Another arachnid lair was cleared. It was the fifth one and again the number of spiders and their level increased. Bones stood in the middle of the lair, wholly covered with the blood of the spiders. Dozens of corpses laid around him and quite a few with the mana stones within them. It’s been…well, he lost track of how long it's been since his class advancement. He was deep within the spider's territory and started encountering spider lairs ever since yesterday.

Spiders in the lair were faster, tougher and overall stronger. In the first lair the spiders were around level 25 and today, they were between level 26 and level 27. There were different variants of spiders too. Among them, an Elite Jumping Arachnid stuck out. Apart from having an Elite tag, it didn’t look to be much different from the first jumping spiders he encountered in the dungeon, but their strength was worlds apart. Bones was sure that a party of them could kill the Common Green Viper, a miniboss.

The zone he was in right now had fog covering the ground, giving perfect cover for ambushing spiders. If it wasn’t for his senses detecting their movements in the fog, Bones felt he would’ve had to cut his time in the dungeon short! They were relentless in their attacks.

Bones had to admit that the rate he was gaining experience in, far surpassed anything until now. He was close to gaining a new level in the race and already close to getting one in his new Adept class! Steeling himself, he continued onward in search of more lairs.

Fighting in the jungle with barely any sun rays reaching through made it hard to notice what time of the day it was. Before Bones noticed, the sun had fallen and the night descended again.

The rustling of leaves, twigs cracking and screeching sounds added to the cacophony of the spooky night. Monsters were frenzied and moved freely within their zones. It was going to be a long night and Bones found himself taking more short breaks between the fights. His coat had suffered much from all the attempts to bite him. More often than not, spiders pinching attacks pierced through his reinforced coat. The same could be said for the rest of his gear. Full of holes and gashes and not enough time to self-repair. I definitely need to take a longer break after I clear this area…The one thing that took the most beating was his golem cat, which was now completely broken and beyond repair.

Bones fought throughout the night and cleared the lair within the zone. When he did so, the fog rapidly dissipated in the ground and the area looked like any other part of the jungle. Fog, web and spider free. Bones took it as an appropriate time to take a well deserved rest. He needed one right now because he got his race to level 20 sometime in the middle of the night and his class to level 27 just now at the end of the fight. Hm…there was a bonus experience calculated after the end of the fight. I was close, but not close enough to level up.

It made sense actually, to get more experience after the fight. Otherwise, what’s to stop the users from engaging and disengaging, without actually finishing the fight? Bones took out a dozen of long, thick bones he had a hard time shaping, and made a wall of bones around himself to act as a defensive barrier.. He waited for a few seconds but nothing happened. No skill for that one huh? He sat down, cross-legged like he usually did and brought up the notifications. After going through the numerous combat experience logs, he reached the racial one.

ding

Level up!

Congratulation, you are now level 20

+1 STR, +2 VIT, +2 INT

You have learned a new skill: Extreme Misanthrope

“Misan…what?” He murmured questioningly having never heard of the word before.

Extreme Misanthrope [passive] - As an undead, you hold a natural contempt and aggression toward the living. In the course of your actions until now, you have proven extreme violent tendencies, a general hatred, distrust and contempt of the human species. You have selected humans as your natural enemy and any action taken against them will result in increased experience gained. You have an increased effect of mind, control and soul abilities on humans but beware that the feeling is mutual. Humans will feel uncomfort and unease in close proximity around you within a period of time and may even take hostile actions against you.

The effect of Misanthrope is increased per level in skill

“Uh, oh…common, I’m not…” Bones didn’t know how to feel about the new skill. A natural trait of the undead was hatred towards the living but, deep down, he was a human to the core …no? Was it the act of killing the humans that resulted in a skill or was it because he was an undead and the natural course would eventually lead him against humanity? I mean, people kill each other all the time! It must be just another undead thing. Right?

Regardless, he got the skill. He didn't know what to expect from the racial skills in the future or advancement for that matter, but he didn't like how they might be affecting him. He received another boost to his stats and focused on the new level in the class and a free point he was rewarded with it. It was a no brainer as he placed his free point further into WIS, boosting his mana regeneration slightly. With gains from the level ups done, he turned focus toward the last notification. A prompt to be exact and his demeanor turned serious.

New classes available: 8

Among the previously listed classes available to him, there was one change. A new Soul Weaver class was added to the pool of second classes he could learn. He read the description of the two soul classes and compared them. Both were rather similar in nature but one was focused more on soul attacks while the other on soul manipulation.

*sigh*

It was a difficult decision. Even harder than the first time he had to choose a class. No good. I can't think straight like this. Too many thoughts and too many complications are clouding my judgment. I need to calm down, remove the unnecessary and leave only what I really need! And what I really need right now is a drink…

With the next course of action decided, Bones took out a set of ten small vials of mana potion and started drinking! Within the hour he felt the burn. Aaahh, that hit the spot… Why am I like this? "Anyway let's get this over and done with!"

