Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 28

Happy Halloween!

Chapter 28

He wasn’t sure how he managed to forget what had happened every time before when he evolved his Class, but Thaden somehow blocked out the memory of the agony that accompanied the selection – voluntary or not.  The former Solitary Shaman pitched forward as pain suffused his body and mind, and he barely caught himself on the counter before he faceplanted right into it like last time.  While his previous Class change had felt like something was being ripped out of his mind, which he attributed to his channeling spells being eliminated, this time it felt like his entire body was being changed at a fundamental level. 

Gritting his teeth as he somehow managed to keep his wobbly feet under him, he closed his eyes as he concentrated on riding out the waves of torturous anguish his body was going through.  Fortunately, Sadia was finally back in his mind, as he just realized that she had been shut out while he was talking to the Representative.

“Hold on a little longer, Thaden – it’s almost done!”

He was already doing his best to keep it together, but her unexpected encouragement helped him more than he thought it would.  Standing up as the agony started to diminish throughout his body, he sensed a change in his stance, and looking down, the ground appeared slightly further away than before.  Did I grow taller?  That wasn’t part of the Class description.  Suddenly worried that he was no longer a Human, he looked at his hands and arms, looking for any differences, but he couldn’t see anything that stood out; he still appeared to be the same as he was, at least as far as his appendages went.

When an additional source of visual images suddenly flowed into his mind, however, he realized he had changed.  Disoriented from the what he quickly discovered was some sort of third eye on his forehead like the Charee, he staggered backwards, the unwelcome alteration to his physical body making him even angrier than he was.  Reaching up with his hand, he felt for the eye on his forehead, but there was nothing but normal skin right where he thought it should be.  What was even stranger was his hand moving in front of the new visual perception didn’t obscure it, as if it didn’t actually see his fingers.  It took a few seconds to realize that the vision he was seeing out of this non-present third eye wasn’t actually seeing the physical world, but something else.  Glancing around, all of the other Contenders he saw had a subtle white glow about them, but he had no idea what it meant. 

First, I was forced to take this Class, and now it changed things about me that I didn’t ask for?  How much worse is this going to get?

As he looked back at the Support Class Representative, he was nearly blinded as the glow coming from around the Assimilator was so bright that it was hard to look at for long.  As soon as he met its eyes, though, he heard in his head, “Good luck and don’t die, Contender,” before the Representative lifted its eyes and looked away.

Thaden half-expected the powerful, glowing alien to comment on his new Unique Class, but that didn’t happen.  Instead, it felt like he’d just been dismissed, as if he was of no importance… or that there was nothing interesting about what had just happened.  Either this kind of thing happened frequently enough that it wasn’t noteworthy, or it had been concealed from the Assimilator for some reason.

He wasn’t sure which was better.

“Thaden?  Are you alright?”

Stumbling away from the Class Representative counter, he nearly fell as his feet felt awkward, and he remembered that he seemed to be a little taller than he had been before.  A quick glance around the Coalition lobby proved this to be correct, as he could see slightly over the heads of some people that he was sure he was around the same height not that long ago.  The new height and the feel of his body felt strange, and he thought it might take him a little while to get used to it; regardless of the learning period he knew he needed, he still somehow managed to fumble his way back to his room, before collapsing on the floor when the door closed behind him.

“Come on, get up, Thaden,” said a voice near him, and he realized Sadia had manifested as her squirrel form, and was reaching down to help pick him up off the floor.  He allowed her to do so, though he didn’t get too far before he flopped down on the bed.  “Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Licking his suddenly dry lips behind his mask, he asked, “You don’t know?”  Even his voice sounded slightly different to his ears, deeper and rougher than it had been.

“Not exactly,” she answered.  “When the Assimilators are directly involved, they tend to block me from watching what you’re going through.”

“Well, there was a Unique Class on the list—”

“Oh, no; well, thankfully you didn’t look at it, did you?” she asked worriedly, cutting him off.

He hesitated at her tone.  “Why do you sound concerned?  Can’t you see my Character Report?”

