Choosing the Dark Path

Even though there were many bodies, all Julius shared the same memories in real time. Julius had met numerous beta testers, but most of them wasted their time.

'It's better to have someone scared enough to turn back after seeing a goblin than to waste this opportunity on something trivial.'

There were those who met Julius and immediately looked down on him, demanding respect from him as an NPC. Others played twenty questions, trying to extract information from him. And then there were those who, dazzled by the miracle of magic, lost their senses and started recklessly shooting spells everywhere. Most of the people Julius encountered made him sigh.

Every second here was a golden opportunity, but these testers couldn't see it and wasted it so carelessly. How could they act so thoughtlessly when their lives would be at risk in just three days?

'Compared to them, this guy wastes nothing.'

Though Justin had missed the first day due to real-life obligations, from the second day on, he had been moving with flawless efficiency. He didn't waste a single question or action.

"—What's the general range of magic?" Justin asked.

"—It varies depending on the type of magic and your magic power stat. It's hard to give a precise answer," Julius responded.

"—Does the power weaken the farther it goes?" Justin inquired.

"—For projectile magic, usually, yes. Buffs and curses are exceptions," Julius explained.

"—So for buffs and curses, does the range matter much?" Justin pressed further.

"—It depends on whether it's low-level or high-level magic. The former is typically touch-based," Julius replied.

Even Julius didn't bother revealing unnecessary information unless it was essential. The reason was simple: even if they learned it, they wouldn't be able to use that knowledge until much later—long after they survived the apocalypse. Instead of teaching such far-off knowledge, it was better to teach skills they could use immediately.

'But that doesn't mean the knowledge for later isn't useful.'

If one survived until the end, this knowledge could be incredibly helpful. Justin had absorbed all the essential knowledge and was even learning things that might be needed later. He was preparing for both immediate crises and possible future dangers. If someone who didn't even know the basics did this, it would seem like overconfidence. But to Julius, Justin's actions showed foresight.

'More than anything, he understands the true value of this dungeon.'

By constantly fighting respawning goblins, he was gaining combat experience, practicing his skills, and increasing his level. This, rather than Julius's advice, was the true value of the dungeon. Justin was utilizing the dungeon's potential to its fullest. Every time he used magic, he analyzed its maximum firing speed, range, power, and accuracy, experimenting with different approaches each time.

At this point, he had practically become an expert in Magic Missile.

'And to think he reached level 3 through repeated grinding, something others gave up on long ago.'

Perhaps a man like this would be the one to survive the apocalypse and truly rebuild the world.

Hiding his thoughts, Julius smiled and said, "You've worked hard until now. What will you choose for your class advancement?"

Julius waved his hand in the air, summoning a translucent window. This time, the window displayed the list of available class advancements for a magic apprentice.

"The three options you can choose from now are these," Julius began.

The first was the most basic and common option: Mage. The second was Elementalist, a specialist in elemental magic. The last was Warlock, a class that was widely avoided in the game.

"There's no need to explain Mage. It's not much different from what you're doing now, except you'll be able to learn a wider range of spells."

This was the evolution of the basic magic apprentice. It was a straightforward, balanced choice with no standout strengths or weaknesses. Most players in the game chose Mage because it offered safe and standard play.

"Elementalist is a class specialized in combat magic. It massively boosts the power of elemental spells, but in exchange, you lose the ability to cast minor spells like summons or healing."

An Elementalist sacrificed versatility in exchange for powerful elemental attacks. Even basic spells like Fireball were immensely more powerful when used by an Elementalist. Especially later, when they learned lightning-based spells, they would be almost unbeatable. The downside was that outside of combat, they were not very useful.

"And lastly, Warlock… I don't really recommend it," Julius frowned as he spoke.

I understood why he reacted that way. Warlock was the most abandoned class among magic users. It combined the versatility of a Mage with the firepower of an Elementalist, but the penalties made all its advantages meaningless.

"First of all, you can't recharge magic through meditation. You have to either absorb life force or negative emotions to restore your magic uses," Julius explained.

In the game, Warlocks had two ways to recharge their magic: by absorbing someone's life force or by being thrown into chaotic places like a crime-ridden city or a battlefield. Outside of such places, there was no way to recharge magic without a sacrifice. However, Warlocks made up for it by having a much faster recharge rate than any other class. On a battlefield, they could recharge their magic faster than they could use it.

"In battle, that doesn't seem like much of a penalty. You wouldn't even need meditation," Justin pointed out.

"That's only when you're fighting for your life. After the battle, Warlocks are just burdens," Julius snorted.

A Warlock couldn't use rest or meditation to recharge. In combat, they could absorb life force and negative emotions freely, but after the fight, who would they absorb from to recharge their magic?

"The answer's simple. Your allies or weaker people. But if you do that, your reputation will plummet."

World Breaker was fundamentally a game about rebuilding civilization. Drawing power from negative emotions in a world that needed order? It might be fine during the initial chaos, but the more order was restored, the more a Warlock's standing would shrink. Sooner or later, everyone would learn about the inherent problems of being a Warlock.

"In the worst-case scenario, they might kill you before you can cause any trouble. Who would want to become a Warlock and be treated like that?" Julius asked rhetorically.

"Of course, someone would," Justin said confidently.

"Exactly, no one would... wait, what?" Julius looked at Justin in shock.

"I said someone would choose it," Justin replied, shrugging.

"And that's me. I'm planning to advance as a Warlock," Justin declared boldly.

"...."

Julius stared at Justin, stunned by his confident announcement.