head at the descriptions of his new class skills. Not disappointed, so much as he was genuinely confused. The only thing he knew for certain, the fact that this was, indeed, a hybrid class. The whopping four class skills he was presented with, as opposed to the traditional three, could attest to as much.

Now if only it could be a bit more clear on what these skills actually do. 

As was ever the case when he found himself stumped on how to proceed, Richard leaned into his Truth Seeker’s Sixth Sense, a bit surprised that he still had access to it, what with the new class and all.

•—|-Grasp of the World Shaper-|—•

•[Ancient]•

This skill serves as the sole resource gatherer of a class which thrives on the collection of resources. Due to its pseudo-divine nature as a legacy skill, there are no immediate drawbacks to its use.

Well, that didn’t really help at all, though I suppose it did confirm what I’d already suspected. As for what exactly these resources are, I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

Richard waved away the system screens. Craned his neck in search of something with characteristics worth “extracting,” when he suddenly felt a presence sidle up to his left. He turned to see Denise plop down on the log next to him, a troubled looking expression on her face. Richards eyes lingered on the three claw marks marring the side of her face. The raised pink of the scar tissue faint, though still clearly visible. Even after a round of healing syringes. 

A breath passed before she spoke.

“So? You’ve been staring off into space like an invalid the past quarter-hour. What’s the prognosis? Do I curse the unfairness of the world now, or later?”

Richard thought about it. Shrugged.

“Depends on when you want to know, really.”

Denise groaned.

“Now please. Like a bandaid. The wait’ll kill me otherwise.”

And so, with another shrug, Richard quickly brought her up to speed. 

“Ancient?! Are you for-!” she cut herself off when the others snapped their heads around in alarm.

In a quieter voice she continued.

“In what world is that- I don’t even-!” she took a deep, calming breath. “Alright. Well! It’s not as if I can claim it’s undeserved now can I? Congratulations,” she ground out, which was actually quite the feat for her.

“Oh?” Richard blinked, somewhat taken aback. “Well, thanks. Nice to see you being such a good sport about it. As a matter of fact, I actually had a little something prepared, if you’ve got the time.”

He began riffling through his clothes, as if to retrieve a stack of cue cards.

“Don’t push it,” she deadpanned.

Richard ceased his little pantomime and snickered. 

“And you?” Richard asked. “How close did I get?”

She made a face.

“Yeah, yeah. Swordswoman. I’d offer you a cookie but I’m a bit low on points at the moment. It’s an uncommon class,” she said it like it was a personal attack. “Hey, are you sure you didn’t- I don’t know, ‘read the future’ or….”

“Not how that works, unfortunately,” she narrowed her eyes in disbelief. “Don’t get me wrong, I wish it was! Believe you me. Would’ve come in handy on a number of occasions.”

“Uh huh,” she still didn’t sound convinced.

“And the others,” he asked. “How did they fair?”

Both turned their attention to the group. There were the kids first and foremost. 

The boys absorbed with teaching little Chance how to throw a proper punch. While the girls seem preoccupied with stuffing their parasol full of rocks. Presumably to gawp at whatever precious minerals were spat back out again. Red faced and sweating, Skye was, of course, in the midst of lugging a stone half her size with trembling steps. Face pinched with a fiercely determined expression, her intentions were clear. The other girls, upon catching onto this, were immediately horrified. 

The parasol however? If anything, it seemed a little too eager.

Then there were the older girls. 

Marlene, standing a bit away from the others. Where she periodically loosed bolts of force mana at a scarred and pitted tree trunk. Eva meanwhile, seemed to be taking an indecent lunch break. Indecent, if only because of the sounds she was making. That and the constant eye rolling besides. 

You would’ve thought she’d been seated at a Michelin star restaurant, the way she scarfed down those basic meal kits. It took him a second to find Maya. In fact, it was only through an absence of sorts. A deadening of the senses. Shadows where there shouldn’t have been. The sound of her measured footfalls, that he eventually found her. 

She was stealthily creeping up behind Eva, up to mischief no doubt. Richard thought about calling out a warning, then thought better of it. Let them have their fun. Besides, it would be funnier if he didn’t.

Meanwhile Robin…

“Maya…!” the girl in stealth mode froze. “I think we’d all greatly appreciate it if you put the bottle down. While I don’t deny that we’re all in desperate need of a bath, can we all agree that now is not the time?”

After giving it a second to see if the woman might simply forget about her, Maya slumped, before dropping out of stealth. Eva, for her part, merely spared the girl a backwards glance before turning back to her food.

“But, how did you know?” Maya whined. 

Instead of replying, Robin held out her hand with a ‘give it here,’ gesture. Maya stomped over and slapped the bottle into Robins hand with a huff.

Richard and Denise shared a look. Richard waggled his brows. Denise merely rolled her eyes.

“Marlene’s a Force Mage—not that anyone’s surprised.”

“You bite your tongue woman! I’d say I was pleasantly surprised. I believe tickled pink is the appropriate term?”

“Maya’s a Rogue—because I guess jester was taken?”

“Jester is a rare class actually, it’s a common misconception. And with a very peculiar path progression at that. Very strange. Strong, just… strange.”

“Eva’s a Soldier—still don’t know how you managed to pluck that one out of thin air.” 

“Wasn’t hard. Soldier is a kind of generalist class. Given out to those that’ve proven themselves, in one way or another, but don’t excel at any one thing in particular. Apart from taking orders, I suppose.”

“And Robin is, of course, a Diplomat.”

“With crazy prospects for her future evolutions, I’m sure.”

“All of them Uncommon. All of them the classes you predicted they’d pick.”

