Before I could ponder too hard on the mysteries of the D.E.V.I.L system (and I just knew someone thought they were being funny with that one), Shawn finally reached me, looking, if not excited, then at least very focused. “Okay am I the only one annoyed at how many of those skills were strength and dexterity based? Not as many intelligence based skills as I was hoping. Not to mention how few Charisma based skills there were, that’s gonna screw half our group. I figure the more esoteric skills will be with some of the more unusual class teachers. Though I’m a bit shocked none of the mage teachers were involved in the cram session. I guess magic has too many subcategories to have a single template.”

When he put it that way it kind of explained the lack of Charisma based skills too, fighters and rogues and the like had a few all encompassing core skills, but more diverse skillsets like Bards and the like probably had less crossover. There had to be some, or they wouldn’t be able to hire teachers because everyones class would be too different to instruct on, but they were probably within smaller subcategories.

As everyone gathered around I could feel their excitement through the party bond, aside from their own abilities, seeing the others end up with a powerful class was the fastest way for some of us to level, the more powerful the individual members of the group were, the more effective we would be as a unit. We had gotten lucky with all the useful passives that played into group teamwork, but a chain was only as strong as its weakest link. Sadly at the moment that seemed to be me.

To start with I took a look at my own skills, which, contrary to what my Luck stat would tell you, were all abysmal. The highest I had managed was Evade skill, which was an E rank ability. I had actually lucked out there, since the Dexterity was the one physical stat I had that was over a single point. The two other big ones that they had stressed, Block and Strike, were Stamina and Strength based respectively so they could only be F ranked with my one point in those two stats. Admittedly even the F ranked versions were pretty useful, Block being fairly obvious in that it allowed you to nullify some of the damage from an attack and Strike being a Strength based support skill that amplified blows of either the armed or unarmed variety.

Unfortunately F ranked skills were basically trash, seeing as they only gave me a one percent nullification and amplification boost respectively, and only against enemies my level or lower. According to the teacher who gave us those, a big bulky man in a thick leather coat, every ten levels in either skill increased them by a percent. Higher ranks apparently allowed for something of a level gap, but that didn’t help me much. I reported all this to my party members, along with the fact that Evade gave me a ten percent boost to my reflexes when being attacked by anyone within one level of me.

I expected at least some good feedback on that one until Sebastian mentioned his D ranked version React, gave him twenty and a two level cushion. I felt a bit better after Magnus dropped his C ranked version of my Strike skill, Smite, into the mix, as inadequate as Sebastian made me feel it was nothing compared to what it felt like for all of us when Magnus, with his absurd strength, told us about getting to have his blows amplified by thirty percent with a three level cushion.

Abby had the same React skill as Sebastian did though she hadn’t gotten the E ranked Block skill like he had. Withstand seemed like it would be pretty useful, though I suspected Sebastian was going to us it more for parrying than straight tanking blows. The last one of us with one of the main skills above F was Ali, and boy was it a doozy, her B ranked skill for Dodging was called Quicksilver. Apparently once you get to B rank in a skill you start getting additional perks along with the flat increases, with a forty percent boost to reflexes and a four level cushion she would’ve been scary enough, but her skill also allowed her to maintain her heightened state for one counterattack after a successful evasion.

There were plenty of other miscellaneous trash skills but we had all gotten Fs across the board in them anyway. Shawn and I made plans with Aiden, Erin, and Theo to track down some teachers who could help with Charisma and Intelligence based skills and we all separated once again to track down someone who could help us. Before we had gotten very far though the Dean cleared his throat for our attention “I’m sure you all must be eager to leave after all of that, but I thought I would mention to you that your real, specialized classes start tomorrow. You’ll be signing up in the actual class, so make your selections and be sure to show up early to your chosen specialty. Spaces can run out.” And with that final note, one of the longest nights of my life was over.