Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Thaden was thankful that he didn’t have to deal with Assimilators to choose his evolved Class, as they had always unnerved him a bit.  He still remembered having to deal with the creepy alien-like beings back on Tarth, including their first meeting when he had been Level 21.  The only difference from when he was gaining his first evolved Class and now – other than not having to deal with Assimilators acting as Class Representatives – was that he was a Novice Enthraller instead of an Assistant Healer.

He brought up his options—or at least he tried.  The world seemed to freeze around him as there was a lengthy delay, and he began to become worried when he felt a large buildup of System energy surrounding him.  Fortunately, he didn’t think the energy was accompanied by the feeling of its direct attention – which could’ve been bad, as the last thing he wanted was for the System to send something toward Teglir in order to kill him, destroying everything in its path to ensure the deed was done.  Of course, it might still happen if it noticed what was happening with the buildup of energy, but he sincerely hoped it didn’t.

The energy eventually came to a crescendo, pressing down on him with a force that was nearly physical in nature, before it suddenly dispersed.  Once it did, he was finally met with what he was hoping to see – though his Class evolution choices were much different than he expected.   

Please select your new Support Class from the list of following evolutions:

Hypn0tizer (Comwon)

W!cke6 3nsl@ver (UncoMmon)

Hea1th Siphoner (U&common)

Spirit Illusionist (Uncommon)

Mons%er TaMer (Unc8mmon)

Adept Enthraller (Rare)

D@rk Ent#rall3r (RarE)

Hidd3n Enthrller (Rae)

L^cky Enthra#er (raRe)

Explo$ive En1hraller ($are)

Group Performance Director (Rare)

Spiritual Savant (Rare)

Naturebane (Rare)

Spirit Harvester (Epic)

Minion Multiplier (Epic)

Thrall Commander (Epic)

FrienD (L3gendary)

Ex!st3nt!@l An0maLy (Un!que)

Evolutions not selected may or may not be available during your next Class evolution

Thaden was immediately confused as saw his options, which were quite a few more than the 4 he’d had to choose from when he reached Level 21 on Tarth.  Back then, he’d only been an Assistant Healer, and his choices had been Healer, Experienced Healer, Deathbane, and Lifewarden – the last of which he’d ended up eventually picking as it was an Epic Rarity Class.  He wasn’t sure why he now had 18 Classes to choose from, because he didn’t think he’d ever had that many options back on Tarth; he could only assume that it had to do with the build-up of System energy right before the list was populated. 

He thought that, perhaps, everyone on Plangea had more options than what was available on a developmental world – even if his own was slightly ridiculous.  He didn’t even think so ask before he started the process, and now that he was locked into it, he had trouble breaking away and asking Sadia if she knew any information about the larger selection.  In fact, he was pretty sure that the world had somewhat froze around him, as it didn’t seem like time was still operating correctly outside of his little world filled with Class Evolution choices.  He wasn’t too worried, though, as the same thing had happened to him before on Tarth.

Regardless of whether she had anything to say on the matter, what concerned him the most about the choices was the fact that many of the Classes seemed… wrong.  Even the names and rarities associated with them felt broken, as if there was some sort of error—

Thinking of errors, the memory of gaining his Secondary Class flashed through his mind, and he deduced that this had something to do with the way Novice Enthraller had essentially been forced through the ERRORs that he’d produced in the Codexical Access Point by touching it.  He could only assume that, not only wasn’t he supposed to gain a second combat Class, but that his evolution of it had once again caused an issue that involved the System directly.  He didn’t get any background System messages with a bunch of ERRORs this time, though that could be because he was basically stuck in the Class Evolution menu without being able to exit or see anything else.  Regardless, it didn’t really matter for the moment how or why it had happened; what mattered was that he chose his evolution so that he could discover the fallout this might have caused.

Investigating the different Classes, once he dug into a few that seemed like they were broken, his assumptions were confirmed as he looked at some of their descriptions.

