13 A Class of Your Own
I could be wrong about all this, but I need to start somewhere. So, let's start with some assumptions. The Soul orb increased in size to the point that the other two are roughly only three quarters the size of the Soul orb. So we'll assign those a general value of three and the Soul orb a value of four. So the question becomes, what does that mean?
I scan through the different pages of the system.
[Carrion System]
[NAME: Morgan
[RACE: Spirit Crow
[CLASS: Umbral Seraph Level: 1
[AFFINITY: Plant, Shadow
[LEVEL: 3
[EXP: 370/400
[CARRION COINS: 352
[HEALTH: 13/13
[VITALITY: 32/32
[ANIMA: 13/13
[ESPRIT: 50/50
[ESSENCE: 16/16
[MANA: 36/36
[ATTRIBUTES
[ABILITIES
[STORAGE
[*LOCKED*
[...
Immediately, I see some changes. First up is the Class section, which is to be expected. The next thing I notice is the changes in what I term the statistics. Everything has improved. Health, Vitality, Anima, and most noticeably, Essense. That increased by more than fifty percent. That must be due to the increase in the Soul orb. Esprit also jumped up quite a bit. Is that from the qualitative change in the Wits and Agility Attributes? The only thing is that everything increased, so it probably isn't limited to only those factors. Maybe, it has to do with the mysterious Bloodline that I don't see listed here, or perhaps the Class adds bonuses to the Statistics? I need to get a primer on classes. Maybe Cara or Natalie can help.
I look over to where the two women are and see them staring back.
"WHAT?" I ask.
They nearly jump out of their skins. I really need to get better at my volume control.
Cara is the first to talk. "Ar-Are you alright?"
Instead of yelling again, I just nod.
Natalie chews on her lip for a second before asking, "What did you get?"
I tilt my head. I figure she would know; she knew the egg number. "CLASS."
She smiles, and it grows until her eyes close, and she pumps her fist in the air. "YES! I KNEW IT!" she yells. "It's something amazing, isn't it? Of course, it is. A goddess wouldn't give something a mediocre class. It's probably extraordinary, maybe even S ranked. Quick. What does the description say its rank is?"
"LEG-EN-DARY."
"Ha! I was right. S rank it is."
I have so many questions. What are classes for? What benefits do they confer? Can you have more than one class? A sudden click interrupts me before I can start to ask, and the office door opens. A man walks in with a quick, sure stride. He's a head taller than Cara with a broad shoulders and strong heavily stubbled jaw. His brown hair is thick and shines with golden highlights and looks like he has to constantly push it back to keep it from hanging over his hazel eyes. He wears a green shirt and must have a thing for brown leather because his pants, boots, belt, and what looks like a man purse are all made of the real deal. No discount pleather for this rugged manly man. Not that pleather exists in this world... or does it?
He sees Cara and smiles. "Cara, glad you made it out in one piece. Nat was ready to file a request to send a team to find you or maybe go herself. Probably one of the only times she and Jori agreed on something. That would have been a sight to see."
Cara smiles back. "Hello, Ozzy. It's sweet of them to worry, and I admit, for a while there, it was a bit touch and go, but thanks to Morgan here, I made it out intact."
"Hmm, she is interesting, isn't she?" His gaze felt intrusive like he was peeling away at my secrets. Seeing my discomfort, Natalie walks over to Ozzy and whacks him on the back of the head.
"Don't be rude. You haven't even introduced yourself."
What can be seen of Ozzy's cheeks through the stubble, flush, and he rubs the back of his head. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, Miss Morgan. I was just fascinated by the three separate divine energies an-"
"Oz! Manners."
He hangs his head. "Again, sorry. I'm Osmond vice guild master. Most people just call me Ozzy."
I wave a wing. "HEL-LO."
His eyes widen, surprised that I can talk. Either that or maybe he's shocked at how loud I'm speaking. It's really embarrassing to be shouting constantly. What kind of sneaky person, or you know, bird, only shouts when talking? I will fix this.
Ozzy recovers quickly. "So, what were you ladies talking about before I so rudely interrupted?"
"Morgan was telling us about the S ranked class she was blessed with," Natalie says with a smug smirk.
Ozzy's eyes bug out, and his mouth drops. "No way. I mean, I know you said the goddess had plans for her, but an S ranked class... and it's her first class at that!"
I am confused. Not about why Natalie was gloating about being right about my class being S ranked. I assume she made some sort of guess, and Ozzy doubted her. Though I suppose I'm curious as to how much she knows. However, I'm really confused about classes in general.
I look between the two of them and Cara, hoping one of them will explain this shit to me. Instead, they talk about "implications" and "evolved states" until finally, I can't take it anymore.
"SQUAWK!"
Natalie and Ozzy jump. Cara covers her mouth to hold back the laughter.
"EXPLAIN CLASSES. PLEASE," I say.
