There was an awkward silence as they all studied Clare. Given how strong the title was for obtaining the third class they all wondered what it would be for a fourth. What was the next grade up from an extra attribute point per level?
Rahmat cleared his throat. “The title’s as impressive as we expected.” They all looked at him in surprise. Tom hadn’t been party to the discussions on upgrade plans, but it felt vaguely wrong that both Clare and Rahmat had taken a fourth class. Everyone else seemed as equally confused. “However, for some getting the title, it is kind of a trap.” He shot a sympathetic glance at Clare.
Confusion was running through Tom. He had not been tracking experience, and he knew he had spent millions on traits but had also been earning more, and he was currently over a million away from reaching the threshold for the next class. Had they really exceeded him in the experience they had available for levelling? “Wait, a moment. Who here has the option to select a fourth class?”
“Almost everyone,” Michael answered. “Look at their rank if you don’t believe me. It’s only me, you, Everlyn, Bao and maybe Soetanto who are not in a position to buy it.”
The other healer shook her head. She was obviously over level one hundred and twenty-eight as well.
Tom turned to face Rahmat with his eyes flicking between him and Clare. “So, how is the title, really? Is it actually good?”
“It is, very much so,” the spearman smiled. “Conditionally at least.”
“What Tom meant to ask,” Michael interrupted, “is should everyone else buy their fourth class?”
The spearman hesitated. “Maybe no, maybe yes. It wasn’t what I expected.”
Clare huffed. “It’s bullshit. I was expecting three or four additional attributes per level, but it’s not that. Instead, it’s an increase to one ability. Specifically, the one you use the most receives a random percentage boost to its effectiveness.”
“Not random,” Rahmat interrupted her. “The boost is based on how much you used it prior to receiving the title. If you earnt a fourth class with only having ever having cast a single spell, then it’ll receive a three hundred percent increase to its strength. The benefit gets diluted after that.”
“How does it work?” Michael asked.
“The specific ability is imbued with divinity,” Clare answered. “And Rahmat’s explanation wasn’t quite right. It was what he said and something extra that will probably be tailored to the individual person and skill.”
“It also grants levels in the ability.” Rahmat added.
Clare stared challengingly at the spear man. “You look happy. What exactly did you get Rahmat. It couldn’t have boosted your domain because you haven’t had it long enough.”
The spear man smiled. “Power Strike was my most used ability, and it received thirty-one levels and is a hundred and forty-four percent more effective than previously and has gained a shield breaking overlay. Finally, there’s another bonus where all my other spear skills benefit from a halo effect. Which is a twenty to thirty percent boost from what I can feel.”
They all absorbed that knowledge. To Tom it sounded like an extraordinarily strong title. Each tier adjusted for level as a rule of thumb was a fifty percent boost in effectiveness. Rahmat’s most used ability had just been effectively bumped up by three tiers, plus whatever the shield breaking benefit did. Then there was the twenty to thirty percent enhancement to all other spear skills. Once you stacked together all those little benefits, the title had probably doubled Rahmat’s fighting prowess, and he was already the most powerful amongst them.
“Almost a hundred and fifty percent. That’s insane.” Usko exclaimed.
“It’s only so high because the system calculated that around fifty percent of my spell and skill use since getting to Existentia has been expended on Power Strike. Which is about fair, if I’m being honest.”
“I didn’t get anything like that.” Clare said quietly. “My instant shield got a boost of ninety percent to its duration and a divinity halo that allows me to reuse it quicker if my life is in danger. No flow on to any other skills.”
Michael frowned at that. “The benefits scale off historical use doesn’t it. To be honest with you Clare, I wouldn’t be down about your outcome. Privately, you should be ecstatic you got as much as you did. I’m confused by the idea that you cast that skill thirty percent of the time. I would have put its use at barely above ten percent.”
Clare shrugged. “I’ve used it a fair bit. But the weighting might be biased to mana use or maybe even danger adjusted or something esoteric like the intensity of emotion behind the casting. If it takes into account those factors, then thirty percent isn’t so unreasonable. After all, I only ever use it when I’m in imminent danger.”
“Crazy,” Michael said. “But it makes sense. Getting a fourth class is supposed to happen at level five hundred and twelve. At that point, how you want to use your magic should be engrained.”
“And the natives near that level are certain to know about the title in advance,” Keikain said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent a hundred years priming their best spell to maximise the benefit of this title.”
