Time to get going and to consider getting my class the next time I have time to do so I guess. His worry about the shaking world around him was dampened by the new title he had gained just now, but he didn’t spend the attention to properly read it. It could wait.

As the world around Kent began to crumble, he searched his way out. Something he should have considered beforehand. There was no gate opening in front of him, no notification telling him to seek the exit or where one might be located.

Ok, this was a bad idea. But at least he carried all of his belongings with him he conceded.

This could mean two things, either being royally screwed or that there was no need for an exit. And while the second thought was comforting Kent wasn’t planning on being squished or torn apart in the dungeon by inaction. Especially not after suffering through at least a week of being jailed within a dungeon with literally chunks of the outside visible through the shedding membrane.

The compressed space on the edge of the dungeon was more than just breaking apart. It was starting to show individual glimmers of sunlight and flora from the outside. That it was day was a relief to Kent. He wasn’t sure how he would have reacted to another night of having to fight monsters without filling his stomach first. At least he had been prepared for that eventuality and waited until his mana was full.

Thankfully there is light at the end of the tunnel – Kent joked internally as the light level radiating from the walls grew steadily.

What started out of small bands, strings, and points of optically permeable dungeon fabric grew, broke apart, and fluctuated, but there were patterns.

He first noticed that it wasn’t just see-through now, but fully permeable when a gust of wind streaked across his face.

He kept observing the tearing dungeon fabric. There were no abrupt changes he could detect, sure some of the patches moved quickly, and others were slow, but there was a regularity to it.

Each of the tears moved independently to a unique rhythm.

One of the openings he had observed was drifting towards the ground level and was currently expanding.

Deeming it prudent to not wait for the dungeon to fall apart he sprinted towards the expanding opening in the dungeon's fabric and vaulted through. Sunlight of a greater brightness than anything he had experienced recently almost blinded him through the light shrubbery. The sun was straight up, and the chilly nature of the cool dungeon was replaced with the warmth of the middle of day.

And the wetness of the puddle he landed in.

He pushed himself out of the water immediately and before drying himself out inspected his surroundings, looking for threats and at the dungeon itself.

Beside him, the pillar of light he had just escaped from, slowly tore itself apart. Individual crystalline fragments drifting away on non-perceptible wind and broke apart further. Whatever was going on was ere, beautiful, and a crime scene in the eyes of and noble that had a right to the land. It would be best to get away as soon as possible. He only had to figure out the correct way back to the road.

The worry of monsters around him forgotten Kent began looking around the clearing to find where he had disturbed the area days ago.

It didn’t take long to gain a sense of orientation. The place where the monstrous turrl had charged at him was still observable by a few trees had were shattered, seemingly having left the land of the living, laying broken and slowly decomposing on the ground. He decided to just straight up follow that direction. He was hungry and wanted to get into some sort of bed as fast as possible. To take reprieve from all the stress he had experienced. To gather himself and figure out how to proceed.

Idly, he wondered where the large turrl was hiding now. Curiously, he wasn’t nearly as worried about it as he had been days ago.

He wouldn’t run straight to the next town or settlement, remembering how he had supposedly been identified as an ‘exile’ but maybe he could find some other way of getting into civilization, and maybe loose the exile status.

He remembered something the two conquerors had mentioned.

They had offered refuge until he gained his trait, which he would obviously never do. With it being his only current lifeline, it would be prudent to at least inquire further about the offer. Though how he would go about doing so was up in the stars for now. He would have to make plans on the road and consider this entire dilemma in due time. Just like he would have to consider taking a class sooner or later.

What he could do was walk back to the road and consider things. The trees and shrubbery there would offer a bit of sustenance, but he would have to find a better alternative than that in the near future.

As he began walking he checked the title he had gained.

Scalpel of Escalating Confluences – due to being unevolved and completing an uncharted dungeon on your own.

Increases effectiveness of magic, willpower, and Regeneration by 30%. Unlocks the Dungeoneer skill tree. Dungeoneer skill tree not available due to Combatant title.

It was an odd one to say the least. The boni were strong. On the level of his Luminary of Metal title, but it gave nothing else.

Where he had appreciated his Combatant title and the plethora of trees it offered him, he wasn’t so sure anymore. What would a skill tree akin Metallic Insight offer?

***

Kent had stridden through the forest for far longer than what he conceived the previous trip to have taken. As he got closer to the road the reason for that became a lot clearer too. Instead of walking towards the road head-on, he had been walking at a lower angle than previously anticipated. In the end it didn’t matter much, and he even welcomed the delay. On his trip he had found a wild birin-tree that carried a multitude of ripe fruits with which he had gorged himself on.

A few of the oval, light green fruits had gotten plucked of the tree and stored in the knapsack once he had filled his appetite and soon, he was on his way again.