Hypn0tizer (Comwon): A comwon evolut!on to th3 Novice Enthral1er Class, a Hypn0tizer focuses on 9istracting threatening t@rgets with menta7 trickery. 

·         Can learn spells at Weak strength

·         Automatically downgrades 2 previously learned spells at random to their weaker strength upon evolution

·         All spells automatically affect all targets within 90 feet, including self and allies

·         All spells cast within the Party have a 50% to backlash upon the caster, causing damage equal to 90% of the caster’s max Health

·         Obtains (1) additional Access Slot

While there wasn’t anything obviously wrong other than the random numbers and symbols in the description of the Hypn0tizer Class, once he looked at the further traits underneath the description, he began to see some issues.  First, this Class, while Common in rarity, should’ve had access to more than just Weak strength spells.  Second, it would downgrade 2 spells at random to a weaker strength – which was just ridiculous.  Third, apparently all spells that this Class cast would affect all targets within 90 feet, including themselves and their allies, which meant that the distracting “mental trickery” it used would be detrimental to their Party.  And fourth, and probably the worst thing he’d ever seen before, was that there was a 50% chance that a spell would cause a backlash, doing 90% of the caster’s max Health.  This wasn’t limited to just the Hypn0tizer, but for their entire Party, as well.

Needless to say, there was absolutely no way he would choose something like this for an Evolution, as it was not just bad, it was completely broken.  As he investigated these broken Classes further, their detrimental traits only became worse.  W!cke6 3nsl@ver apparently tried to permanently enslave targets, but there was an 80% chance that he would become permanently enslaved by whoever he targeted.  Not that he wanted a Class that seemed to be based around enslaving others, especially as it only worked on sapient species (i.e. people), but its broken nature made it a no-go from the beginning.

Hea1th Siphoner seemed like it might have been a good option at one point, as it doubled-down on the effects of his Health Siphon spell, but there was high probability that casting spells would instead siphon Health from himself and feed it into another target, and all limits to how much he could siphon away were lifted.  Mons%er TaMer appeared to originally be a downgrade of Novice Enthraller, allowing him to only target monsters instead of any target, but the broken Class now slowly turned the Class holder into a monster based on the monsters it had “tamed”, losing any sense of being of a sapient being.

There were 4 upgraded Enthraller Classes, including D@rk Ent#all3r, Hidd3n Enthr*ller, L^cky Enthra#er, and Explo$ive En1hraller, which all had severe drawbacks based on the targets of his spells, which ranged from taking damage, acquiring a negative Fortuity stat, or even a 50/50 chance of exploding – for both himself or the monster. 

There was a Unique Class that was actually named instead of being a bunch of ???s, which he thought was probably because he already had a Unique Class in Fortunate Catastrophe.  Ex!st3nti!@l An0maLy, which he thought was actually Existential Anomaly, was a very concerning Class name, and he didn’t actually look at the description because he was worried about being locked into choosing it – which had inadvertently happened to him back on Tarth.  He thought that it was probably related to the fact that the System didn’t believe he should even exist, and as an anomaly he should be destroyed – as it had tried multiple times already. 

But the strangest of the broken Classes was a Legendary rarity one called FrienD.

FrienD (L3gendary): FrienD frienDly frienD frienDly frienD FrienD frienDly frienD FrienD frienDly frienD FrienD frienDly frienD FrienD frienDly frienD FrienD frienDly frienD.

·         FrienD

·         FrienD frienD

·         FrienD frienD 95% frienD

·         FrienD frienD

·         FrienD (1) frienD

There was something seriously wrong with whatever that Class was, and it freaked him out even looking at it.

Once he disregarded all of the clearly broken Classes, he was still left with 8 Classes that seemed normal enough, so he started going through them one-by-one.  The first one was the Spirit Illusionist Class, which was a downgrade of his current Class rarity with it being Uncommon, but he still looked at it to gauge what it was about.