Everlyn bit her lip. “Does it say whether it’s restricted to combat abilities?”
Rahmat and Clare looked at each other.
They appeared doubtful. Rahmat was the one who spoke. “I’m not sure. There is nothing in the text and neither of us used a non-combat ability sufficiently to have them as a serious candidate.”
“Your scouting?”
Rahmat shook his head. “I’m Sorry Everlyn. I haven’t been a scout for as long as you, and I don’t trigger them very often. They could however very easily have been in the mix and dropped Power Strike from fifty percent to forty-eight. But that’s so minor that it’s swamped by all the noise. I can’t even do a good guesstimate.”
Michael patted Everlyn on the back. “These things are deliberately opaque. But this title it is both crazy weak and strong at the same time. You can get Clare’s outcome or Rahmat’s and that’s a massive difference. Some of us, like Tom shouldn’t get a fourth class. Because if you did what would get boosted?”
Tom shrugged helplessly. “I would hope my dodge, but teleport or lightning steps might be a candidate.” A thought occurred to him, and he felt something akin to shock run through him. “Maybe True Dreaming.”
Michael whistled at that. “You’re right. If that’s in the calculations, I could easily see that getting a thirty or forty percent weighting. But if it was chosen, it wouldn’t be so bad. You could double the power and gain an extra benefit on top… I wonder what that would do? Punch through shields faster? Maybe make it useable in combat?”
“Or just amp the existing spell up including its downsides, and turn me into a full invalid.”
“Your right that one could backfire.” Michael licked his lips. “More generally I think this is an important bonus that has doubled Rahmat’s offensive power. If anyone has a pet spell or ability that they believe they use more than fifty percent of the time, then they should take the fourth class.” Michael was stroking his axe.
Tom knew he incorporated his Throw Axe skill into most fights. Sometimes using it two or three times over the course of a battle… providing of course there were enough opponents. If there was only one, the first throw usually split it in two, removing the need for anymore throws. It was clearly Michael’s most used combat ability. The only issue was that he had only possessed it since the start of this trial, which meant that while he had it for half the time in Existentia, there was a lot of time where he hadn’t. It was still probably his most used skill and if danger, or energy invested, or some sort of concept like that was included in the calculations, then it could easily be getting the Rahmat kind of bonus assigned to it. Even it getting a hundred percent boost from a thirty percent weighting would be huge. It would transform it into a tier seven or possibly a tier eight offensive skill.
“I’m only going to use my Throw Axe skill in this zone.” Michael declared. Having obviously come to a similar conclusion to Tom’s own. “As for you two,” he glared at Clare and Rahmat. “I would have expected you to wait to have once person test the title before you both got it.”
The two of them looked slightly embarrassed, but overall they were unrepentant. Neither was immature enough to throw blame around. There had been a miscommunication, and in the greater scheme of things it was not important. Having two sets of data might have actually been a bonus. If it was just Rahmat’s results, then they might all have rushed into taking it and crippled the outcome for those who used lots of skills. If they had only had Clare’s outcome to compare against, then possibly none of them would have bothered with the fourth class, though maybe not. Clare’s outcome, while disappointing versus Rahmat’s was actually pretty solid. Even a ninety percent boost to a regularly used skill was attractive to them when they were searching for any power they could.
“Is anyone going to get a fourth class based on this information?” Keikain asked. His eyes flickering around the group.
“Are you?” Tom couldn’t help but ask, and then immediately regretted the question. He was so going to want to blab on as a result of this, and Tom would be forced to listen politely.
Keikain smiled at that. “My primary ability is Reinforced Earth Manipulation.”
“Is that your spike spell?” Tom asked in stunned surprise. He had assumed Keikain had a specific spell to do it and had not been using a general ability.
“That’s one form of it.” Keikain agreed. “However, I tend to use it in tandem with some other skills. Stone Conceptual Claim along with Refined Rock Shaping to be precise. I think before I get a fourth class, I need to evolve all three into a combined skill. Not a domain but an active earth mastery ability. Thor, if an evolution potion comes up we have to buy it. That merged skill might even be seventy percent of my ability usage. An evolution potion plus the class will triple my offensive power easily”
Thor shook his head. “No. Can’t do. I’m not buying any consumables from the auction house.”