"Oh... Oh, my. I'm sorry, Morgan," Natalie says. "I forgot that, due to your circumstances, you probably don't have any frame of reference for... well, pretty much anything."
"Why don't we take the conversation into the apartment?" Ozzy says as he heads towards a set of doors to the side of the office.
The interior of the apartment is smaller than I would have expected. Two bedrooms, a living room, a library, and the kitchen and bathroom that are surprisingly more modern in appearance than I would have guessed this world had. Everything runs on magic instead of electricity and gas, but it still has the appearance of a modern dwelling.
I perch on the arm of the chair that Cara sits in while the guild masters sit across from us on a rather plush couch.
"So," Natalie starts. "The first thing that you should know is that classes are only one form of power system in the world and it is primarily a system in the Thuaidh and Theas continents. A man I know from a continent far to the east called Dongbei has a different system of power called cultivation, which has huge potential but is a much longer path."
I think I remember seeing something about cultivation as one of the possible rewards I could have gotten. I wonder if I can pick that up someday too? It's best I listen for now and ask questions later.
The three of them give me a not so quick and dirty explanation of what a class is and what benefits they can confer. Some of it is the technical shit that really only applies to the way the guilds classify the classes and how they rate adventurers, and if that ever comes up, I'll go over it then, but for now, the thing I understand is that a class is more about refining how you do what you do.
Do you fight monsters? Great. How? Is it with a bow and arrow? Maybe you should try to track down an Archer class. Oh, you actually track them down, maybe a Hunter class instead. You tame monsters through magical contracts and use them to track other monsters. Geez, now you're getting complicated maybe Beastmaster would be a good class for you?
So, now you've chosen what class you'd like to get, the only problem is, how do you get it? Well, that's the complicated part. It isn't as simple as finding a person to show you the ropes. There is magic involved in every class. Unless that would be master has a very high level and knowledge of how to imbue that essence of the class into a suitable Class Core, then the most they can do is show you some tricks.
But wait, there's more. If you can't find a master, there is always the possibility that you may get lucky and find a legacy, kind of like I did, though it is much harder, and there is no guarantee that the legacy you find is one that is compatible with you. If you only have archery skills and you find an Archmage Legacy, well, too bad, it will probably reject you.
Next up, God Stones. God Stones are like Class Cores only on steroids. You probably won't find a straight Archer Class God Stone; it's just too low of rank for the gods to even bother. More on ranks later. Needless to say, God Stones are typically high ranking classes and often involve words like "Chosen of" or "So and So's Champion" in the titles. Great perks if you can get one, but it is pretty rare, and those who do are usually touted as heroes or demon lords. I'm guessing that second is when a bad guy gets their hands on one.
If that's not enough, there are also Bloodline Classes, which is what Cara, and I guess now I float. They're usually above average in terms of power, but some have weakened over time. Cara says that due to the thinning of the bloodline, her class is a rank lower than it was in the past.
Finally, there is an extraordinarily rare occurrence of a person developing a class all their own. No one is sure how it happens or why, but every once in a blue moon, someone somehow spontaneously creates a custom path and creates a brand new class. It might be similar to another class, but there is invariably something different. Because of their understanding of the class, the creator is able to create Class Cores earlier than normal.
As far as ranking goes, your basic common adventurer class is rated at C-rank; that's your archer class. Up from that is the B-ranked class that's a little more special. Most magic classes are at least this rank though there are a few C and even D-ranked magic classes. Oh, right, there are D-ranked classes, but those barely qualify. They are either strictly crafting classes or basic military classes that have very little in the way of power or development. These are usually granted to new soldiers as part of their basic kit. "Here, son, have a pointy stick and a class that'll give you the bare minimum to get you started." Usually, after a while, the soldier will either earn enough merits to get a class upgrade or save enough money to buy one from an adventurers' guild.
Then there are the A-rank classes. These are the powerhouse classes that people fight to the death over. It's also the rank where most of the God Stones rate. People who gain one of these classes are the ones who will ascend to great heights if they are allowed to mature. Natalie's class, Fate Weaver, is an A-ranked class. Oh, both Cara and Ozzy's classes are B-ranked. Cara, of course, has that bloodline specific Sorceress class, which is actually degraded due to diluted blood purity or something like that. Ozzy is something called a Seeker, which from the description is like a magic private eye at it's nicest and a magic CIA operative at it's least nice. Kind of scary really.
So where do I fall in all this? The S-ranked classes are almost universally classes created through divine means. In my case, ninja angels and their whacky descendants came up with this class to heighten their affinity to shadows and become the ultimate infiltrators and assassins. There is a rumor that there was a guy that created an S-ranked class that wasn't divinely inspired. Some swordsman became so attuned to the sword that he transcended his class and created something legendary. Of course, this same person is rumored to then have actually ascended and became a god himself. So, I don't know. Maybe creating your own divine ranked class is a requirement to becoming a god.