“Of course I can; I was just worried, that’s all.  Those Unique Classes can be powerful but come with all sorts of downsides.  I’m glad that you picked something else, at least.  Wizened Solitary Shaman?  I guess that’s a good choice, though I would imagine it would be tough on your future Raid parties.”

Thaden’s mind froze for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what she was talking about.  What?

Opening his Character Report, he was immediately taken aback at what his Class revealed.

#32599999-E

Omenic Drifter – Hidden (Wizened Solitary Shaman)

Level – 189

Progressive Internal Combat Knowledge (PICK) – 56,500/56,500 (+1,620,000)

Adventurer Coalition Rank: Diamond 630/630 RP (+210)

For some reason, his new Class was on his Report, but it was also “Hidden”; right next to it was the Class name for Wizened Solitary Shaman.  It reminded him of his ability to change the name displayed in his nametag, but whatever effect this was, it did it automatically.  What was even stranger was the fact that Sadia, of all people, couldn’t see his real Class.

“Uh, well, I have some bad news for you, then,” he told her, as he began to explain what had actually happened.  By the end of his depiction of events, she was shaking her head.

“That’s impossible.  Nothing on your Character Report should be hidden from me, especially if it’s part of the Assimilation System.”

What she said sent a spike of alarm through him.  Remembering how easily she had succumbed to the fake mental visions in the Descent into Darkness dungeon, and even when she was inside his equipment, she wasn’t completely immune from it; it was only his mental proximity that allowed her to see what was real.  If it was just the psychic manipulation that had gotten to her, that was one thing, but it was the source of that manipulation that worried him.

“What if it isn’t the System that preventing you from seeing it?” he asked.

Seeing a giant squirrel lean back on its hind legs while crossing their arms was a strange sight.  “What else could it be?”

When he simply looked at her in response, she gasped.

“No, no way.  That’s not possible.”

“That’s what you said about not being able to see my real Class.”

Shaking her head, she said, “But if you’re proposing what I think you are, I… I don’t even know what to think.”

“I don’t know how it would even be possible, put can you explain all this any other way?”

Sadia thought about it for a moment.  “No, I can’t.  But do you really think that the Persistent Adversary is somehow influencing your Class and hiding it not only from me, but the System?”

“Well, let me ask this question, then.  Why doesn’t the all-powerful Assimilation System know about the Adversarial entity in the dungeon?  Why didn’t it know what it was planning?  Why hasn’t it issued a world-wide quest yet?”

She was silent, as she had no answer for that.

“I think it’s learned how to conceal itself from the System somehow, perhaps by working from within it.  Remember how I told you that the Support Class Representative had trouble finding proof that I had finished my Evolution Assignment?  It was gone for a while, and when it came back, it proceeded with the Class selection as if everything was perfectly fine – just a delay in ‘data transfer’.  Now, I’m not saying that the Adversary has necessarily ‘hacked’ the System, but it is entirely plausible that it is subtly manipulating portions of it.”

“That’s not—”

“Possible, I know.  But it’s the only solution to what’s happening that I can figure out.  Unless you have another idea?”  At the shake of her head, he knew he was on the right track.  “The only thing I can’t figure out is why it did this all this crap with my Class.”

Logically, he could understand why the Adversary would want to hide the presence of the monster inside the dungeon, but nothing about his Class made any sense.  Why would it influence his Class?  It made no sense—

Unless….

Sadia had already reached the same conclusion.  “If what you say is true about the Adversary, which I’m still not convinced of, then it’s possible that its energy somehow connected with you because of your presence in the dungeon.  With the way it seemed to control the others—”

“—then it’s possible that it thinks it’s doing the same with me?”

The oppressive silence that descended upon his room after that question gave him goosebumps at the implications. 

Sadia eventually shattered the silence.  “But that’s only if this is all true, which is so unlikely that I can’t even calculate the probability of you being accurate.  I dearly hope that it isn’t true, though; because if it is, then if the Adversary thinks it has control of you as some sort of a, what, double agent, I can’t even imagine what that would mean for your Raid Party.”