Do you wish to accept-

Yes/No

You have chosen a class: Soul Weaver

Congratulation on choosing your 2nd class

Achievement unlocked: Dual Classes

"Aaaand it's done!"

"It. Is. Done! I have taken up a second class..."

God I hope I didn't screw myself over!

Soul Weaver - a variant class focused on the control and manipulation of souls. While Weavers have means to attack, they prefer to use the manipulation of the weak minded to gain insight into their soul, bend it to their will and even turn them into the casters' minions. Further mastery of soul unlocks more demanding soul abilities.

Warning: Danger of backlash if the user's soul isn't strong enough. Be warned, for dabbling in the matters of the soul could be one's undoing.

Recommended attribute distribution WIS or VIT

"Great, it has everything down to an ominous warning!" If my guess is correct, there'll be an opportunity to create something more than just a simple golem…Also, I have a suspicion I'm going to need to strengthen my soul in the near future with defenses against soul attacks. I don't know what Silva was playing at but he seemed to have an insight into soul abilities even higher than my own! Bones snorted and looked around. His wall of bones was still there and it was still eerily quiet, but he knew at least a few hours had passed. "Meditation is such a time tease."

Before he could rant any further a familiar feeling came over him. A part of him, lost to time and now found again and just like with a Bonemancer class, his first skill was designated automatically. Correction, his first two skills!

You have learned a new skill: Soul Gaze

…

"Wasn’t that what I did to freeze the Viper? That's just lazy writing right there!" I guess it was a form of manipulation but at the same time, it was a direct attack to the monster's soul?! As for the other skill?

Soul Mastery - The mastery provides a better understanding of soul abilities and increases the proficiency in using them. Over time and when leveling an associated class, the user's soul will be strengthened against the invading mind and soul attacks.

It seemed pretty straightforward and the increase in understanding and proficiency is similar to the Golem Mastery.

After he emptied the majority of his mana potions, Bones stood up and inspected himself all over. His gear wasn't in top condition but it mostly self-repaired. They should last at least until the end of the dungeon…I hope.

The rest of the day and the next day Bones spent grinding levels in his new class. He wasn't able to do anything else but use Soul Gaze in his new class, so it took time to reach level 5 and get a new skill - Soul Link. The skill seemed to have a variety of applications he could use on his minions, but it's main purpose seemed to be manipulation and control over his target. Bones didn’t question the morality of what this new skill entailed. That ship had sailed even before the system.

Soul Link - An ability to make a connection with the target’s soul. If made possible, the link with minions will buff minions attributes and the user could, through a soul link, sense and see what its target could see. With greater mastery, even controlling minions from a certain distance was possible. Link with weak minded targets allows the user to sense and control their intent and even manipulate their thoughts.

Warning: Success of Soul Link depends on the strength of the caster's soul and the levels in soul mastery.

High chance of failure against targets with sensitive and powerful souls. Low chance of a backlash after failing to establish soul link.

After entering a new area, Bones created a new golem with simple programming to test Soul Link on. It failed before it did anything as there was nothing solid to link to. The nucleus he created apparently, wasn't considered a suitable replacement for a soul. He dismissed the idea of trying again and focused on something more important at the moment, leveling his new class!

He sneaked to the entrance of the spider lair and spotted a couple of spiders acting as guards to the lair’s entrance. Bones paused and after making sure he wasn’t noticed, focused on the nearest of the two spiders.

After a moment of concentration, he established a soul-to-soul link with the spider. From what he understood, with the soul link established, he should be able to understand the thoughts of the linked target. Not just thoughts, but intent and even control his target to an extent if the link was strong enough.

The established link told him that the spider didn't have any thoughts, only intent and its intent was to devour. To eat and satisfy the never-ending hunger. Maybe it doesn't work well on dungeon monsters? Bones thought.

Next, he tried to take control over the monster. If he succeeded, it would make for an interesting fight. Alas, the best he did was to stop the spider from moving and remain idle in place. Once the control was lost and the link cut off, the spider screeched, alerting not just its buddy on guard duty, but the nearby spiders as well. They turned in Bones' general direction and rushed him at once. Did they spot me? Crap, they did.

Bones readied his lance and waited for the experience to come to him! The first spider was already leaping toward him when he used Soul Gaze on it. The spider harmlessly flew by and crashed into a tree. Bones snorted and with a swift and precise thrust of his lance, pierced its head. He did the same with the rest, his new skill proving to be quite effective against the thoughtless spiders.

The lair was the same as any other he found so far. A giant dome made of thick and dense walls of roots and vines covered in webs with an entrance wide enough for him to crawl into. If he was still alive, he would, without a second thought, say “thank you, no thank you”, and leave this place. It’s one thing to hunt monsters, even hunt humans, but this setting is just…something out of a nightmare. And this damn fog…