Chapter 436

James breathed in a deep breath and looked back at Rue and Steve. He’d been hoping he could put off applying the level 20 upgrade, until the two had made their characters. Now though, it seemed he would have to fully commit before they could craft their player characters.

“You already know what you should do.” Rue said with a grin, and Steve’s eyes shown with amusement. James had been debating it, but he’d not really been certain if he’d go this route. Especially considering all the chaos that was his dungeon already. But, he’d gotten this far off of random bullshit, and knew, without a doubt, that random was the only option he could go with.

“Might as well go full dumpster donut.” Steve said, making James question the developers sanity. Figuring it was some random joke, James ignored him, but did what he figured Steve was meaning to do. Without another second of hesitation, James selected the random option, for his class upgrade, and prayed, to the Goddess of Luck, or Rue, or both, that it turned out well.

James watched with bated breath as his character’s avatar once again disappeared. A second later, it reappeared, though clothed in a completely different manner than before. Gone was the black cloak baring his chest. In its place, the character had a set of chains across his chest, that seemed to glow with a strange light. The character avatar was also wearing baggy looking cloth pants, with heavy duty boots underneath. It’s hands, which previously held a staff, were now empty, though at his characters side, a chain like whip rested.

James looked at the class information, curiosity overwhelming him.

“Djinn Tamer?” James said, glancing at Steve questioningly. He’d never heard of the class before.

“Oh, that’s a good one.” Steve responding, the developer moving closer to James, his eyes looking the avatar up and down.

“It’s still a pet class, right?” James pushed. Knowing DCO, he was worried it would be something completely ridiculous.

“Pretty much.” Steve said with a nod. “It’s what you get if you mix a warlock with a pet class that’s already a secret pass class. Considering how few people play pet classes, and how fewer still would normally risk losing their unique pet class, by gambling with an unknown upgrade option or different class type, it’s pretty rare. Seriously, your luck, is ridiculous.”

James looked back at Rue and offered her a smile. “Well, it helps that I’m dating the Goddess of Luck.”

Rue grinned at him, and James looked back at his Avatar. “What makes a Djinn Tamer unique? I’d been looking forward to training up a demon and evolving it as a warlock.” He really had. And before he even got to try it out, it was taken from him. Damnit.

“At its core, it’s still like a warlock.” Steve began. “You’re summoned pet will gain experience alongside you, and you will gain mostly skills used to help buff it and such. And, just like with our warlock class, if your pet dies before it reaches its required levels for its evolution, you get to start back at 0.” James winced at that. He’d known it was a thing for warlocks, but had figured if he played it safe, he could easily power level up his pet to the appropriate level. This, Djinn Tamer though, was an unknown.

“Are there different types of Djinn?” James asked.

“Plenty,” Steve said with a nod. “You’ll start off by picking a dps, healer, or tank type Djinn, as well as an elemental type. From there, you’ll summon your companion. Unlike the demonic pets a warlock can choose from, the Djinn summons are more intelligent, and can evolve into forms that gain unique abilities all their own.”

“Well that’s cool.”

“But,” Steve continued, his eyebrows raising at James’s comment. “Because they’re more intelligent, they tend to be, unruly. They can, and sometimes will, disobey orders. Especially if they don’t like you. Each Djinn comes with its own personality, and its up to the Djinn Tamer to deal with them and help them grow. Depending on your relationship with them, as well as their main focuses, how they fight, and all that jazz, their evolutions can be extremely, varied. In essence,” Steve’s smile grew, “they’re completely random.”

James groaned. Of course, they were.

“Are there any hints you can give me, regarding what types of Djinn are best?” It was a longshot…but Steve was a developer for the game.

“Totally.”

“But, you’re not going to ruin your fun.” James said what he figured Steve was planning to.

“Yup. You wanted the full on DCO experience. You’re going to get it buddy. Figure it out on your own, test things out, and grow. Embrace the player lifestyle man.”

Steve had a point. Part of the fun of starting any brand-new game, was learning all the secrets and special things developers had hidden within the games. Sure, James would take to reddit from time to time if there was a certain thing he was trying to search for, to save time, but for the most part, the unknown, and discover as he played, was one of the main thrills in games. And, as things stood, James could afford to learn as he went. After all, he didn’t need to rush or grind anything out for economy purposes. And, whatever he did with this character, it was purely for fun. His actual role, after all, was Dungeon Core. Meaning Nyx, the Djinn Tamer, was just his way of blowing off steam.

James liked that thought, and he closed out of his avatar creation option, stepping away from the podium as he did. He’d made his character, now it was Rue and Steve’s turn. Then, they could finally step into his instance of DCO, stand before the entrance to his first floor, and begin for their first ever dungeon dive. James could hardly wait.

“Just a heads up,” James said as Steve motioned for Rue to make her character. It seemed the developer was going to make his last. Something James appreciated. He knew Steve wanted to make a character just as badly as Rue and James, but the developer was giving them the option to make their characters their way, first. It was a little thing, but James appreciated it.

“What is it?” Rue asked, her eyes already scanning options.

“I’m not planning to make a tank pet. So, uh, we’re going to need a healer, and a tank.”

Rue flashed him a smile that made his heart sink. He knew her too well. That smile was trouble.

“Oh, I’ll be healer.” Her eyes twinkled with devious intent. “But you’re going to have to beg for these heals.”

Yup. He’d known that was coming. Adventuring with these two, at the very least, was going to be…an adventure. Rue on a healing power trip aside, he couldn’t wait to begin. And he’d be lying if he wasn’t interested in seeing just what type of healer Rue was, and what type of tank Steve became. Though, a part of him also knew, his adventuring times with them were going to be…unorthodox, to say the least. And, if he were being honest with himself, he wouldn’t have it any other way.