The ti had finally arrived. My fighter class was level 25 and ready for to choose my second class evolution.
I couldn't keep my hands from shaking with anticipation. The system ssage blinked in the corner of my screen practically begging to be opened. It took every ounce of willpower not to dive into my options right where I was standing, only, where I was standing was in the middle of a soon to be closed anomaly.
Reluctantly I decided that I could wait a few seconds to exit, and maybe I could find a nice secluded spot where I wouldn't be bothered? It would be nice to take so ti on my decision.
The waterfall wasn't all that far, it seed like a perfectly suitable location.
With my mind made up, there was one last thing I wanted to do. With a thought, a pair of dark brown leather boots materialized before in the air and dropped softly into my outstretched hands.
I frowned, assessing the apparently rare quality boots, lifting them to eye level and squinting.
"They're just normal old leather boots…" I muttered, setting them down.
I balanced on one leg, lifting my right foot to unlace my Converse, then rembered I carried a chair in my storage. A second later I was seated with one leg up, shock painted all over my face.
It had probably been months since I'd actually seen the state of my old shoes, or, what was left of them. The fabric was shredded, laces hanging on by a thread. I tugged the back and pulled the shoe free to find the sole split at both the heel and arch with large chunks of the fabric missing.
The second was even worse.
I whistled.
For a shoe that was renowned for taking punishnt, these valiant soldiers had gone the extra mile and paid the price.
"Too bad I can't use healing magic on you guys." I whispered reverently. "Thanks for the good tis."
All things considered, it was a miracle there was anything left of them at all. With a solemn grin I stored the worn shoes away and lifted the right boot, sliding it easily over my barefoot. I'd abandoned my socks over a month ago.
The fit was perfect, and I nimbly tightened the straps on the outside and then repeated the process on the left foot. With both boots securely fashioned I stood slowly, allowing my weight to rest on the hardened leather soles, then rolling up onto my toes.
It was like wearing a perfect pair of Christmas socks, but with the protection of steel toed boots. I bounced lightly, feeling decidedly pleased with the new upgrade. Satisfied there was no more reason to linger, I headed for the shimring exit portal leaving Mischief and the rest of the Catkin behind.
"Good, you're out."
I jumped slightly, and looked toward the sound of the voice. Nick leaned casually against the base of a tall pine a few paces off.
"Dude, what are you, like my welcoming committee or sothing for when I exit dungeons?" I asked, not able to keep the smile from my face.
This was the second ti now I'd left a portal to find Nick waiting.
Nick pushed off the tree, dark brows knotted.
"What's going on? This isn't about the cows is it?" My face darkened. "Seriously, Nick, did soone die or sothing?"
He pursed his lips, eyes downcast. The notification of my evolution flashed in my peripheral—sothing about the look on Nick's face told it was going to have to wait.
***
The dark elf, Tavion, laid in a wide pool of his own dried and crusted blood. The crown of his head was a foot or two away from his limp body.
After Tavion's execution, Jared insisted everything be left exactly how they fell, treating it as if it was a cri scene. I coughed and raised my arm to cover my face in an attempt to combat the sweet coppery sll that perated the room.
Tavion's exposed brain was half in half out of his open skull.
Bile rose in my throat but I forced myself to take it all in. Aside from the sll, the gore was sothing that I'd beco regrettably far too accustod to.
Shaking my head, I raised my hand to cast a single healing spell on the elf's corpse. The action did little to ease my frustration.
A mber of my faction was dead—murdered, and lying in his gore in the ho of my steward.
I crouched to get a better look at the face of the would-be traitor. His face was grey and puffy, but it was clear he was young, maybe not much older than . What was left of him looked fit and capable, soone that could've been an asset. Now what was he?
Just a pile of at and bones.
My teeth clenched and I shoved myself back to my feet and strode out of Jared's cabin, with a snap the door slamd behind .
Jared, Nick, Enora and the other traitor were all waiting for in my cabin when I swung the door open, heads raising from around my table. The lone traitor sitting on the floor resting his back against the log walls chained hands resting on his knees.
"I've seen enough, have soone get Jared's cabin cleaned up."
Nick shoved his chair back and quietly passed by in the doorway with a solemn smile.
"This is the other one?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Jared nodded slightly, confirming.
I walked to the table, resting my hand on a chair. Not ready to deal with the situation with Enora just yet, I t her eyes and then pulled the chair away, settling it just a few feet in front of the chained dark elf.
Speaking with prisoners was already starting to feel a bit old, but Ellison and others warned this was the price of assimilation. In fact, just the other day Jared told our faction was exceeding his wildest expectations, especially between the humans and the Guildian's.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Who said jinxes didn't exist?
"So you're the other traitor?" I questioned, leaning my elbows on my knees. "What's your na?"
"Norso."
"Kind of a crap way to officially et, Norso. I guess you already know who I am?"
His shoulders slumped, in a poor excuse for a shrug. "I know."
"Yeah—I guess that makes sense. Considering you were planning to kill ."
Norso fiddled with the iron links of the mana dappening chains we'd looted from a slaver dungeon earlier.
"It wasn't like that."
"Nick walked through it." I opened my hands. "Correct if I have it wrong. But from what I understand, Teklen—your forr leader—was the initial target. Right?"