Crap.  I didn’t even think of that. 

He was silent for a minute or so as that sunk in.  Shaking his head, he eventually told her, “Regardless of its origin, let me tell you about my real Class.  Can you see this description if I pull it up?”

Thankfully, he could still pull up the Class description for his Omenic Drifter, though only by completely focusing on it with all his attention would Sadia be able to read it, too.  It seemed to want to completely hide itself from anyone but him, but he seemed to have a bit of control over it when he put his mind to it.  Does that mean I can control Adversarial energy, too?  The implications of that weren’t what he wanted to contemplate at the moment, so he turned to more important matters.

Namely, his new Class.

Now that he was allowed to read it uninterrupted, he was able to truly evaluate what it brought to the table.  First, he was glad to see that he now had access to Exceptional strength spells, and a glimpse at his Character Report revealed that all of his previous spells had just been upgraded to that strength.  Second, there was no mention of him losing access to channeled spells like his Solitary Shaman Class, though another look at his spell list didn’t show that any of his removed spells had come back; he could only assume that he would be able to gain new channeled spells in the future. 

Next, the increase of all spell efficiencies by 150% when cast on himself was amazing for when he was both solo and in a Party, and the increase in rewards gained while solo by 50% was also incredible – since it implied all rewards, not just PICK or currency.  Lastly, as far as outright benefits went, an additional 20 Access Slots – which brought him up to 50 in total – was nearly unbelievable, as it would allow him to have so many more spells ready to cast when they were needed.

But then came the detrimental effects of the Class, at least as far as what was on the description.  The first one was more of a benefit and detriment at the same time, because it would either double, keep the same, or eliminate rewards while in a Party, based on some sort of Fortuity-based system.  He would have to look into that more for more information, but he couldn’t help but think that not getting any rewards for accomplishing an Achievement would be absolutely devastating.

The second detriment to the Class was a double-edged sword, as it would increase damage done to all targets, including himself, by 300% within 300 feet.  Sure, he – and his party members – would do more damage, but they would also take more damage, so as long as they killed monsters before they did enough damage to get through their protections, it would be fine.  Dangerous, but fine.

Then there was the elimination of all Class-specific bonus traits, which was a bit devastating.  The loss of his Lifewarden bonuses, especially the chance to reflect 5% of the damage that had been prevented by his Defensive spells and had been extremely important in the past in order to do damage to monsters, was difficult to come to terms with, though if he didn’t have other ways of damaging monsters now, it would be even worse. 

Last, but definitely not least, was the portion of the description that was sure to be the most impactful.  Any and all single-target spells and effects upon all targets within 300 feet, excluding the Omenic Drifter, have a 1% chance to cause instant death to that target, was a lot to take in.  If he was reading it correctly, which Sadia confirmed once she saw it, then it meant that all single-target spells and effects, not just those that Thaden cast, would have that 1% chance of death.  Not only did that mean that any of his party members casting single-target spells, such as ones that boosted themselves or increased the damage of their weapons, could accidentally kill themselves or other party members if they were the target, but it also meant that when monsters used these single-target spells or effects, this chance would also come into effect.

In other words, it would be pure chaos around him, with Thaden being the only one that was immune.

If this Class really did come – at least partly – from the Adversary, he could well see this being just the thing it might want to cause as much destruction as possible.  Imagine a healer going through a city and healing everyone they came across with a single-target healing spell?  How long would it take before hundreds of people started dying, and it was likely that none of those deaths would be directly attributed to that healer, since the instant death effect didn’t come from the spell itself, but from a concealed Class that the System couldn’t “see”.

“This Class is crazy dangerous,” Sadia said with a sigh after she was able to temporarily see its description.  She was silent for a few moments before she seemed to perk up.  “But I think you might be able to take advantage of its elements if you use them appropriately,” she said with a smile.  “If the portion of the Adversary here on Tarth thought it could use you to cause death and destruction throughout the world, won’t it be surprised when you turn it around and brought about its own destruction?”

Hmm… I like the sound of that.  “Tell me what you have in mind…”