“I would’ve stepped in if it were called for, but I trusted your judgement.”

“Thanks. Don’t know where we’d be without you,” she somehow managed to make it sound both sincere and slightly sarcastic. “Now, enough about us. When exactly were you planning to show off this fancy new class of yours?”

“Right now. Granted I can actually figure out how it works.”

Denise shot him a quizzical eye.

“I’m pretty sure I need something, an object presumably, with distinctive characteristics.”

Denise thought about it for a second, before she bent down and plucked free a blade of grass.

“Will this do?”

Richard took the offered blade and shrugged.

“Let’s find out.”

Richard activated Grasp of the World Shaper.

Instantly a phantom overlay overlapped his own. The closest thing he could relate it to was mass astral projection. As if the souls of everything around him—living or otherwise—were hovering just a few inches from their vessels. In the case of the grass, it was a shifting cloud of vapor which, as he focused on it more intently, rapidly took on more recognizable shapes and forms. 

It only took him a second to recognize what he was seeing. And, once he did, his eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.

They were runes! He was seeing runes! 

Sure, they were hazy and indistinct, but the facts were undeniable. Above the blade of grass hovered an incomplete rune for minor sharpness, along with a bunch of other runes he couldn’t seem to make out. All dim and clumped together, the more he focused on them, the further they seemed to slip away.

He unfocused his eyes for a moment, and, just like that, the elusive runes appeared to surface from an impossible depth. Growing brighter and more distinct by the second, until they were just barely illegible. 

Richard ignored their presence for now, and instead focused on what he could see. Letting the skill guide him, Richard reached out and plucked the crude sharpness rune from the air.

Ooo! Tingles.

 It stretched like taffy, resisted his pull briefly, before it tore free with the sound of a water droplet plopping into a full basin. And as it did so, something about the blade of grass changed imperceptibly.

Unsure of what to do with the rune now that he had it, and keen to test out a theory, Richard did as the skill suggested, and pocketed the rune as he might a handful of change. And, wouldn’t you know it, it worked. The rune disappearing into a space that wasn’t entirely physical.

That must be Pocket of the World Shaper at work. Huh. Handy.

Following a hunch, Richard placed the pad of his thumb against the edge of the grass blade. And while it didn’t have even the iota of a chance of actually cutting him, his skin was still sensitive enough to feel the truth.

“It has no edge,” he said wonderingly.

“Huh?” asked Denise.

“It’s completely dull. Look!” he handed her the blade.

With a dubious expression, she followed along with his overeager gesticulations, and did as he’d done.

“Okay…? And this is amazing me… why?”

“Because it wasn’t that way a second ago. And now…?”

Richard reached inside of his pocket and was unsurprised to feel the skittering sensation of the rune. He quickly retrieved it, and, using Breath of the World Shaper, blew on it until it unraveled into a ribbon of mist. Which he then directed, somehow, into his outstretched fingernail. A glowing rune traced itself into being bare centimeters above the nail. Immediately, it began to dim rapidly. 

Sensing that time was of the essence, Richard drew his nail across the grass blade he’d robbed of its sharpness, grinning when its bisected half drifted lazily to the floor. His wonder wasn’t allowed to last long however.

Denise, clearly ignorant of the sheer momentousness of the occasion, snorted.

“You know, I’m starting to think my Swordswoman class might not be so bad after all.”

+++

“What do you mean you never gained a level?” 

Richard stared at the miniature empress, aghast. 

“You never received a single kill notification? Not one? No ‘Ding! Congratulations!’ until the creature had already bit the dust?” she shook her head no. 

Richard scratched his own head in frustration. 

“Tell me again, what does it say your level is?”

Penelope pondered over the question for some time. Staring fixedly at her hands, while turning them over, as if only they held the key to the answers of which he sought. Eventually, with a proud smile that, he had to admit, was downright adorable, she raised up six fingers. A one and a five.

“So, fifteen?” the girl nodded. “And it’s asking you to pick a class?” the girl nodded again. “Makes sense so far…”

She’d taken out loads of beasties, he was sure of it. Sure, many of those had been skill conjured wraiths, but the vast majority had not. In the shadow realm alone she had to have slain thousands! He’d watched her gobbled down hundreds of beasts many times her level in seconds. It just didn’t make any sense. Unless…

Richards gaze flicked down to her diminutive belly, before they drifted, almost involuntarily, to his own deep pockets.

No way. They couldn’t be- they couldn’t still be ALIVE in there, could they? 

After taking a second to refresh himself on who exactly it was he was dealing with, he came to the uncomfortable conclusion that yes. Yes they absolutely could. And for that matter,  were it indeed the case that she’d yet to gain experience for all the havoc she’d wrought, it wasn’t entirely too off base to suggest that they were still bopping around in there right now.

“Right! Well, you know what that means, don’t you?” he tried to add a bit of levity to his tone to offset the bone chilling revelations. ”It would appear we both have some leveling to do.”

Richard reread his notification logs. 

You have selected the following class: [Talismanic Triad of the World Shaper (Ancient)]

This is an Ancient rarity class. As such, it gives a total of twelve attribute points per level.

(Three to control, two to regeneration, one to resilience, and six free points.)

DING!

•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 16]—|-•

[+3 control, +2 regeneration, +1 resilience, +6 free points]

DING!

•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 17]—|-•

[+3 control, +2 regeneration, +1 resilience, +6 free points]

…

DING!

•-|—You Have Gained A Level. You Are Now [Lvl 49]—|-•

[+3 control, +2 regeneration, +1 resilience, +6 free points]

One level. It’s just one level. Fifteen days to reach level fifty. Piece of cake! Really, how hard could it possibly be?