Chapter 34 - Paths And Classes

“Calm down, June.” I told myself. “Surely this is a joke of some kind.”

I was thirty two years old. I did not need to go to school.

I didn’t know what Red was up to, and I couldn’t ask him until tomorrow morning. So, I reluctantly took out the rest of the clothes and folded them- royal household way- and placed them neatly in my cupboard.

Once that was completed, I searched the extra pockets of the backpack and took out whatever that was left. There wasn’t much- only a few packeted lollies and three, large metal weights at the bottom. I raised an eyebrow as I saw them, mildly amused and annoyed at the same time.

This day was just getting weirder and weirder.

Since I needed to wait for Ma’ra to call for dinner, I simply sat on my bed and stared at the room. I missed the Haven guild. Already. I know, I know.

It’d only been a day for me, but just the thought of potentially never seeing them again made me hurt inside.

[If you follow your path, you will see them again.]

Ah, it was Eve again.

[Would you like me to continue showing you the basics? We were interrupted last time.]

“Uhm, sure?” It wasn’t like I had anything to do now except wait, anyways. Also, I needed to find more about this new system and exactly who the Maker was.

[Great! You can start by opening your status window.]

“Status.”

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Winston June

Major Attributes

Level: 0 {0%}

Race: Potato

Path: Path to Potato Godhood (Guided) {0/10}

Xera: ∞

Class Attributes

Class: TBD

Rank: N/A

Level: N/A

Other Attributes

Accumulated Faith: 161

Skills

Path Skills:

[Divine Being] (Passive) [Xera Transfer] (Active) [Potato God’s Eye] (Passive) [Potato God’s Hand] (Active)

L’Der Skills:

[Set Quest] (Active) [O.C.C] (Active)

Race Skills:

[Germinate] (Active) [Potato Battery] (Passive) [Potato Body] (Active) [Hull] (Active)

Misc. Skills:

[Mind Speech] (Active) [Perceive Domain] (Passive) [Mutation] (Active)

Class Skills:

Statistics

Xera Purity: 10%

Xera Capacity: ∞

Xera Regeneration: ∞

Physical Strength Boost: 16.1% {0}

Mental Strength Boost: 16.1% {0}

Physical Endurance Boost: 16.1% {0}

Mental Endurance Boost: 16.1% {0}

Followers

Accumulated Followers: 2

Item Buffs

N/A

Combat Power

Base Combat Power: 1

Current Combat Power: 10

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[As you may have noticed, a few things have been altered from the A.S.S. First of all, you no longer have a levelling system for your skills. This has been replaced by an overall levelling system.]

“Yes, I noticed that. But how will I level up?” This new ‘update’ had completely changed the way the system worked. It was almost a completely new system.

[You gain XP, which is short for Experience Points, by killing monsters. Once you have reached a certain number of Experience Points, your level will increase. Levelling will grant you SP, short for Statistic Points, which you can then invest into a specific statistic to increase.]

That sounded pretty self explanatory. “But why monsters? Why do I have to kill monsters?”

It took a second for Eve to speak once more. She sounded somewhat surprised.

[Out of all people, I didn’t expect someone like you to ask such a question. Why don’t you tell me, then. Why do you humans kill monsters? For sport? For entertainment?]

“For… resources?” Well, at least that was what most people said. Most monsters either had tasty flesh or could be made into items and accessories. Those were in turn useful in combat. The strongest weapons were all made from monsters.

[Exactly. Think of the XP as another resource that can be harvested from monsters. That shouldn’t be too hard for you, should it? Ah, yes. That reminds me. Each monster has a different… shall we call them ‘essence’ which will significantly boost the ability to manipulate the elements of magic. To put it another way, the experience dropped by a fire lizard will improve your ability to use fire magic.]

“Uh huh.” But wait a minute. “What happens if you absorb the essence of a creature that drops xera and you can’t do that particular element of magic?”

[Well, nothing, obviously. XP isn’t a miracle drug. Also, one more thing. When you level up, your xera capacity and xera regeneration will naturally increase. For example, your xera capacity right now is… is… is… WHAT?]