He shifted and chains rattled. "Yes, that is right but—"
I held up a hand. "Hold on, you'll get your chance."
He craned his neck from his place on the hard wood floor, searching my face quietly but I got the sense he was itching to say more.
"And once he was out of the picture, that's when the sights fell on ." I leaned back and rested my arm over the back of my chair. "So what was the plan?"
"The plan?"
"Yeah—you know, how did you plan to kill ?"
"There wasn't a plan—not really. It's like you said, all our scheming was for Teklen." He let out a defeated sigh.
That tracked with the briefing I'd been given by Nick. Honestly from the way Nick told it, Norso hadn't ever really sounded all that keen on his partner's scheming. But by no ans did that an he was innocent.
"How did you know…" I paused realizing I'd already forgotten the na of the other elf.
"Tavion?" Norso offered.
"Tavion."
"We are—or, we were foster brothers, we grew up together." His voice was low, hollow.
Mischief imdiately ca to mind. Oddly, after only a few months he already felt like my brother. The images of his body sprawled out, half his head cleaved off, flashed in my mind. I blinked hard trying to erase the image, but the lingering emotions weren't so easy to erase.
"You both must have known the risks you were taking?"
"We did."
"Was it worth it?"
Norso studied his chains like they were the only thing that existed in the world and didn't speak for a long ti. Seconds crawled by, joined by the chorus of controlled breathing of everyone in the small cabin.
"No." His head lifted, revealing bloodshot eyes and restrained tears. "Tavion never was patient. And I'm just a fool with no future."
"Tavion is the one with no future. The jury is still out on you. You should be grateful to him."
"And why is that?"
"Because he probably saved your life."
Norso's nose wrinkled and he narrowed his eyes, confused.
"Your plan was dood to fail, and you both would've died. As it stands, only Tavion is dead." I t Norso's eyes. "So, the question is—what are you going to do with your brother's sacrifice?"
From sowhere far away, I could feel the current begin to flow. The sa as it always did when my class was urging for judgent.
"There's no place in this faction for traitors and backstabbers looking for shortcuts. This is your one and only warning." Confusion evaporated and Norso gasped. "Don't waste it."
The current faded, but its weight lingered in the room.
My attention turned to Enora, and I stood up, ready to be done with this whole ordeal.
"And you. This is my faction, your people are mbers and that includes you. What you did today should be considered murder. However, under the circumstances I will look the other way this once, but never again—Understood?"
Her response barely reached a whisper.
"Yes."
"Good, then I think I'm done here."
***
A few minutes later I was staring out over the pristine mountain lake I'd discovered shortly after the world changed. My heart felt heavy and I contemplated my decision to leave Jared and Enora.
Looking back, I probably should've at least waited while the two of them decided what they were going to do about Norso.
But honestly? It felt right to let them sort this one out. Or maybe that was just my justification to run off and finally open my class options.
Either way….
Congratulations! Fighter class has reached level twenty five and you may now choose an evolved class.
Please select from the following options.
The following class selection would rge your classes into a singular class.
Warning - This option will be available in future evolutions and may result in more powerful fusions. rging cannot be undone.
Class: Paladin of Judgent (Progenitor)
Reading through the first option felt like walking on egg shells. The last thing that I wanted to do was errantly agree either verbally or non-verbally to irreversibly rge my two classes.
So with that in mind, I thodically reviewed the page.
And boy—the first class was a dandy of an evolution. Paladin of Judgent was chalk full of goodies. For starters, it was built with a well balanced attribution of a whopping fifty eight stat point growth per level, not including the additional plus five bonus points from being a human, or my title bumps.
Stat Increases:
Constitution: 11
Strength: 11
Agility: 8
Wisdom: 12
Intelligence: 12
Sense: 4
As if the stat growth alone wasn't enough, it was also a progenitor title like Mischief's. Combine that with the powerful defensive and healing aura's it was a very compelling offer.
To say that I was tempted would be an understatent. But there were still two more options to review and it was very hard to ignore the system warning preceding the class.
Class: Shadowborn Executioner
A shadowborn class.
I guess I should've seen this second class coming. Mischief was as much an influence in my life as anything, so it stood to reason that I'd be presented with a class associated with his progenitor title. Logistically the stats and abilities were impressive but I didn't give the option much attention.
Moving on.
Class: Knight of Tranquility (founder)
The order of tranquility - An order dedicated to the pursuit of true tranquility. Its mbers believe calm is not the absence of chaos, but mastery over it.
Skills:
Alignnt of will: (Passive) When allies align with your ideals they receive a buff based on level of conviction.
Bond of trust: (Passive) Your spirit tools develop more intimately with your needs.
Stat Increases:
Constitution: 8
Strength: 8
Agility: 8
Wisdom: 4
Intelligence: 4
Sense: 2
Option two was out of the running. As much as I loved Mischief, our evolutions walked different paths.
That left option one and three. Option one remained to be an extrely tempting choice, especially with the progenitor title included. On the other hand, I really wasn't sure what the founder designation included, and I was also not really all that impressed with the class having two passive abilities rather than clear offensive skills.
In the end though what sealed my decision was the warning. The fact of the matter was I wanted to see what two evolved classes combined might beco and according to the warning I felt confident it wouldn't be the last ti I'd be offered to rge my classes.
Mind made up, I selected the third option.
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