Spirit Illusionist (Uncommon): An uncommon evolution for the Novice Enthraller, the Adequate Illusionist uses their expertise in manipulating the spirits of their targets into believing what they sees or don’t see.  They can also infuse Mana into their spells to give actual substance to their illusions, though it is limited to how much control they have over their targets. 

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, Lesser, or Major strength

·         Has access to a greater selection of new Spiritual spells focused on manipulating the thoughts of multiple targets

·         Obtains (2) additional Access Slots

The Spirit Illusionist appeared to be a step up from the Hypn0tist Class, if that Class hadn’t been completely broken – or perhaps corrupted might be a better word to use.  Either way, one look was all he needed to see to know that it was a clearly inferior Class compared to even Novice Enthraller.  Unless none of the other Classes were usable, he wasn’t planning on considering this for an Evolution.

Next up with Adept Enthraller, which seemed to be a straight-up evolution of the Novice Enthraller Class with nothing too fancy included in it.

Adept Enthraller (Rare): While the Adept Enthraller Class is an overall stronger evolution of Novice Enthraller, it also begins to apply its enthralling spells upon a wider variety of targets, leaning upon its greater ability to bypass certain resistances.  The Adept Enthraller can also integrate their enthralled minions into the Party with duration-based spells rather than draining their Mana pool with channeled spells, which can lead to a better use of their Support and healing spells.   

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, or Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades 4 previously learned spells at random to their next strength upon evolution

·         Has access to greater flexibility in Enthralling spells, allowing for larger numbers of controlled targets

·         Obtains (3) additional Access Slots

Looking over the details, it seemed as though the benefit of taking this Class was a wider variety of Enthrall spells, such as ones that were Single Cast with a duration to them rather than always being channeled spells.  Thaden wasn’t sure if that would matter all that much to him, though, as he didn’t have to worry about running out of Mana while keeping such spells active, though greater flexibility was always welcome.

It was on the list of acceptable Evolutions, but he was just barely getting started.

Group Performance Director (Rare): Specializing in large groups of targets, the Group Performance Director takes the evolution of Novice Enthraller and expands its wide-range capabilities.  By enthralling multiple targets simultaneously, the Group Performance Director has bonuses to the defensive capabilities, the maximum Health, and even the speed of their controlled minions, allowing for a better strategic and supportive defense of the Party.  These benefits come with the drawback of poorer control over single targets.   

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, or Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades 4 previously learned spells at random to their next strength upon evolution

·         Has access to more wide-ranging Enthralling spells

·         Groups of 5+ controlled targets automatically gain +30% to current Physical Damage Resistance, +30% to maximum Health, and +30% to Celerity

·         Single controlled targets receive -30% to current Physical Damage Resistance, -30% to maximum Health, and -30% to Celerity

·         Obtains (3) additional Access Slots

The Group Performance Director Class was tempting to choose, as it seemed to become stronger with the more minions he had under his control.   The drawback of having only a single controlled target wasn’t that big of a concern, given that he typically controlled many different minions simultaneously, and it also seemed like there would be even more spells that he could unlock that would take advantage of having multiple minions.  In his opinion, it was definitely a step up from Adept Enthraller – though only barely.

Next up was Spiritual Savant – which was yet another Rare Class, though after looking at its details, he thought it should’ve been a higher rarity.

Spiritual Savant (Rare): The Spiritual Savant applies all that is learned from its time as a Novice Enthraller and focused almost entirely on its Spiritual spells to the detriment of its others.  By specializing on the spirit, the Spiritual Savant has learned how to heal the spirit, which then translates to an equal or greater healing to the body.  To go along with expanding its Spiritual Spellcasting capabilities, the Spiritual Savant also has better control and success when casting spells upon a variety of targets.   