“What’s the problem?” I asked. It really seemed like she was freaking out.

[Look at your status window. Do you see those two intertwined circles next to your xera capacity? That means your xera capacity is infinite. And so is your regeneration.]

“Infinite? I thought it was two hundred?”

[This is impossible. Even the Maker doesn’t have infinite capacity. Just what are you?]

Wait. Why had my xera capacity changed? I hadn’t ascended, or leveled up any skills from the time I used void magic in the fight against Lando. The only thing that would’ve changed my capacity was the enchantment Red had placed on Winter’s ribbon.

My xera capacity would be limited to ten percent and… multiplied by my xera regeneration.

However, my xera regeneration was already multiplied by xera capacity.

This was a paradox.

An infinite and completely broken paradox.

I explained this to Eve, who seemed in outrage. I could almost feel her angry pants down my neck, even though she didn’t have a material body.

[There are restrictions exactly so this kind of thing doesn’t happen! Just how did you manage to get past it? Seriously, I better bring this up with the Maker the next time I see him. A skill that multiplies xera regeneration by xera capacity? Absolutely absurd! What idiot’s idea was this?]

“Probably… G.” I muttered.

[Of course it would be him. Glyphmere’s never cared what happened to his people, anyways. And you. How in the hell are you alive? Just like purity, having too much xera will kill you.]

“I don’t know, ok?” I half shouted. I was at my limit.

Thrown into a new world with none of my friends, nothing I knew, hell, even a new system, it was a miracle that I hadn’t destroyed it with void magic already.

For some reason, Eve stopped talking after my outburst. Was she feeling sympathetic towards me? Was she even capable of doing that?

[I’m sorry. I’ve overstepped my boundaries. I’ll drop this topic now, and will bring it up with the Maker the next time I see him.]

She was.

But something she’d said had caught my attention. “You can talk to the Maker? Wait. Actually, can you tell me who this Maker even is? If he’s capable of so called ‘updating’ G’s system, what else can he do? Can he bring me back to my friends?”

A little spark of hope flared in my mind.

[I cannot tell you much, but know this. The Maker cannot interfere anymore than he already has. Consider yourself incredibly lucky to be able to use this modified system. Only the Stars have access to it. And they are the ones that rule the continents.]

“Stars? What are stars?”

[Oops. I’ve already said too much. Shall we move on to the next part of the tutorial?]

I sighed. On any other day, I wouldn’t have let this slide. But today, I was tired. Too tired to care. “Alright. Carry on.” I relented.

[As I first said, it is possible for you to master void magic- and see your friends again- if you follow your path. Your path is the most challenging but most rewarding out of four different paths.]

“Four different paths? Aren’t the possibilities endless?” Out of the three paths I’d seen people take- including me, each of them seemed completely random.

[Yes, of course. The four different paths are: personal gain, power, sentiment and material desire.]

“So mine comes under… power?”

[No. Your’s is classified under sentiment.]

Sentiment? Out of all of the four paths, sentiment was one of the ones I’d least expected it to be.

[To see more information about your path, you can use the command ‘path status’.]

“Path status.”

___________________________________________

Winston June

Path Status

Path: Path Of The Potato God (Guided)

Path Level: 0/10

Path Skills

[Divine Being] (Passive) [Xera Transfer] (Active) [Potato God’s Eye] (Passive) [Potato God’s Hand] (Active)

Path Attributes

Accumulated Faith: 161

Path Quest (1/10)

Accumulate Faith

The first step to becoming a potato god is to earn people’s trust and respect.

Gather Faith: 0/10000

Rewards: Progression to next stage of Path (Title - Potato God (Stage 1)), L’Der skill - Transfer Faith

Penalty: None

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[To progress along your path, all you have to do is complete your quests. They are a little challenging, though…]

I wasn’t listening. My eyes were fixated on the number after ‘gather faith’. “How many zeros is that? One… two… three… four… I must be dreaming. Let me count again. One… two… three…”

[Uh, June? Are you ok? The number there is ten thousand, if you’re wondering-]

“Ten thousand?” I burst out, not believing my ears. “You expect me to get ten thousand faith? Is that even possible? It took me two weeks to earn the Haven guild’s trust, and even now I only have a hundred and sixty one! It’ll take me years to get ten thousand!”