“Triple power Thor! You can’t say no to that. Give me my share of the credits and I’ll buy it myself.”
The big man shook his head. “No. We agreed on our approach, and I’m not risking all of our deaths to bump your capabilities up slightly.”
“Three times is not slightly. Michael! Help! You need to talk some sense into him!” Keikain asked imploringly.
The healer tsked. “No. We all have a list of things of things that can help us individually, but we can’t afford to buy them. The money’s there to enhance the spear.”
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“I… This is bullshit. If it was anyone else.”
“Thor didn’t buy Tom his tier five anti-magic material either, which would have been perfect for him. That thing on his neck is a third as potent maybe even less than that, and we were very lucky it came through with us because I thought it would disappear when we left the zone. If the embargo is good enough to stunt his growth, then it’s good enough for yours as well.”
“Everlyn? Vidja?” Keikain spun around desperately, but no one was interested in engaging with him.
“We said no.” Michael said firmly. “Hold off on the fourth class until you can fix the problem after this trial. To be honest, if the enemy is strong as Tom has implied, then I doubt this title is going to help. But we also can’t let that fear stop us from preparing. Is anyone else interested in getting it.”
“I’m definitely going to buy another class,” Toni said immediately. Tom agreed with that assessment. She had been using her air blade spells since the start and only occasionally defaulting to Chaos Bolts in those rare occasions when enemy monsters were immune to her air attacks. Given it was effectively the primary ability she used it would be well over a fifty percent weighting.
Tom’s eyes quickly assessed everyone else gathered. Everlyn used a wide variety of spells and would probably delay. Thor had almost certainly raised Chaos Bolt to around forty percent. For Harry, it depended on whether his ritual carving counted. If it did, he would get a big benefit from gaining a fourth class and would upgrade as well.
“Thor, I assume you’re going to upgrade.” Tom said.
The big man shook his head. “I’ll do Michael’s path and prepare to advance before we fight the dragon. Get a slightly higher percentage by exclusively using Chaos Bolt for a while.”
For Vidja’s team. He didn’t have a good feeling for their abilities.
He met Usko’s eyes questioningly. “I’m buying my fourth class immediately. I almost exclusively use Tearing Chop. It’s tier three and good against anything.”
Vidja cleared her throat. “Me too. I have a tier three offensive stance ability and I use it all the time. Getting it boosted will let me do more damage and keep me alive.”
The rest of the team shook their heads as they were clearly more generalist and weren’t sure they would get a benefit to a skill that they actually wanted to use in the long run. Having the title apply to an ability they planned on phasing out as their build matured would be a disaster.
All three of the people who had nominated their desire to take a fourth class shut their eyes. Apparently, there had been a miscommunication between Clare and Rahmat, but the discipline of the team as a whole had been good.
Vidja was the first to return to the real world and at their expectant glances she shook her head slightly. “I’ll wait for the others.” She told them.
Toni was the last, and she took almost two minutes before she opened her eyes. “Sorry I had two great classes to choose between.”
“So what did everyone get?” Michael asked, gesturing first at Vidja.
“My offensive stance upgraded. It now enhances any abilities used out of it by an additional hundred and two percent. The divine halo it imparts is that parrying skills are also impacted by the bonuses of the stance.”
“Vidja, why do you look so disappointed with that extra?” the healer asked in confusion. “To me that sounds like an unexpectedly extensive bonus.”
She kicked the ground in annoyance. “I don’t have any parrying skills. For defence, I rely on dodging and magic blocking. Never parrying.”
The healer nodded. “But unless I’m mistaken any parry skill that you acquire will be two or three times more effective.” Vidja did not dispute that. Parrying skills would get the title’s hundred percent boost, plus the already significant benefit the stance was imparting. He pivoted to face Usko. “And you.”
“A hundred forty with a significantly increased chance of dismembering limbs.” He nodded at Rahmat. “My axe skills also have the same moderate enhancement that he got. Can’t argue with all of them becoming thirty percent better.”
There were impressed whistles. It was not a boost that would help against the dragon, but once they left this trial, it was a powerful one.
They finally turned to face Toni.
She was beaming with excitement. “A hundred ninety and if the enemy is resistant to air or armoured against piercing attacks, the air blades take on a divine aspect which will let them cut, anyway.”
