I woke the following morning by an excited Amy shaking me. "Nalle, wake up. I got new skills, here I'll share my status."

Still groggy, I accepted the notification sent by Amy. Noting absentmindedly that Amy is fully dressed, including her new cloak.

Name — Amelia Eversong

Class — Knight lvl, 10

HP — 7,700 MP — 3,000

Str — 67 Dex — 30

Int — 30 Cha — 20

Wis — 20 Luc — 25

HP regen — 13.4 + (4.01)

MP regen — 6

System skills — Cleave, Parry, Self-heal, Perfect evasion.

Learned skills: Shield bash, Taunt.

Blinking rapidly, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and looked again. Yep, not my imagination. Curious, I focused on the skill wanting to see a description.

{Self heal lvl—1, instantly restore 25% health, cost 1500 MP, cooldown 24 hours.}

"Wow!" When I was going to speak more, Amy waves at me to continue. Closing my mouth, I turned my attention to Perfect evasion.

{Perfect evasion lvl—1, instantly dodge a single attack cooldown 1 hour}

"Neat, I am guessing Perfect evasion is what you got for reaching 30 points in Dex... But I have never heard of a Knight class getting a Self-heal except paladin. Also, where did you get the extra thousand HP?"

Amy pulled her cloak around herself. "This cloak gives 1000 HP and 10% boost to health regen. Your pretty princess tiara does the same. I checked a few minutes ago. So, let's see yours now." She says as she puts my tiara on my head.

Oh! Right," I say, just as excited as Amy. Then I pull up my status, sharing it with Amy.

Name — Nalle Eversong

Class — Elementalist

HP — 3,000 MP — 8,600

Str — 20 Dex — 20

Int — 86 Cha — 20

Wis — 25 Luc — 20

HP regen — 2 + (0.4)

MP regen — 17.2 + (3.44)

System skills — Fireball, lvl-3. Freeze, lvl-2. Earth spike, lvl-1.

Learned skills — Ice wall.

I sat frozen, staring at the words learned skills. "Why did I not figure this out if warrior classes can learn skills? Why wouldn't a mage class be able to learn spells?" Turning to stare at Amy, I say, "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Didn't they say anything in the academy?"

"No! they just told us the system generates the spells best suited to us," I complain.

Suddenly there is clapping at the door, and our parents walk in grinning. "They don't teach that because we want our young mages to think for themselves if it makes you feel better, you're far ahead of most of your peers," Father explained.

Although we could hear Mother complaining. "Not like you didn't give her enough hints."

Father laughed, "anyway, your ice wall is your freeze spell, with more mana pumped in. Directed into a wall form instead of a frozen aura. I don't think you can make an ice tornado or something similar from first-tier spells. Think long and hard before making sub spells for fire and earth, as you can only have one each till you ascend at lvl 100."

After that long speech, he turned around and left, saying he needed to get to the guild.

Mother turned back to us, frowning, "are you going to stay in bed all day, Nalle? Charlotte arrived an hour ago and already ate breakfast and is now messing around in your training room." She then turned to leave as well.

"Wait! Why did Amy get a healing skill?"

Mother just shrugged, "no idea. Ask the system?" With those parting words, she continued, shutting the door behind her.

Roughly an hour later, Charlotte, Amy, and I walked up to the guildhall to be blocked by a crowd gathered outside.

I quickly sidestepped behind Charlotte, who pushed her way forward, trying to see what is happening. Arriving at the front, I squeezed ahead between Amy and her, looking at the problem.

An older man is guiding a group carrying a stretcher down the steps toward us. On the stretcher, I recognized the young man from my years at the academy. His name is Glenn Warten, a child of one of the old noble families that live in Khuzdul.

Seeing him in such a mess, with an arm missing and covered head to toe in blood, I was unsure how to feel.

Amy, however, had no qualms, stating as a matter of fact. "The toad got what he deserved. If you ask me, I saw him beating a little boy nearly to death awhile back, just for brushing up against him in a crowded street."

I nod slightly before adding, "I was with him in the academy. He makes Katlyn seem kind and generous."

Charlotte scowled toward the boy "he had me thrown out of a gathering awhile back because my great grandmother is a high elf. Although some good came of that. The Reinhart family won't sell to or buy from their house anymore. Also, the young adults don't have to attend their parties or even pretend to be cordial to them anymore."

After a small pause and a derisive laugh Charlotte continued. "that surprised them they didn't think insulting me would upset the main branch. If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't have cared."

I turned and looked at her. "So that's why you're so tall."

Charlotte turned to me with a raised brow, "I'm not that tall. You're both just short."

I looked around at the crown skeptically; "I don't see any other human girls over six feet tall nearby."

With a huff, she pointed at an orc woman. "See, she is at least eight feet tall." This exclamation got everyone nearby, even the orc woman, to laugh good-naturedly. The orc lady even reached over several heads to pat Charlotte's shoulder.

Turning back to the scene because we heard the older man telling Father and Uncle Marcus. "I will see you both removed from your position, and we shall hand this guild over to people better equipped to handle things."

