I woke up groggily, hearing the birds chirping and the wind wafting through the trees. I heard a small stream trickle along in the background and noticed several figures standing nearby, as I blinked slowly while my eyesight sharpened.
"Looks like the kid is finally awake."
I saw a woman walk up to . linda, I rembered. The mories from the day before ca flooding in and a mont later it dawned on what had happened. I realised the amount of trouble I was in and, for once, I worried about my situation.
The witch hunters' guild didn't take kindly to being misled, even more so by a person with a dark aligned class.
Garrett briskly walked up to . "Seems like you've returned to your senses. So, mind explaining yourself? This ti you won't be able to mislead us with a rare class, so don't even think about it."
I sat up and rested my back against a tree, closing my eyes and gathering my thoughts. Keeping secrets now wouldn't do any good and since the truth was no cause for guilt, I had nothing to hide, technically speaking. Of course, the real question was 'Could I trust these people with my secrets?' On one hand, I didn't owe the truth to anybody but the executives of my soon to be guild, if all went well. On the other hand, I had fought side by side with these people, putting my life into their hands, saving their lives in the process. If I couldn't trust these people, then would I ever gather up the courage to trust people again?
I'd never been much for caution, but I still knew to weigh my options. If I didn't want to beat the boss and earn a free ticket into the guild yesterday, I would have never walked up to the group in the first place. Similarly, if I told the truth right now, I might retain my previous trustworthiness, or be seen as an enemy, depending on how they took the news. If I lied, the truth would co out later and whatever trust I had built would be gone. Refusing to answer would imdiately turn into an enemy no matter what. In other words, there was only one option. To tell the truth. I hoped I would never co to regret this decision.
"As you probably noticed yesterday, I have a dark aligned class."
Garrett started to draw his blade, but was held back by Barnold. "I knew it, you slimy, lying cur, I should..."
linda intervened. "Shut up Garrett, he wouldn't have helped us if he wanted to hide that fact. Let him explain himself, at least. He's earned that much."
"I agree with that line of reasoning. We owe him our lives, no matter the circumstances." Nestor agreed.
Barnold chid in. "Hrrmpfff."
I took that to an an assent and continued my story.
"This was actually my first ever dungeon. A royal appraiser passed by Rolla, the town nearby, last week. I got a dark aligned class due to a system error. Apparently it's a legal one, because I didn't receive any mind affecting skills, preventing from going insane. At least, the appraiser said so."
Garrett cald down upon hearing this, but still glared at with suspicion. "No mind altering skill? Are you willing to swear on that?"
"Absolutely. I swear that I do not have any mind altering skill currently, nor do I expect to receive one in the future due to tiering up."
"How co you're so sure of that?" linda frowned.
"Because I received the [Death Knight] class, an undead servant class, none of which have any use for mind skills, considering they're mindless in the first place."
Nestor guffawed. "How did you get that class?! It's tier 4!"
"It was scaled down for tier 1, of course. Supposedly, it's the only physically-focused dark aligned class that a living person can receive. The circumstances didn't really give the system another choice."
Garrett seed pensive upon hearing this. He had cald down and seed ready to make a decision.
"Yesterday, you said you've always wanted to join the guild. Was that true, or also a lie by omission? Do you still want to join?"
"Well... originally I wanted to join the royal academy, but with my class, that's no longer a possibility. I figured the witch hunter's guild was the perfect place for and hoped they would be more accepting. And yes, I still believe that and I still want to join."
Garrett smirked. "Well, that makes things rather simple, then. You will be escorted by us back to Reito city, where the nearest guild branch is located. There, you'll be fully appraised. If everything you've said checks out, you'll join the guild with no problems. If not.... Well so things are better left unsaid, but I'm sure you can imagine. Don't misunderstand, on our way there, you'll be our prisoner. Try to run away and we'll hunt you down. Don't think your class will allow you to run away from people 2 tiers higher. We'll give you the courtesy of not putting you in handcuffs, at least."
"I...understand. All I ask is that you give a fair chance."
"Well, you've got your fair chance. But you'll only ever get one. Don't waste it."
With that final comnt, Garrett went back to sharpening his sword. Barnold and linda gave a sympathetic look and then headed off to clean up the small encampnt they had made.
Nestor, however, still had so questions to ask. "So, how does your class work exactly? How many stat points do you get per level? What did you receive as your boss clear award?"