“My Lord Toni that’s…” Words failed Michael as he tried to comprehend that last bit. “That’s terrifying for your enemies. They think the air can’t hurt them and then their resistances are ignored. Congratulations, that’s the best improvement yet.”
“Oh, and all air spells get a flat thirty-six percent boost.”
The healer was shaking his head. “I’m impressed. Did any of you receive levels like Rahmat.”
They all nodded.
Usko cleared his throat. “I got five, but it was on a tier 3 ability, so it’s kind of comparable to his.”
Tom didn’t know what to do about this fourth class.
His best play was to try to rely on his Earth Domain skill for a couple of years in a nice safe spot where True Dreaming was not always triggering. If he used no other abilities for the entire time, then he could rise its contribution to the fifty percent level, then he would be ready to select a class. Doing it sooner would leave the result too up to chance.
But… he wanted a week of peace to think it through or ask an oracle question before committing.
The alternative was to take the plunge as soon as he got the experience. A boost to True Dreaming could be a curse or the greatest thing that could happen to him. The risk was that it, as a non-combat skill wouldn’t be available. How would he feel if one of his now marginal skills like Spark was selected? Spark was useful, and he had made extensive use of it, but it was not part of his long-term plans. If he trained up his domain so that the choice was between that, dodge or dreaming, he could be happy with upgrading any of them. For now, the result was too volatile for him to risk it.
Fortunately, he was not the only one in this position and in some ways having learnt this title after only six months in Existentia was a blessing. If he specialised for a couple of years, the damage of being a generalist would be insignificant, but if they had discovered this in forty years’ time, then altering his trajectory at that point would have been far harder.
Everlyn took charge and nodded at the distant platform they had to reach. “That was useful and a fun diversion, but we have more important tasks. Let’s work out how to get there.”
“Theoretically, it shouldn’t be difficult,” Thor volunteered. “Each of those glowing stones on the edge are linked to another platform. You focus on them, and then if it’s the one you want you can connect the platforms and they’ll float toward each other until they meet. There’s a bit of an art to it because sometimes the secondary island might be days away, but when you touch them, you’ll get a feel of all the details.”
“Everyone spread out and find ones in the direction we need to go.” Everlyn ordered.
They all headed for the edge of the platform with Keikain walking next to him.
Tom glared at him suspiciously. “What do you want?”
The earth mage smirked. “I’m guessing there’s no fourth class for you.”
“You’re right I don’t have the experience.”
Keikain didn’t say anything but his smirk grew better.
“Not sure why you’re acting like that,” Tom snapped at the man. “Boosting True Dreaming seems like it would be pretty helpful.”
“For the team or for you personally? I’m guessing you don’t really want a better True Dreaming.”
“Are you sure? Bumping a tier nine skill up a tier sounds pretty exciting. It might even be more effective than that. Considering how much the exhaustion of using it is screwing up my life. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got closer to Rahmat or Toni’s levels of benefits rather than Clare’s.”
“But you don’t want to pull the trigger do you. I know you Tom. You’ve probably already calculated all the angles. I’m guessing you’ll do the same as Michael and Thor are planning, but on a years long scale instead of the two weeks they’ve factored in.”
“What’s your point? You’ll evolve your three skills into one and improve it with a fourth class immediately. When you have the data, predicting a logical course of action is pretty easy.”
The earth mage nodded seriously. “Yeah, of course. I have to act now. The longer I’m in Existentia the more I’m going to expand the number of skills I use. The sooner I get this done the better. What I want to know is will you support me?”
“Well, if there’s a potion available after we’ve made the spear and we’ve the credits I’ll support that.”
“Thank you.”
They were right at the edge and with the chosen nearby Tom was only slightly worried about falling off. He figured one of them would be able to fly down and save him if it happened.
Curiously, he peered over the side.
Four hundred metres beneath them was another island.
It was exactly like what he had expected. The layers of islands extended for kilometres on the vertical axis. They were near the top and when he looked up, there were no islands directly above him, but considering what he could see elsewhere he had figured on the balance of probabilities that there was likely to be numerous smaller platforms underneath them. That guess had been proven to be correct.
“The actual land mass of this place is probably more than what is suggested by straight area calculations.” Keikain said quietly.
“That’s no different from elsewhere.” Tom agreed. “It’s like having an underground just miles up in the air and visible to everyone.”
“It’s hard to estimate with my eyes, but I reckon you might even have as much as three times coverage.”
