Authorization required?

Levi clicked the button, unsure what to expect.

Stone Centipede 'Centi' has selected advanced class ‘Berserker’ to allocate 11 levels to.

Allow Reject

“Huh.” He’d somehow been expecting something more exotic. Berserker was a known, if unpopular, third-tier class evolution for Fighter. It increased mana and stamina, but did very little for health. But given the circumstances, health for his minions wasn’t the biggest concern.

“Just a moment.” He made a quick copy of Centi’s current status for comparison.

260 health, +11 per minute; 80 mana, +5 per minute; 165 stamina, +8 per minute.

“Authorization granted. Go for it.”

He tapped the ‘Allow’ button, and Centi’s tag changed again.

Centi: Level 11+

(Stone Centipede Berserker)

Health 100%

Nodding gratefully, Centi backed away and bowed in what seemed an apology.

“It’s fine, you did what you had to. Let’s see what it does under the hood, then, shall we?”

The class did… exactly what Levi would have expected. Shockingly.

Berserker level increased to 11.

+22 health, +88 mana, +110 stamina

Berserker Advanced Ability unlocked: Continual Rage

Damage taken increases stamina regen at a 5:1 ratio.

Ends 10 seconds after the most recent attack.

He looked again at Centi’s sheet, shaking his head at the difference. “It’s even bigger than the upgrade to a plus was.”

That had only taken the best parts of Cen and Centoo and combined them—though, granted, if he started building minions with specifically merging in mind, he could probably break that paradigm pretty easily.

This…

Centi: Level 11

(Stone Centipede Berserker +)

Strength: 8

Health: 282/282

(+11/min)

Psyche: 4

Mana: 168/168

(+7/min)

Spirit: 5

Stamina: 275/275

(+8/min)

The health increase was minimal, as expected of a berserker, but the mana and stamina jumps were substantial. Mana more than doubled, and stamina increased from 160 to 275.

“If classes are the same with monsters and humans… what does that mean?” Levi felt oddly lightheaded, as though stable paradigms within his understanding of the world were shifting. “If classes and species evolutions aren’t different? Could I evolve myself with a monster? Could I gain species levels as well as class levels?”

Levi focused intently on his own level tag. Nothing happened.

“Maybe that’s too much to expect.” Still, the idea was in there now, and wasn’t going away. If monsters could gain the same classes as humans, what other system options were still locked away by sheer ignorance? Levi had the benefits of nearly a decade of advancement in understanding, manipulating, and interpreting the system, and even his knowledge proved woefully inadequate again and again.

“This thing really should have come with a tutorial.”

He spent a few minutes checking through everyone else’s tags, at least those currently present, then Centi tapped his shoulder again.

“What now?”

Centi gestured for Levi’s storage box.

“Right! The Dungeon Seed, you were going to try putting mana in.” Levi pulled it out and held it up, very carefully. “You’re not going to slice it in pieces with your claw-leg-things, right?”

Centi gently touched the mutlicolored glowing seed, depositing his full mana in a brief flash of light, then stepping back.

“No need to look so smug about it.”

Centi crossed to Firelord and prodded at the dead kobold with one leg.

“You think I should revive him next?”

Centi waved a leg through the kobold’s nametag.

“Kobold… magus. You saying he already has a class?”

Centi nodded. Skarm cackled.

“Anything else you’re all conspiring to keep from me that I should know about?”

Skarm tilted his head from side to side, his mischievous grin showing off all his pointy teeth. Then he shook his head.

“That’s the most unconvincing pretense of innocence I’ve ever seen. You look like you’re about to assassinate someone.”

Skarm put his hands together, tilted his head to the side, and blinked his big glowing orange eyes up at Levi.

“Yeah, that might be effective if you were even a slight bit less of a terrifying… warrior.”

Skarm tilted his head, considering Levi’s words, then shrugged and nodded, sliding back down to Centi’s back. Centi wandered back out into the boss room and began biting at the flowers growing off the walls.

“Those are probably poisonous.”

Centi ignored his wisdom. Levi left his minions to their frivolity, turning his attention back to the crafting items spread out around him.

Empowerment Orb Shell, that one finally popped up. In the active consumables category, no less. So all those elemental caltrops and skitterbeams were worth crafting after all.

“Five Control tokens, and three different types of ore. Steep for just the shell.”

The recipe didn’t specify which three types of ore, which probably meant he’d need to try all the combinations.

“Guess we’ll be prioritizing Control in our training loop.” Levi grimaced. “Control is kinda the worst.”

But he did also need to get a Control essence someday, so may as well just keep running the thing until they’d tried enough options.

“I think I hate system crafting,” Levi grumbled. Sure, it made it simple to create things that would be impossible or very time consuming under ordinary circumstances, but it also did weird obscure things like this that made him wonder how anyone ever figured out anything.

“Anything I can help with?” Irene asked, returning from a quick trip with Snip and Snap to clear anything that had respawned in the meantime. The Roc-Lobsters may not be best suited to the tunnels, but with the number of monsters so severely diminished, it made it easy enough for them to handle.

Levi looked up, frustration easing now that his wife had returned. “No sign of new delvers coming in?”

“None that I could see. Reggie seems unhappy at the lack of attention.”

“I bet he would. Hasn’t gone so long without something to do or fight before, huh.” Levi at least had this crafting to tinker with. However frustrating it may be, it kept him occupied. The t-rex had no such option available.

“Have you seen Peter recently?” Irene asked, looking around the treasure room.

“Not since he revived Greg. Centi’s following them, they should be safe enough.” Now that they’d cleared out all the major threats, Levi doubted anything here could pose a threat to their team, even fragmented into small groups. None of them were below the level of the dungeon, and the dungeon couldn’t respawn its monsters as quickly as they could be killed. “Good practice for him.”

“And if he gets lost and falls into a trap?”

Levi bit back his instinctive surge of reaction, the impulse to go running and verify his son’s safety immediately and personally. He couldn’t be everywhere, couldn’t always protect everyone himself. He needed to let them learn to protect themselves. “He’ll find a way out of it, or send one of the minions for help. Good lesson in caution.”

“You’re not worried about him?”

“He’s got some things to improve on, but he’s doing very well. I’m confident he can handle anything this dungeon has left to offer.”

“Not about his fighting.” Irene’s voice softened as she walked closer. “I think you should talk to him.”

He began repacking his crafting supplies and component pieces. “Alright, if you think it’s important.” He knew better than to mistrust Irene’s instincts.

“And do let him know that he’s doing well. I don’t think he knows that.”

“He’s been taking on monsters way out of his league right alongside the rest of us, how can he not know he’s doing well?”

Irene rested a hand on his shoulder, looking intently into his eyes. “He’s very young. Still learning who he is. This is a lot. He’s used to stories of heroes, not the reality of fighting.”

“He seems to be doing fine to me.”

“Just talk to him. For me, if nothing else. I’d feel better knowing he’s not beating himself up too much.”

Levi nodded. “Will do. As soon as I get all this stored so the dungeon doesn’t eat it.”