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, or Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades all previously learned Spiritual spells at random to their next strength upon evolution

·         All Support spells gained from Novice Enthraller are removed

·         Spiritual spells have a 50% success increase against all targets

·         Expanded healing capabilities through new Spiritual spells

·         Obtains (3) additional Access Slots

From what he could tell, the Spiritual Savant got rid of all the Support spells he’d gained from Novice Enthraller, such as Minion Regeneration and Siphon Health, and double-downed on Spiritual Spellcasting by allowing him to heal the “spirit” and therefor healing the body.  It was actually a powerful Class evolution, or at least it would be for anyone else, because it would allow someone to be able to focus on just one type of spell rather than having to diversify.  Having seen many types of Support Class equipment out there, it had sometimes been difficult to piece together a proper assortment of items that would benefit all of his spells. 

That was why he thought it should’ve been a higher rarity, because he thought it was stronger than the rarity suggested – though it was probably only his experience that made him think so.  He wasn’t sure if anyone else would see the potential in the Class from first glance, though he could be wrong.

Moving on, the next Class was called Naturesbane, and he only glanced briefly at it.  Why?  Because it turned out to be almost identical to Adept Enthraller, though with the additional trait of allowing his Party and minions to take less damage from plant or nature-based sources, while also boosting damage against those same sources.  He wasn’t sure how useful it would be, as he had rarely fought any nature-based monsters on Tarth, but he figured that he had unlocked access to the Class because of his performance in the Wild Flower Dungeon.

Moving on to the Epic rarity Classes, he first looked at Spirit Harvester – and was almost immediately reminded of the Soul Harvester Adversary monster he’d seen on Tarth, which turned him off from selecting it almost immediately.

Spirit Harvester (Epic):  An epic evolution of Novice Enthraller, the Spirit Harvester harvests and then consumes the spirits of any controlled targets when they perish under its control.  These consumed spirits can then be used to apply temporary bonuses to themselves or another target; alternatively, a greater number of consumed spirits that are held onto will boost the success of further Spiritual spells.

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades all previously learned spells to their next strength upon evolution

·         Has access to additional powerful Spiritual spells

·         Spirits are consumed and held in a new, internal stasis pocket separate from Inventory

·         Obtains (4) additional Access Slots

Sucking up spirits from slain minions was very unappealing to him, as he got the impression that he would be collecting them in an internal pocket like the souls of the dead, or such as some creepy grim reaper.  While he already possessed some Spiritual spells that could give him benefits from those he killed, they seemed entirely different from what this Class apparently did.  He was probably being a little biased and not considering the possibilities of what this Class had to offer, but he was more than fine with that.  He still had plenty of other options…

…such as the Minion Multiplier Class.

Minion Multiplier (Epic):  Minions are expendable, and this epic evolution of Novice Enthraller knows that more than most.  The Minion Multiplier not only fully utilizes every minion under their control to the best of their abilities, but they can also use some specialized spells to multiply the number of those minions – though at a detriment to their fighting prowess.  However, greater numbers can make up for a lot, and the Minion Multiplier is an expert in ensuring that there is always one more defender in between themselves and danger.  

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades all previously learned Spiritual spells to their next strength upon evolution

·         Has access to additional powerful Spiritual spells, including those that can temporarily multiply the number of controlled targets

·         Multiplied targets have a base -30% to all stats

·         Obtains (4) additional Access Slots

This is more like it!  There didn’t seem to be any real downsides to the Class, though the lack of the Support spells he’d acquired from Novice Enthraller upgrading to Major strength was a little bit of letdown.  Thankfully, he had plenty of spell selections to make up for that, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But the major benefit of the Class was a big deal.  Being able to multiply his controlled targets, his Minions, was incredible.  Even if they took a hit to their overall stats, meaning that they would be 30% weaker than they would be otherwise, that didn’t really matter in the long run.  With spells such as Health Reinforcement raising their maximum Health, as well as his own, and Dominate Spirit active, the more minions he had access to, the better.  He also got the impression, when he focused on the details of the Class, that multiplying his controlled minions wouldn’t strain him like it would if he simply enthralled more; what that meant was that if he enthralled a Level 100 monster that strained his mind, he could multiply it – or copy it, whatever it wanted to be called – and while his multiples would obviously be weaker, he wouldn’t suffer from the same strain as if he had enthralled 2 of the Level 100 monster.

