MM - Chapter 54 - CLASS ACTION RAW RECRUIT

“Haha! Well said, Traveler. I can answer a few questions, for a cost. There’s a-ahh,” he leaned to look around Raine at the empty space between him and the training grounds, “long line, so don’t take too long.”

“Do you know anything about advanced classes?” Raine tilted his head, not expecting much.

“I might…”

Knowing a hustle when he heard one, Raine shook his head, “Then I don’t have any questions.”

The man slapped on a slick smile, flashing his brows, “Hold on now, sailor. For the right price, I might know just what you need to hear. You never know if you don’t ask.”

“Unless you know specifics about ancient advanced classes, I’d like to make my choice.”

The man’s oily smile slipped and he chuckled nervously, “Very well, let’s get this show on the trail!” 

With a flourish from the man, a screen appeared in Raine’s HUD.

[Available Class Selection]

[Brawler]

[Warrior]

[Defender]

[Rogue]

[Cleric]

[Mage]

[Advanced - Armsman]

Raine’s finger only hesitated a second before he selected Cleric, sealing his fate. The man frowned, then scoffed, “Here I thought you had something interesting to show me. What a blowhowl.” He shooed Raine away, “Head to the side yard over yonder. Your test will be held there.”

Raine trotted to the indicated yard and as soon as he stepped onto the hard-packed dirt area, ten bare chested men came hustling out of a nearby barracks. Four of them joined his side of the arena, the other six stood opposite.

[Human Soldier Trainee: Level 30 - ??/??]

[Support your teammates to win the battle. Time limit: 10 minutes]

He sighed, glad the test was exactly as he’d been told in the past. Since it was entirely possible he was the first person taking the cleric test, he had been a little on edge. After confirming there wouldn’t be any surprises, he opened the general skill shop and purchased Mend.

[Mend - Novice - Celestial: Launches a ranged heal with staves, wands, or bare hands. Upon impact, restores health equal to current CP. Additional health restored over 60 seconds (Cost: 25 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds)]

Before he could read the description, the men on both sides launched at each other. Heavy thuds filled the air as bare fists crashed into muscled bodies. Raine, knowing there was only one way to fail this test, wasn’t at all concerned that his side was outnumbered.

Instead of sitting back and waiting, he rushed to join in on the fun. In a flash of light, a two-handed mace with a heavy, spiked head appeared in his hands.

[Immaculate Damascus 2-H Mace: Lustrous Blue - LVL 15: (AP +78) (Defense +22) (PTC +14) (PHY +16) (CNC +8) (Durability 200/200)]

Raine shuffle-stepped, suddenly appearing at the first enemy soldier’s side. His mace was mid flight, and the man he was aiming for huffed uncaringly with a wide grin. Each ten levels was a large step-change in the power and defense of creatures, and Vaaterran’s were no exception. Raine’s weapon wasn’t hurtling toward a level twenty opponent, but a level thirty, who was all the more powerful. Normally, he wouldn’t even consider being able to hurt the soldiers, and so would any regular cleric-hopeful.

His mace crashed into the air which rang like a struck bell. Rupture released two rippling waves that washed over three of the six enemy soldiers. Their cheeks distorted from the force. [Critical hit! -4,370, -2,169, Critical hit! -4,295] The next round of punches they received caused them to grunt in pain. Furious, bloodshot eyes swiveled in Raine’s direction and he was already running.

Damn, didn’t think I'd hit that hard!

The following seconds were a wild mess. Raine sidestepped repeatedly, burning through Discipline with every twitch and using the friendly soldiers as meat shields to stay out of reach. If not for his freshly boosted attributes, and the fact they were unarmed and unarmored, he would have been caught instantly. 

Eventually, the soldiers piled on enough damage to take aggro back and his heart pounded with relief that the Vaaterran’s weren’t truly intelligent yet or they definitely wouldn’t have let him get away.

He snapped off a quick Mend toward a soldier off to the side who'd been tanking two enemies the entire time. [+153] with a wicked smirk, Raine lined up another Rupture.

The fight lasted under three minutes, without any of Raine's allies falling below fifty percent health. The last soldier fell in a bruised heap at their feet and they roared in victory. If the first class change quests granted Superiority and Attunement, Raine would have been cheering right along with them.

[Congratulations!]

[You are now a Cleric! As far as permanent choices go, this was probably a bad one. Hide behind the backs of your unwitting allies and do whatever it takes to keep them alive, or you'll be next]

[Class specific skill store (Cleric) unlocked!]

[Skill upgrades unlocked!]

