I trade blows with the pack. I can kill them faster than they can kill me. My pack is creating mayhem for these poor wolves.

Duchess can spam her abilities since discretion no longer matters. The rest of us being in the way is the only limitation on her nuking the entire pack.

Khan’s swarm has grown and causes chaos amongst the wolves, flashes of lightning and blood spray out from amongst the carnage.

A few wolves try to bring Duchess down with their amorphous shadows. I hurl Flash Gordon at the wolves that decide the threats on the ground are not enough to pay attention to. Duchess can continue to rain havoc unimpeded.

Unfortunately, Rob has the most challenging time. His infinite [Bone Shots] are quite a deterrent, but since there are so many wolves when he focuses on one, another attacks from behind. He hasn't needed to reassemble yet, so he is definitely improving from his other fights.

A wolf jumps and ricochets off of a conjured shadow towards Rob. He flings dirt with his shovel, showering the airborne wolf’s eyes with debris. He rolls under his blind foe as he blasts the wolf right in the ass with a belligerent amount of [Boneshots].

The wolves can barely hit me when [Bolster Resistance] is active. I meander through the crowd, cracking skulls and breaking the jaws of those that attack me.

The wolves stare at me with greed, they know I have the precious sap they are hungry for, and they would do anything to get more of it.

I would have been attacked by all 50 if my beasts didn’t pose such a threat.

*BOOM*

Lightning strikes the dead tree, splintering what's left across the battlefield. The constant rain is annoying, but I just keep smashing wolves until none of them remain.

~

It took an annoyingly long time for the whole wolf pack to die. They took a few hits to be taken down for good, but whenever I focused on the one in front of me, another would bite the back of my neck. A few times, the wolf didn’t expect their attacks to hurt back, so I used the brief distraction to counterattack and finish one of them off.

The rain has trouble washing the blood off my body, the majority of the blood is mine. My metal prosthetic is heavy damage, same with the rest of my body. I am not the only one in such a sorry state.

Half of Khan’s swarm died. We learned that Khan can distribute damage equally, or just to one body perishes. His stats decrease temporarily, reflecting the state of the hive. I feared he would lose levels when a body died, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

My reckless plan of taking on the wolves would not have worked if they weren't [Shadow Wolves]. In a head-on fight, the [Shadow Wolves] are probably the weakest wolves for their rank.

We are almost all at level 50. I decided to grind the remaining levels after a short rest. I spent the 2nd to last day in the fracture running around with my beasts, belligerently killing dogs until I reached my goal.

[Level Up!]

[Class Change Available:

The classes below are chosen based on the User’s actions.]

Rock Master C

Bone Master C

Unique Master C

Master of Pain C

Master of Insanity C

???

What is this choice? They are all the same rank, but the last two sound really weird…

I will investigate further.

[Rock Master C

A Rock Master is a utility-type class that utilizes rocks as its servants. These specialized tamers can only have specific creatures subjugated under them, but their servants gain great bonuses.]

[Bone Master C

A Bone Master is a utility-type class that utilizes creatures made of bone as their servants. These specialized tamers can only have specific undead subjugated under them, but their servants gain great bonuses.]

[Unique Master C

A Unique Master is a utility-type class that utilizes strange and unusual creatures. These specialized tamers can only have specific beings subjugated under them, but their servants gain great bonuses.]

[Master of Pain C

A Master of Pain is a warrior-type class that inflicts great pain. These warriors are notorious for torturing not only their foes but also themselves. They excel at creating devastating wounds and breaking wills.]

[Master of Insanity C

A Master of Insanity is a mage-type class that utilizes the power of the $&@*$. They use their madness as a catalyst to bring forth stopgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout. They also have mind magic.]

I quickly close the system after reading the last available class. Cold sweats form over my body as the memory of the void resurfaces. I carefully reopen the system window, and nothing happens.

I instantly disregard the last two classes. Besides the obvious red flags, they are not tamer classes. I don't want to risk losing any of my little buddies. For that same reason, the first two are problematic.

If Flash Gordon was my only companion, I would pick [Rock Master] in a heartbeat. But I can't abandon the others. I think Flash Gordon also got attached to their presence. Strangely Rob’s influence caused a class to appear once again. Will I get snake-themed class advancements in the future, or is Rob as impressive as Flash Gordon.

The only obvious choice is left, but I am still hesitant. What dictates "strange or unusual" in regards to creatures? In the grand scheme of life, everything is weird and unusual. We just create our sense of normality and shape our personal universe to those confines. Nothing is the standard, just the most popular. Even among the same races, common sense and culture differ violently depending on what people see as “normal.”

Are my beasts considered “special” enough for the system?

Khan's race is a species that has multiple bodies and is exiled by higher powers to the void. Is that strange enough?

It is unknown if Duchess is the first of her kind, but there have been no known records of the weakest snake with the ability to rule and learn magic and evolve. Is she strange enough?

Rob is an immortal unageing monster that feels no pain or exhaustion. A skeleton is a common undead, but is he?

And Flash Gordon is Flash Gordon.

Confidence fills me as I know this class won't alienate any of my tamed beasts. It will only limit the ones I get in the future, but I wouldn’t want “normal” beasts anyways. I selected this class with gusto.

[Class Change to Unique Master C

Tame at least three beasts with rare traits: Completed.

Level Servitude C to level 5: 1/5

Memorize a minimum of 10,000 different species of tamed beasts and their habits: Not Completed]

Hmm. The change requirements are typical for a tamer-based class. The only problem is leveling my skill. It hasn’t grown since I got it 25 levels ago, and that leads me to think I need to evolve all four of my tamed beasts to max the skill. The knowledge-seeking one is easy compared to that.

I probably know more than 10,000 beasts by name. I just need to review notable habits unique to that creature.

I feel relieved that my beasts and I reached level 50 with a day to spare.

I head towards the exit, twiddling the ring on my finger.

~

I stretch as I leave the ever-dark forest. Spending almost a week in a fracture took a toll on me. So far, it was the longest time I've been out in the wilderness, And I'm ready to reenter civilization.

I leave the fracture room and am met with a bunch of people lining up-and-down the hallway. A FIB agent speaks as I look around in confusion.

"Move along, kid. People are waiting to use the fracture after you. I don't know who you had to bribe to get alone time for an entire week."

I just walk off and search for Nelson. I didn't know that these fractures were open to the public? I don't see any Guild emblems, so these must be guildless raiders trying to get into the fractures. I wanted to call Nelson, but my phone is out of battery.

I walk through the hallways caked in mud and blood. I am still dripping wet as no one pays attention to me. People’s gazes sometimes linger on one of my tamed beasts, but they hurry back to what they were doing.

~

Nelson has his office door slightly ajar. I see him inside, tending to a massive stack of paperwork. I knocked on his open door and walked in.

“What do you want now?” Nelson says without looking up

“Were you expecting someone else?”

He looks up, first with shock, then with confusion.

“Ellis, welcome back. What happened. I thought you planned to stay in the fracture for a week.”

“Nelson, it has been a week barring a single day. Have you been getting sleep? Why is the bureau so hectic? “

He sighs a puts down his pen. He starts to rub the bridge of his nose as he leans back in his chair. “Have a seat. It's a long story. You should also call your family after this.”

I sit down. “I can’t. My phone has no charge.”

“You can use my phone.” He sits up and starts to speak in a serious tone. “Do you know about Cici?”

“The little robot holding my money?”

“Yes. because of that little shit, I am forced to do paperwork until my eyes bleed.” Nelson stares up in anguish.

“How exactly?”

He looked back at me and narrated what happened when I left.