In other words, it was a win-win situation, as he didn’t see any downsides to taking the Class.  He had enough other spells that could keep his multiplied minions alive even with their lower defenses, and if he Dominated them, it didn’t matter if they were practically useless in the physical department, because they would leech Health that was dependent upon his own maximum Health. 

Before he chose the Class, though, he still had one more to peruse.  He didn’t hold out much hope of it being better than Minion Multiplier, however, because Thrall Commander just didn’t feel like it would be an upgrade from being able to multiply his minions.

Thrall Commander (Epic):  Most see minions as no more than fodder under the control of a Novice Enthraller, but the epic evolution of the Class, Thrall Commander, sees them as something else entirely.  To the Commander, those under its thrall are an army, a force to be reckoned with.  Why?  Because the Thrall Commander can infuse those under its control with the ability to absorb a portion of the damage they receive as Health, healing them continuously while defending the Commander with their lives.  In addition, there is very small chance that any healing done in this way is reflected as magical damage back upon the source, though that chance is unfortunately very rare.     

·         Can learn spells at Weak, Minor, Lesser, or Major strength

·         Automatically upgrades all previously learned spells to their next strength upon evolution

·         All controlled targets will instantly recover 10% of all damage taken as a Support-based healing effect

·         There is a Fortuity/50 % that all automatic healing is reflected as magical damage upon the source of the original damage

·         Obtains (4) additional Access Slots

Thaden was wrong.  After reading through the details of Thrall Commander, he suddenly had another viable choice for his Class.  One of the major selling points for the Commander Class was that his controlled minions would automatically heal 10% of the damage taken by other monsters; that wasn’t that big of a deal by itself, because he could heal them much faster, but when he considered that the trait also said that it was a Support-based healing effect, he was fairly certain that his Advancement, Delayed Satisfaction, would affect it.  While the healing wouldn’t be instant and would be delayed by 3 seconds, that 10% healing would instead be increased by 900%!

But what made the Class even greater was the Fortuity/50 % chance to reflect that automatic healing back onto the source of the damage.  With his current Fortuity, there was approximately a 15% chance that it would occur, which was probably much more often than anyone else that had this Class before him.  His Fortuity would also only continue to increase as his Fortunate Catastrophe Class rose in Level, making this chance even more likely.  In other words, it was yet another way to deal damage that didn’t rely on something like Dominate Spirit or Befriend Spirit, which sometimes took too long to initiate on the fly.  With this being automatic, he didn’t have to do anything but use Enthrall on a bunch of minions, which also meant that he wouldn’t have to take up a portion of his Mana pool on those other spells and could then use other Reserved spells that he hadn’t been able to use in conjunction with Enthrall. 

Grrr… This is a hard decision.  Multiplied minions versus automatic healing and a chance at damage reflection.  He spent what felt like an hour going back and forth, effectively shutting down any of the other options, as none of them were as appealing as these two evolved Classes.

Eventually, though, he had to make a decision.  In the end, it all came down to one thing: Fortuity.  The Thrall Commander aligned too much with his Fortunate Catastrophe Class and its use of Fortuity to be a coincidence, especially when he considered one of his other Class’s bonus traits:

Fortuity is increased by 300% while in combat and for 30 seconds after combat is concluded

What that essentially meant was that the original 15% chance that the damage reflection would trigger was effectively boosted to 60% while he was in combat.  Being able to deal damage for essentially free was too good to pass up, and with that chance only increasing in the future as he gained more Fortuity, he eventually decided that there wasn’t really any other choice.

With only a brief hesitation after he made his decision, Thaden picked Thrall Commander for his Class Evolution – and he was immediately struck by a blinding pain as his body and mind caught back up to the frozen world around him.