[Level up bonuses increased: (+9 free attribute points) (ACU +3) (CNC +8)]

[Acuity: +3]

[Connection: +8]

As the attribute rewards for his class settled into his body, Raine’s peripheral vision expanded slightly. More noticeably, the air and ground came more under his control. Thanks to his new armor, Lunging from midair already required less focus and precision. Now, it was all the easier. The same would apply to any martial techniques he implemented that functioned by bending ZionLine’s reality. While repeatedly flexing the world around him to adjust to the changes, he accessed the attributes column in his status sheet.

ATTRIBUTES: (Indicates values including equipment)

DISTRIBUTABLE: 15

POTENCY: 30 (55)

FINESSE: 30 (55)

ACUITY: 41 > 44 (69)

PHYSIQUE: 30 (55)

CONNECTION: 39 > 47 (72)

One more class quest to go. I never heard of an Armsman in the past so I have no idea what their attribute distribution looks like. After I find out, I’ll assign those free points. Hopefully, I’ll have enough to get more than two above fifty.

When baseline attributes (not counting equipment or modifiers) reached certain milestones, they received a fundamental boost in efficiency and power. Raine shuddered, remembering the last time, when he crossed the threshold with only a single attribute at a time; like a teenager after a growth spurt, but with super powers. To distract himself from the horrific memory, he accessed his new skill store.

[Healing Burst - Novice - Celestial: Lay hands upon a target to restore health equal to 200% CP. Additional 200% CP health restored over 120 seconds - stacks 3 times - each stack refreshes timer (Cost: 30 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Healing Ray - Novice - Celestial: Channel through mace, wand, or hands toward a target within 10 meters to restore health equal to maximum CP every 10 seconds. User cannot move (Cost: 5 CP per tick) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Minor Restoration - Novice - Celestial: Launches a ranged heal with staff, wand, or bare hands. Upon impact, restores health equal to 150% CP. Additional 150% CP health restored over 60 seconds (Cost: 35 CP) (Cooldown: 60 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Mend) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Purify - Novice - Celestial: Cleanses toxin, venom, poison, and paralysis effects on touch (Cost: 30 CP) (Cooldown: 2 minutes) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Detoxify) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Guardians Embrace - Novice - Celestial: Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Defense by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes) (Price: 1500% AT)]

[Guardians Armament - Novice - Celestial: Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Damage by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes) (Price: 1500% AT)]

[Life Drain - Novice - Celestial: Lay arms or hands upon a target to absorb health equal to 200% CP (Cost: 15 CP) (Cooldown: 6 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Blast) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Ray of Judgement - Novice - Celestial: Launches a ranged attack against a target within sight using mace, wand, or bare hands dealing 200% damage (Cost: 5 CP) (Cooldown: 3 seconds) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Blast) (Price: 1000% AT)]

[Sense Death - Novice - Celestial: Detect the direction of undead or those who have recently killed in a 50 meter radius for 10 minutes (Cost: 50 CP) (Cooldown: 15 minutes) (Purchasing this skill requires and consumes Far Sight) (Price: 1000% AT)]

If Raine were being honest, he wanted all the available skills. Of course, that wasn't possible since he didn't have any extra general skill points. On the other hand, the exact wording of unlocking the cleric skill shop made him wonder if he wouldn't lose access to it after using his class change token. That thought opened a whole new world of possibilities and he sent a quick prayer to Morty’s Great Computationals that it would be so.

Going through the list by section, he first chose a general healing skill. Healing Ray was a trap, as standing still in a fight was incredibly dangerous. Sure, it was cheap and strong, but in almost every battle that mattered, it couldn't be used. Minor Restoration was the most balanced of the three, giving range and flexibility, though at a higher cost. Raine chose Healing Burst. Most of his healing would be aimed at himself, so there was no reason to take something more expensive that healed for less, just to gain some range he didn’t need.

Guardians Embrace was next. One of his biggest weaknesses when fighting above his level was not being able to take even one hit. Anything that potentially solved that dilemma would be a huge boon. It was slightly more AT, but still an obvious choice. He passed on Guardians Armament as his damage was already ridiculous and the additional draw on his Celestial Power would leave him unable to heal as much as he might need.

The third skill was the toughest choice. He waffled back and forth between Life Drain and Ray of Judgement. If he retained access to the cleric shop, then it didn't matter as he would eventually get both but that was only a vague hope. The massive range of ray was great, and so was its damage, but his expertise was melee. Drain’s healing, plus the short cooldown, made it just as appealing.

What finally sealed the choice was how ray worked. It wasn’t a point and click, but a beam of light that came from the air above the target. Any decently competent opponent would see it coming and dodge, which meant the skill was often relegated to forcing an enemy into a disadvantage position rather than actually dealing damage.