[Well… That was with only a few people, right? You have a whole town here for you! Also, there’s no time limit, so you can take as much time as you want…]

I groaned and flopped onto my bed, stretched out like a star. This day was just getting better and better. Not. Yet again, I asked myself why. Why this had happened to me of all people.

[Hey. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at consoling people. That’s not what I was designed for. But I do have something for you that might brighten your day.]

“What?” I asked. Eve was not like Cherry. Cherry would’ve snuggled up by my side and whispered ‘I love you’ to console me.

[Your class. You still haven’t picked it yet.]

Right. Class. Didn’t the Haven guild each have one of those?

[You have three choices available to you. To open your class choices, use the command ‘class choices’.]

“Class choices.” I said, not really caring anymore.

Three new windows opened in front of me, similar to that time with the new skills.

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Class: Overseer

An overseer is someone who fights from behind his followers. Sometimes called a coward, they specialize in troop direction and use their own power to buff their followers. They are weak in combat.

Buffs: Faith generation is doubled

Debuffs: -10% to all statistics

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Class: Warrior-Mage

A warrior-mage is someone who enjoys combat. They are an allrounder type of fighter that simply specializes in combat. They use their magic and strength to slay enemies and monsters.

Buffs: +10% to all stats

Debuffs: +10% to all skill cooldowns.

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Class: Conqueror

A conqueror is someone who seeks to destroy. Their strength lies in their lack of consciousness and ability to do whatever it takes to get what they want. Whether it be kill, slaughter or pillage.

Buffs: Start every level with 10% completed

Debuffs: Faith generation is halved.

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[Along with these classes comes a few skills. Once you pick your class, you will unlock one random basic skill. To progress in your class and earn new class skills, you need to complete the class quests. Completing the class quests will contribute a certain amount of CXP which will in turn increase your level. Some quests give more than others.]

Each class had a positive and a negative. Some had more impact than others, such as the ‘conqueror’ class. It had a massive buff- to be able to start every level with ten percent completed would be incredibly useful. But halved faith generation was something I couldn't afford right now. The only two choices I had were ‘overseer’ or ‘warrior-mage’. Both looked incredibly tempting.

On one hand, ‘overseer’ would half the amount of time I needed to spend here, gathering faith. On the other hand, ‘warrior-mage’ specialised in both magic and physical attack. As of now, I had no reliable attack skills- except this human body. It was a weapon in itself. But if I left it for even a moment, or was surprise attacked, I would surely die. A cooldown of six hours was a serious problem.

But here lay another problem. Would the new attack skills from ‘warrior-mage’ be worth the increased cooldowns? It was a risk I’d have to take.

“I’ll go with warrior-mage.”

[Good choice!]

[Your class has been changed: TBD -> Warrior-Mage.]

[You have unlocked the skill: {Element Infusion}.]

The text appeared in red, which I recognised now as system text.

“Class status.” I said before Eve could instruct me to.

___________________________________________

Winston June

Class Status

Class: Warrior-Mage

Class Level: 0 {0%}

Class Skills

[Element Infusion] (Active)

Class Attributes

+10% to all stats +10% to all skill cooldowns

Class Quest

Weapon Arts (1)

A warrior-mage must learn how to use a sword.

Sword swings: 0/1000 times

Rewards: +59% CXP

Penalty: None

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Oh, god. Just what I needed. Another stupid quest. But on the bright side, I actually had something to work toward. A goal.

I would master void magic and return to my friends.

I would complete my path and discover Glyphmere’s secrets- whatever they might be, and find out just who the Maker was.

And it all started here.

But first, I needed to find out just what the hell Red meant preparing these school equipment for me.