“Yep. If you fall, you’re going to crash into multiple platforms before you plunge into the void.” Tom agreed.
“Unless you’re unlucky!” Keikain removed his hand from the glowing paver and studied it with an amazed expression. “That’s fascinating. Give it a go.”
Tom touched the rock and could immediately sense where the sister platform was. It was over a hundred kilometres away and a couple underneath them. If he triggered the magic, both his platform and the sister one would start moving toward each other. The one he was on barely shifting and the other at about ten kilometres per hour. It would take half a day to reach them. The equalising of their vertical alignment was the largest contributor to that because rising and descending was much slower than horizontal movement.
“Not for us, that’s for sure.” He stood and moved over to the next stone. The linked platform was closer and when he looked out toward where it was supposed to be ten kilometres to their left, there was a glowing island. “That one could work. It’s only an hour away.”
“But not really in the direction we want,” the earth mage observed.
They continued on touching each of the shimmering blocks to get a feel for the options. It was slower and less intuitive than he hoped. “We could always make the chosen fly us.”
“Best not.” Keikain said quietly. “With our extra numbers they will struggle, and all the zones so far have been fair.”
“You can also trivialize a challenge with the right tools,” Tom reminded him.
The earth mage grunted in response to that.
“We’ve got the winner.” Everlyn called out.
The stone they were about to touch switched colours to red and they could feel their platform start to move, though it felt slow. Tom glanced over at their ultimate destination: the massive island where the others waited and one of the small platforms between it and them now had a faint reddish glow to it. The magic of the trial told him that it was a magical effect and not a physical one and was only visible to people on this platform. Even though it had only been triggered for a couple of seconds, the other platform was moving quickly toward them.
They only had a five-minute wait, and then the two platforms clicked together. The secondary platform had looked small at a distance, but now they were joined it was clear it was five times larger than the starting one.
As it was his job, he jumped onto the new platform. The instant he did, six black figures emerged from the crypt like building in the centre of the island. Without hesitation, Tom ran forward.
Electricity from his new skill started to crackle all over him. The shapes threw black bolts, and he weaved between them. Because of his dodge peculiarities he was forced to allow one to clip him. Technically, he now had ways to avoid it but alarms weren’t going off, and it wasn’t worthwhile to burn a teleport for immaterial amounts of damage. The small amount of lightning his armour skill had gathered was consumed to deflect the attack fully.
The magic was very efficient against whatever the shadows were firing, and his skin was unaffected by a bolt that he understood on an instinctive level should have crippled his arm.
He closed on the roughly humanoid shapes that were slightly taller than him, but far thinner. Their arms lashed out whip like.
Time slowed.
He ducked dodged and weaved.
The first wave of attacks were neutralised with a teleport. The next with his new armour. Fate crackled around him. His spear stabbed at one of them and a blue glow that he hadn’t triggered covered the tip. The weapon was like a hot knife through butter. There was no resistance, and the blade punched straight through the monster.
He hit another one without the benefit of Rahmat’s skills and the difference couldn’t have been starker. His weapon bounced off it.
“Rahmat stop playing around.”
His next blows were sheafed in blue light, and the battle ended quickly.
“I can see the giant,” Everlyn called out.
Tom glanced toward their destination, and he could see it too. There were other smaller shapes near it but the thing was massive.
“Rank eighty-two.” She continued.
He froze as her words registered. Its attributes were twice his, but that didn’t tell the full picture. Size was its own quality. “I’m glad it’s on our side.” He whispered quietly.
She heard what he said and glanced over at him. A sad smile on her face. “On our side until it isn’t.” She reminded him.
Tom wasn’t sure when he had confirmed the supposition, or even if he had. It didn’t matter because everyone had obviously noticed his fears and internalised them. They were all convinced that the other competitors were going to turn on them to the level it felt more like a fact of reality than a guess. They all knew what was going to happen when the dragon was defeated. It was embedded deep down at the subconscious level that didn’t get these things wrong.
Worst by far was that Tom’s own instincts that were enriched by True Dreaming agreed.
The glowing pavers around the edge of their island flickered and changed to a red light and the massive platform where the giant waited started to glow red, too.
They had done nothing this had been triggered by the other group.
The platform under his feet moved. Dropping and accelerating forward surprisingly quickly.
Ready or not, this was happening.