Though his stomach was more turmultious than before eating he felt better. Despite his initial intentions of slowly adjusting back to food after having starved for at least three days, he had been too delighted by the delicate sweet flavor of the fruit.

And as things stood his stomach wasn’t protesting.

With sustenance partially secured his time on the road also drastically increased from what he had expected. When he spotted ripe nuts to the side of the road, he still gathered the ones he could see, but he didn’t go all out on finding more.

As he passed the curve, on which he had circumvented other travelers, he sighed. He realized the extent of the detour he had taken back to the road, expected as much, but confirming that he had lost several hours was annoying regardless.

That didn’t really hamper his mood, because his current speed was a good pace up from what he had been capable before the dungeon. His footfall increased in frequency and his stride in length was enough to drive him across the road with a pace atypical of people focused on the magical aspects of the system.

At least mages of his level weren’t.

***

In the last day he had traveled along the connecting road from Reinsteel to Farburg. The first surprise was that he passed one of the two villages between the two towns. Instead of passing through it, he sped around it, through some of the fields and orchards around it. Liberating a few more fruits along the way.

The boredom of traveling on the road naturally lead to experimentation.

Most of the results were a mixed bag.

Turned out, that flight – something he hypothesized based on the description of Accelerate Metal – wasn’t really an option as things were right now. And with his limited mana it was kind of dangerous to experiment for longer than a minute without losing all of his potential combat ability when night would come around.

Of course, he could have stayed in the village’s zone, but that would have most likely attracted unwanted attention and Kent had no illusions about being able to fight a traited over level twenty head on. And basically everyone above thirty odd years of age was of that level, even without combat experience.

It was also one of the reasons why he was experimenting with his skill. Holding two daggers in his hand, he had been able to increase the distance and time each of his steps took by a respective factor of around ten and four – in his estimation. But apparently the laws which governed the skill weren’t strong enough yet to support his full weight.

At low speeds that was almost practical – if one ignored the atrocious mana cost. But as soon as he started sprinting, he was basically guaranteed to land face first after just two steps. The mobility offered by the nifty use of magic was costly. No doubt, that would change with due time, but for now it wasn’t a valid option. It also showed that maybe he would put a priority on gaining the Mana Core skill.

With evening approaching Kent decided to take a nap in the trees. Regenerating some of his mana and stamina before nightfall would be infinitely helpful during the night. Though most of the couple monsters here wouldn’t pose a threat based on previous encounters.

With his nap concluded and his vitals up by a solid margin he only had monster encounters left before he would decide on a class.

This being the first time he had slept with the Avowal of the Tranquil Pond proved fascinating. He didn’t feel like he was sleeping at all. His body and mind rested. Yet, it wasn’t the dark emptiness that usually came with sleep. He observed sounds all around him, the rustling of wind, the steps of a few people on the road.

But the most important factor had been that Metallic Presence had not woken him even once. He received the sensory input but was able to digest it – though rather slowly – without returning to the waking world. The experience had been surreal. It was like he was asleep always until something happened.

And the unpleasant sounds of monsters happened once the sun dawned on the kingdom of Issar.

When a turrl was scrabbling up the tree he heard as much. He realized what it was within moments and was able to wake up without the usual downsides of awaking from deep slumber.

He wasn’t more awake than he would usually be after a couple of hours of rest, just more ready. That’s what more efficient sleep must have meant he gathered.

After dispatching of the first turrl quite easily he relaxed again. Their tactics were what he had gotten used to in the dungeon and there he had killed hundreds.

The other monsters, scramblers and drop-pigs posed no threat, not being able to reach into the trees, that didn’t wasn’t the reason why he constantly assaulted them with Penetrating daggers flying down from up above, that was just out of boredom. But that admittedly didn’t do much, the daggers not having enough time to build up speed since he was only a few times his height of the ground.

It was good training though.

New Notification Log Entries:

You have slain “Somniferous Turrl” Level 13! Experience has been awarded.

…

You have slain “Somniferous Turrl” Level 17! Experience has been awarded.

Interestingly enough. Most of turrls outside the dungeon still had the same name, even after reaching level ten. And some were higher level than anything he had encountered previously outside.

The whole experience was different.

There were many more monsters than he had previously encountered in a single night. He lost count at some point, but his frequently rising skill experience was enough motivating him to reach further and further. When both his relevant pools reached the halfway mark, he paced himself only focusing on the turrls. Ignoring the scramblers and drop-pigs below. They were also less interested in him now. Much rather reaching for their fallen comrades and dead turrls that practically rained from the sky and consuming those.