As Nestor prattled on, I rembered to take a look at my system notifications from yesterday. I already knew that this overall power increase would be enough on its own to enter the guild when we reached Reito.
Congratulations! You have dealt the killing blow and 100% of all damage to a mber of the tier 3 duo boss [Dark Goblin Shaman] and [Enraged Undead Pseudo-Drake].
Extra experience awarded for level difference. Extra experience awarded for tier difference.
Ding! Combat finished. Congratulations on reaching [Death Knight] level 23!
Reach level 25 to advance to tier 2.
Stat points allocated. 3 free stat points per level up awarded.
Na: Arthur Titles [Dark prodigy] Class: [Death Knight] LVL 23 Strength 89 Constitution 92 Dexterity 87 Intelligence 22 Wisdom 10 Affinity 223 Free stat points 69
Skills:
Passive: [Simple dark core](45%), [Elentary dark sight](36%), [Novice Swordsmanship](29%),
[Novice lifespan](N/A), [Perfect physique](N/A), [Flexibility](N/A)
Active: [Dark augnt](56%), [Shadow apparation](12%), [ditation](46%)
Calculating dungeon clear award....Awarded the [Undead Komodo talisman].
I looked over my status and felt a profound feeling of satisfaction. My stats had almost doubled since I last looked at them. My skills were also coming along nicely. I supposed that the imnse growth in my core, augnt and ditation skill ca from that last stunt with the barrier. Sotis taking risks pays off after all. What intrigued was the final notification.
I knew about dungeon clear awards. If a party cleared a dungeon, every party mber would receive an enchanted item depending on their performance and the strength of the boss.
The dead boss would then be replaced by a dungeon monster, which would receive a boost in strength. The dungeon we cleared would probably choose a goblin brute or rogue as its next boss, by elevating it in strength and placing it in the boss chamber.
"Say, Nestor, how do you think a tier 3 duo boss appeared in a tier 1 dungeon?"
"Hmmm, our current hypothesis is that a rare monster wandered into the dungeon and was chosen as its boss. It's also possible that a dungeon monster evolved on its own, eventually gaining enough experience to tier up twice. The dungeon environnt would certainly allow for a single goblin to hide away, slowly gaining more and more affinity for dark mana, allowing it to kill adventurers with ease after so ti. We'll report to the guild and they'll send out personnel to find out with certainty and to prevent this from happening again. If they determine it's necessary, this dungeon might be destroyed entirely."
I humd and focused on my reward this ti.
[Undead Komodo talisman]
Tier 1 talisman.
(Growth item)
This talisman allows the holder to summon an [Undead komodo] using dark aligned mana.
This is a growth item and that will tier up each ti the holder bound to it tiers up. The tier of the holder and the item must be the sa for this to function.
[Soulbound]
A soulbound item! These were as rare as a phoenix's feather! A soulbound item couldn't be used by people other than its holder and would return to the holder upon a ntal command. Sothing about the description seed off to , however.
"Nestor, can I ask you sothing?"
"Ask away, young fellow. I'm always prepared to pass on wisdom and knowledge to the younger generation."
"When an item says 'summon this creature' and nothing more, will the summoned creature be ta?"
"No. If a summoned creature is ta upon summoning, the item will say sothing along the lines off 'summon this ta creature'. The distinction is always made by the system. Why, did you receive a summoning item? What does it summon? What materials does the summoning require? How many uses does it have? Does it summon one particular creature, or just any random mber of its species each ti? Does..."
"Slow down, slow down! To answer your questions in order, it summons a komodo, whatever that is. It says it uses dark mana to summon and doesn't ntion uses. I don't know about that last question either. It just says 'summon a komodo'."
"Aha! Should I call you insanely lucky or unlucky? A summoning item that only requires mana is worth a castle! Truly, you must have impressed the system with your feat in the dungeon! As for that last question, the system is very particular about how it words things. If your description says 'summon a komodo' rather than 'summon komodos', that ans that it will summon the sa creature each ti, aning that if you can convince it or ta it, you would have a stalwart ally. If not, It will just have to serve as a training dummy. Summoned creatures can't really die anyway."
"Thanks for your help, Nestor."
"No problem. Now then, I believe our compatriots have finished packing away the camp into our cart. Let's hop on and set off into the sunrise!"
Smiling at his enthusiasm, I answered mirthfully. "Sure thing, old man. Save a spot."
I stood up, checked over my equipnt one last ti, and prepared myself ntally for a week long journey inside of a rickety cart.
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