"Oh, like who?" Said Father casually. "Lord Therlion himself gave this position to me. So what can you do?... I suppose you could take this to Lord Darnath. However, he is away checking into rumors regarding the Brewster family harboring invaders from another world."

When the old man heard this, he paled noticeably, and the boy on the stretcher twitched. Causing a smile to appear on Father and Marcus's face.

Marcus stepped forward, "complaining about injuries and deaths inside the dungeon is pointless everyone that goes inside knows the risk."

The old man sneered; however, he quickly guided the stretcher away, no doubt, to warn the other nobles of Darnath's whereabouts.

After the crowd dispersed, we walked up to Uncle Marcus since he was waiting and asked. "What was that about, and did they really lose an entire party in the dungeon?"

At the same time, Amy asked, "what floor were they on. Did he sacrifice his friends to escape?"

Uncle Marcus frowned at Amy. "That's not really your business, but a single mistake can cost yours and the rest of your party's death."

Then turning to me. "From what we could discern from the boys' rambling, a wandering boss surprised them on the fifteenth floor. Stupid brats, they had no business being that deep. That kid that survived barely graduated from the academy a couple of weeks ago."

The orc lady who had been behind us remarked, although slightly muffled from her tusks. "Marcus, it is rare for an entire team to fall, especially before the fiftieth floor. Perhaps an investigation is in order, hmm?"

"Carly, I figured you would go back to The Crag with your husband and the rest of the team." Said Marcus surprised.

"Aye, I am leaving in an hour to head back, but I came to the guild to put up a notice on the board. Hiring anyone interested in coming to The Crag to help with the intruders."

While Carly was distracting Marcus, we snuck off before continuing his lecture, giving Carly a thumbs up as we went, getting a wink in return.

When we entered the fourth floor, before we sat down to meditate, I asked. "So, what does your fancy bow do?"

Charlotte grinned. "I can shoot my elemental arrows without having to wait for the mana to build up. It is almost instantaneous. However, Dad recommended pushing more mana into each arrow for more power instead of a barrage of weaker arrows."

"How much longer before your level 10 like us," Amy asks.

"My rogue class hit level 7, and Arcane Archer reached 5 yesterday. Sorry, the system splits my exp between the two. unless I use a single class in battle leveling takes longer."

"That's fine, but let's focus on rogue today. We need their abilities to spot traps more than the ranged for now," said Amy.

Getting into meditative positions, we quiet down. Although I feel okay with the extra essence, I Can tell Charlotte is having more trouble with it. When I thought they were both in a trance, I looked up only to find Amy glaring at me. With my ears slightly pink, I quickly started properly meditating. I swear she can read my mind sometimes.

Fifteen minutes later, I heard coughing. Besides me turning to look, I see Charlotte's breath wheezing, trying to sit up from where she collapsed.

I pulled one of her arms around my shoulders while Amy did the other, and we helped get Charlotte on her feet. We quickly drag her to the exit and push her through, jumping in right after.

When I pass through, we spot Charlotte off to the side, sitting up. She seemed to breathe normally now. "Are you alright?" I ask while Amy steps up next to her, helping her to stand.

Charlotte waves at us to wait for a second as she catches her breath. "Sorry, I thought I could handle it. The third floor felt heavy, but I could still breathe."

Amy studies her, contemplating something before asking. "Don't you get bonus stats for leveling' Arcane Archer?"

Blinking in confusion for a second, Charlotte replies. "No, I only get stats for leveling my main class rogue."

Pursing my lips, I ask, "What about your mother? Does she get stats for her subclass? I should ask Mother about this. I never even thought about it till now."

A voice behind us says, "When we max a class at level 100, the system assigns a second class that fits how you trained in your main. However, Charlotte's second class is a glitch so to keep her from becoming too powerful. She can't get extra stats for leveling it. Now, if Arcane Archer becomes her main's subclass during her first ascension, all the levels she gained will then award her the stat points. that is unlikely as rogue skills require a short blade, not a bow to use."

As the person gave the impromptu lecture, we had spun around to face the intruder. Nearly frightened to death, only to find a grinning orc sitting on a chair in the corner.

Amy walks forward nervously, "who are you? This room is supposed to be off-limits."

The orc stands up, laughing; He is nearly nine feet tall. "I am a member of Marcus's dive team. He asked me to wait here in case, and I am quoting. 'Those brats go too deep and end up with essence poisoning.'"

Then with a wink, he says, "go back a floor. I'll pretend I never saw you. This was an excellent lesson. Later on, the increase is extreme enough to crush level 100's easily."

With a cheerful grin, Amy and Charlotte walk up to him and say, "thanks, Mr.?"

"Call me, Cork. That's what everyone calls me."

"Thanks, Mr. Cork," then they held out hands to shake. With a chuckle, Cork grabs a forearm and gives a slight shake. Afterward, I walk up and do the same, and we turn around and head back into the dungeon, thinking of the third floor.

It took three runs to get Charlotte to level 10, and Amy and I each gained one ourselves. Tired but cheerful, we split up going home, planning to try the fourth again tomorrow.