During his frequent encounters with monsters, he slowly realized a change in Accelerate Metal. The small point of origin from which he could push metal had been replicated on his hands after taking Mosquito. Those points of origin only worked for daggers and knives sadly. But it seemed like all the spots were growing. The one around his navel now extended all the way across his midsection and halfway up his chest. The ones in his hands reaching to his elbow.

As the night progressed he understood why caravans had dedicated guards, the amount of monster encounters vastly larger than what it had been before his dungeon excursion days ago, and also far more tiring.

Eventually day came and the monster encounters frequency dwindled until it stopped completely with Kent not having gained a singular level.

Finally, I can focus on what’s important. And with that he initiated his class up. He had waited long enough but didn’t want to be limited or interrupted by anything meanwhile.

Note – The Title System offers the choice between customizable class options and pre-built class options. The user can inspect the pre-built options without giving up on the chance to customize their own class

Customize T1 Class / Inspect T1 Classes

The choice was obvious. If he could inspect the class options, why wouldn’t he do so. Looking at those first seemed like the obvious way of progressing.

Dagger wielder – Common

Stat allocation per level:

[Strength + 1, Agility + 1, Senses + 1, Free + 1]

Specializations:

Daggers – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Adept of Metal – Common

Stat allocation per level:

[Mind + 1, Magic + 1, Willpower + 1, Free + 1]

Specializations:

Metallumancy – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Apprentice of the Forge - Common

Stat allocation per level:

[Senses + 1, Mind + 1, Willpower + 1, Free + 1]

Specializations:

Metallic Insight – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Flying Blade – Uncommon

Stat allocation per level:

[Strength + 1, Agility + 1, Senses + 1, Mind + 1, Magic + 1, Willpower + 1]

Specializations:

Daggers – Tier 2, Metallumancy – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Metal Acolyte – Uncommon

Stat allocation per level:

[Senses + 1, Mind + 2, Magic + 1, Willpower + 2]

Specializations:

Metallic Insight – Tier 2, Metallumancy – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Insightful Dagger – Uncommon

Stat allocation per level:

[Strength + 1, Agility + 1, Senses + 2, Mind + 1, Willpower + 1]

Specializations:

Daggers – Tier 2, Metallic Insight – Tier 2

Requirements met.

Neophyte of the Ever-Flowing Metal – Rare

Stat allocation per level:

[Senses + 1, Mind + 2, Magic + 2, Willpower + 3]

Specializations:

Metallic Insight – Tier 2, Metallumancy – Tier 2

Minor Specialization:

Mage’s Augmentation – Rank Cap 15

Requirements met.

Initiate of Dislocated Impalement – Rare

Stat allocation per level:

[Strength + 1, Agility + 1, Senses + 2, Mind + 2, Magic + 1, Willpower + 2]

Specializations:

Daggers – Tier 2, Metallic Insight – Tier 2, Metallumancy – Tier 2

Further classes can only be unlocked by meeting the requirements.

Kent read through each notification with the excitement of a child being handed a handful of various candies it had never seen before. He expected some of the options, most in fact, and was quite happy. It seemed like he got offered standard classes related to his skills. The fact that there was nothing about a trait wasn’t surprising, but it was sad that he missed out on those options.

Options like the ones his siblings had gotten.

That didn’t mean that the offered classes were of a poor quality. Some were, but only a few. In fact, quite to opposite was true. The ‘Rare’ qualifier of two classes spoke for itself. That was the same quality both his siblings and his uncle had gotten, just without the effect and interaction with a trait. The most interesting of the available classes were the two last. Not only because of the quality but also due to the oddness of their specializations.

A total of eight stat points from the Neophyte of the Ever-Flowing Metal class compared to a total of nine – potentially disadvantageously placed – stat points wasn’t a hard decision by itself. The Neophyte-class had the advantage of offering more magically orientated stat points which was what Kent felt was the more interesting and better direction. Especially regarding one additional stat point of the Initiate of Dislocated Impalement class in a manner he didn’t want to go in.

He still hated the feeling of manually stabbing something and couldn’t see himself going into that direction more than he currently was, so the Agility and Strength were a bit of a dud.

Had this been all the decision would have been easy. The specializations made it hard. Kent had never heard of minor specializations, but from the looks it only increased the rank cap of a skill tree to a limited degree and he didn’t know whether it would unlock the Core-Tier of the skill tree.

Not unlocking Core skills for Mage’s Augmentation would be pointless. More pointless than getting three proper specializations of which only two held interest to Kent, and the last being somewhat interesting.

It was clear to Kent that he didn’t really need the Dagger specialization with the direction in which he was leaning, but not taking it would limit all his current skills in that tree, and the one he wanted to take in the future.

He was uncertain which class would be a better fit.

And since he had another option, he chose to see what custom class generation meant.