After buying Life Drain, he opened the skill upgrade shop and examined the grade enhancements he’d been dying to have.

[Leap: Novice > Beginner (Cost 250% AT)]

[Lunge: Novice > Beginner (Cost 250% AT)]

[Parry: Novice > Beginner (Cost 300% AT)]

While it might seem like upgrading general skills was a waste because they would almost all eventually be consumed to buy class skills, that wasn’t necessarily true. Once re-purchased, they retained their previous grade, and some skills like Lunge never went out of style. There was no need to hesitate. Raine bought all three.

[Leap - Novice > Beginner: Increase jumping power after a short charge (Cost: variable up to 10 > 12 discipline)]

[Lunge - Novice > Beginner: Ignoring momentum and inertia, accelerate to maximum speed in a chosen direction (Cost: 5 > 4.5 discipline)]

[Parry - Novice > Beginner: Nullify the damage and redirect the force of a physical attack (Cost: 5 discipline) (Cooldown: 10 > 8 seconds)]

Increasing their grades again, from beginner to adept, required he use the skills two hundred times each. Additionally, their costs had increased by the law of five and he could no longer afford to upgrade them again.

He glanced over the costs for his new cleric skills and each was a thousand Attunement to raise to beginner. There were too many unknowns with Armsman to sink so many resources into them so he closed the upgrade menu. Pleased with his choices, and setting aside any potential FOMO in advance, Raine pulled out one of his most priceless possessions and crushed it in his palm.

[Class Change Token: Activate to discard current class allowing for a new class advancement test to be undertaken]

He waited a moment for any system messages, but none appeared.

Is it so rare to discard a class that there was no need for a notification? Lazy.

He checked his status, and sure enough his class displayed as none. Surprisingly, he still had access to both the cleric skills shop and the upgrade shop.

Shrugging, he walked around the corner of the building to confront the scam of a trainer. The man shot him a knowing smile, nodding affectionately, “Don’t feel bad. That’s a tough challenge and often failed. How about a tip? It'll only cost you a gold. Good deal, eh?” He popped his tabard, nose in the air, “I'm known among my colleagues as being quite generous.” He flashed his brows again. 

Raine simply blinked at him, annoyed, “What would be the point of paying for a tip if I can’t even take the test again for twenty-four hours? Let me guess, that little detail was going to slip your mind until you got a coin off me? Just give me the choices again.”

Taken aback, the trainer huffed, “Well, I never. Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you fail miserably again. And I’ll be charging the standard rate of five gold per tip for you in the future!” He flapped his fingers and the selection appeared again. Raine frowned when he noticed Cleric was available to retake.

Guess it only starts the day timer for failures. They really were lazy with this feature.

Shaking his head, Raine selected Armsman. The man’s head jerked back and his eyes grew five sizes larger, nearly falling from his skull, “Wha-how-who-why-but. I-I’ve never seen something like this. Well, well, well, it appears we’re in for quite the treat!” With a skip in his step, he brushed past Raine, “Come along then, sailor. You’re going to be front and center!”

He led Raine to the main training yard. The sergeants had already cleared out the soldiers and they surrounded the dirt field, standing shoulder to shoulder. Two of them moved aside, allowing Raine to enter. The trainer filled the gap behind him, effectively blocking him inside.

A series of rumbling booms announced dark clouds that quickly gathered above the academy. They churned and roiled, spitting flashes of light back and forth. The sun was blotted out, casting a pall across the field. In the next instant, three bolts of lightning combined and slammed into the opposite end of the arena. Raine wasn’t alone in covering his eyes. He blinked away his blindness, revealing a daunting figure.

[Ancient Armsman Noble: Level 20 - ???/???]

[Defeat your foe. Time limit: 10 minutes]

The skeleton was much larger than those from the mystic land. Its armor wasn’t patchworked, completely encasing its four-meter-tall frame in layers of protection topped with barbed spikes. It held a wickedly sharp great-axe in one hand. The weapon caught the little light in the air, absorbing and polluting it to radiate pulses of dark energy. The other hand held a greatsword that oozed fresh blood. Each drop that hit the dirt sizzled, releasing streamers of sickly orange smoke.

Raine took a step back on instinct. Noble monsters were an entire class above elites. If an elite usually required five people to take down, a noble needed twenty to fifty and were rarely found outside special instances and raids. Running into one alone was a death sentence. Equally bad, with three question marks beside its name, he knew it had somewhere between one hundred thousand, and a million health.

The onlooking sergeants and liveried instructor raised their hands, erecting a magical barrier that boxed in the arena. The massive monster’s sockets glowed fiercely and it smashed its weapons together, jaw clacking with wild anticipation.