Chapter 52 - Spoiled for Choices

It was already late afternoon and he did not know how long he would need to explore the cave. 

He had told the girls he would return by evening but this trip might take longer than that.

On second thought, he decided to briefly explore the cave first and if it took too long he would return and continue the next day.

Not one to delay things, he got up and walked toward the cave.

After walking deeper into the cave for about 40 meters, it was completely dark as the cave had effectively turned into a tunnel.

Kiel then primed "Basic Fire Blast(D)" and held the fireball in his hands.

A little bug in the system where he could have a free light source which cost no mana as long as he kept it in primed state. 

However, if he casted or cancelled the skill, mana would still be consumed after the spell was cast.

He could feel the tunnel heading downwards and after walking for about an hour, he came to a domed shape clearing.

The walls of the dome were lined with engravings and in the middle of the clearing was an altar.

Above the altar was a beautiful orb of blue light floating motionlessly.

Kiel warily decided to read the titles of the engravings on the walls and to his surprise, there were 6 basic magic spells and a wall with a unique frame.

Meditation(E)

Basic Spell Casting(C)

Basic Water Control(D)

Basic Temperature Control: Cold(D)

Basic Temperature Control: Heat(D)

Underwater Breathing(D)

The last wall was a bit special; it was lined with a gold coloured frame.

On the top it read

"Hidden Class: Poseidon"

"Those who wish to acquire this Class must master all of the skills on the other walls.

Once the skills are learned/acquired the wall will crumble.

Only 'The Chosen One' will be qualified for the inheritance."

Kiel pondered for a while, while he was tempted to learn the skills, it would be a waste if one of the 2 girls could not attain the hidden class because of his momentary greed.

The feeling was like having a naked girl laid down in front of you but you could not touch them, which made Kiel's heart itch badly.

It took all of his effort not to read and learn the skills.

As he pried his eyes away from the carving on the walls, his attention was drawn to the beautiful orb hovering above a pedestal.

As he walked closer to the orb he read the description on the pedestal.

"We built this shrine to preserve the legacy of the Great Poseidon. 

We wish the inheritor would bring glory to his Name.

Those who disrespect the shrine shall be cursed for eternity.

"Orb of Water: Upgrade "Basic Water Control(D)", "Basic Temperature Control: Cold(D)" and "Basic Temperature Control: Heat(D)" skill by 1 grade"

After reading the description, he grew wary of the shrine and carefully left the shrine and then headed back to the village.

Once he got back to the village, he met up with Boki to ask about the construction progress. According to Boki, in 1 month they should have finished making all the changes Kiel requested. 

However, they have issues with food supply as all able bodied villagers were put to work in helping build the defenses leaving none left to forage and find food.

Kiel nodded and told them to select a few fishermen to accompany him and the girls to find food by the beach the next morning and that he would protect them. 

Boki was excited and immediately left to make arrangements.

Following Boki's departure, Kiel went to his hut and found the 2 girls were inside chatting.

After briefly talking with them, he found that the girls found out that the village conditions were much more dire than he had expected and they were living in constant state of worry.

Other than that, the girls had been practising the spells and meditation as he instructed.

After that, Kiel went on and explained about the altar he found in the cave in the sea.

So now the girls had 2 options;

One could use the scroll and gain the hidden class,

While the other needed to master all the spells in the altar to acquire the hidden class.

Soeyoon expressed concern about the strengths and weaknesses of each class as well as the difficulty of attaining the hidden class.

Kiel made the following summary;

Necromancer : 

Easy to obtain due to having the hidden class scroll.

Control over death energy, might turn into undead and immortal.

From what he knew, they are either proficient in controlling undead, poisons, decay and death energy.

Water Mage:

Rather difficult to obtain because one had to learn all the skills in the shrine.

Control over water element, steam and ice.

From what he knew, they are proficient in controlling water in all its forms; liquid, solid or gas.

Both classes had their own secrets that could not be easily found out. So do it at your own risk.

The girls were silent and were contemplating deeply about the hidden class choice.

Kiel told them to sleep on it and tell him tomorrow as he would start training them at the beach to kill the Nagas again.

On the side Kiel thought:

"So lucky to be my girls, they actually had the opportunity to choose which hidden class they wanted to convert.

I'm so good."

Little did he know the 2 girls did not even understand or appreciate the opportunities he had presented to them.

As Kiel lied down in his bed, he thought about the 2 hidden class he found:

Necromancers in his previous life were near invulnerable, immune to pretty much all poisons and even can stay alive even when half of their skull was cut off.

They were not liches which had life vessels and would die when the vessels were destroyed.

For Necromancers, as long as they have enough death energy they could regenerate near indefinitely which made it extremely hard to kill as the death energy was dangerous to everyone except those who could wield them.

They were truly a scary class which could dominate a corner of earth. Once he had a bitter fight with a powerful Necromancer, though he managed to decimate its undead army by breaking a dam to flood its base, he was chased relentlessly for months and if not for him clearing the basic clear level requirement, he would not have survived.

That level had left a deep impression on him.

Water mage on the other hand was still a mystery to him. Bing Xue was known to be Ice Mage in his previous life. 

She also had only shown ice controlling ability or freezing. She had never shown any ability to control water or steam.

In fact he had never heard of this class mentioned.

He wondered if there were Water Mage, Steam Mage and Ice Mage or are these a subclass of Poseidon.

Following this train of thoughts, does it mean a combination of class or skills would unlock a new special hidden class?

Was Necromancer the final form? Was SwordMage the final form?

As Kiel's head hurts from the complicated thoughts, he decided to rest and forget about it. 

Tomorrow, he would train the girls up and regardless, both are going to be a Necromancer and Poseidon each.

He was excited at the prospect of having such powerful helpers beside him.