32 Reconnection Replacement

"Look I know you're upset about everything, but you can't keep running off to the forest and hide. Your father and I worry about you and we don't want to watch you fall apart again."

Sora and Derock were standing in front of Galahad as he sat on the couch. Trying to talk sense into him before he did something reckless or stupid. All Galahad thought about that was they were a few hours late on their warnings.

"Just because you seemed to feel better at that pond you found as a kid, that doesn't mean it will work a second time." Derock added.

'I hope they are only talking about the first time, because I found a whole lotta clarity on the second trip.' Galahad commented to himself.

Galahad sat there while waiting for the speech to end. He felt they were somewhat overindulging their parental guidance since he voluntarily lived at home, but he didn't question it. The other option was letting them unraveling at the idea of losing another child to the Dungeon.

It had been seen countless times that even if an adventurer physically escaped part of the dungeon, they don't always return psychologically. Most of team P had announced to the guild they were retiring from the dungeon hunting careers the day after Galahad lost his team.

He knew his mother and father meant well, Sora was a not the kind of mother who would rant unless the point was to convey her feelings and help. Derock tried his best with explaining, but he was a man that led his forge by example, not by words. Galahad didn't know where Brett went, so he assumed his brother was holding up in the forge or kitchen.

The problem on Galahad's end was he didn't know what kind of truth he needed to keep telling his parents. He already told Solteer how telling everyone wasn't going to help, it only put himself and them at risk. His life would be over and his parents might not be able to keep running the shop and forge.

"We aren't asking you to just trap yourself in the house. Your father and I are taking a day off this week to go with you to get this paired to the city." Sora pulled out a Karmic plate from her clerk apron.

It was green and new, there weren't any runes or activity along it's edges. It reminded Galahad of the one Victor had bought after Mydia force him to purchase a crystal that didn't have a giant split down the middle. That memory felt like that had occurred years ago, and yet it also felt like it had just happened the other day.

Every so often after the incident, Galahad would have a thought or comment to make to his friends. When he turned to tell them something, he forgot they were still trapped below. He was pretty sure with everything that had been happening, that might had made his temper worsen in the back of his mind.

'Focus, your parents accidentally put you in a corner. They are giving you a Karmic plate, that is gonna be an issue.' Galahad's secondary conscious was pulling him out of having any sad thoughts, and forcing him back into the conversation.

His mother was talking about where they were gonna go to pair the crystal. "The closest location to pair the crystal, is with the resonance tower in the North district. After that I want you to try working in the shop."

"We don't care if you hide what happened from us, but you should at least talk to someone about what has been going on." She handed him the plate as he started thinking about the growing problem in the back of his mind.

Galahad was only partially listening to what his mother was saying beyond this point. He was too busy staring at the plate she handed him.

The towers were mana signal transceivers that worked in any short range distance of the city. Bigger and more densely populated areas required more towers to send the signals back and forth between the populous. It was the place Galahad need to go in order to pair the karmic plate.

When someone received or started using a new plate, a few things were required. First, the owner must imprint their soul to the plate so only they or a guild mana reader could activate it, luckily the soul imprint usually used a single drop of blood. Second, was the owner needed to go to a crystal resonance tower at some point to pair it with the city, otherwise the communication functions would not work.

That second step was an issue because once it paired with the city, everyone who sees the plate being would notice his class wouldn't say Magician anymore, it would say Battle.

'Oh shit, what is this thing gonna tell everyone when I go to tower? Will it tell them about the Spartan Class? Will the backside show off my strange devour skill or Fury and Fyre? Am I even able to use this if my original Karmic Plate is absorbed into my head?'

Too many questions he wanted to find answers to, but he knew the consequences were sharing with his parents what his plate said.

He tried not to react to any else that made him seem suspicious until they finally stopped talking and released him to his room. Once he was inside, he grabbed his short sword from the pile of his destroyed dungeon gear by the bed.

The sheath to his blade had taken the brunt of the black orb explosion, leaving the blade only a little warped and chipped along the end of the blade. It was probably the least the destroyed of his belongings that were given back to him after he left the medical center. His leather armor was missing most of the torso, his backpack was covered in burn marks, and his original karmic plate had disappeared inside him.

He wasn't concerned with any of that at the moment, he was getting his sword out and lightly cutting the end of his pinky finger. He took a moment before smearing some of the dripping blood on the crystal to pair with his soul.

A text window took over his vision, startling him for a moment.

[ Item Identified: Karmic Communication Crystal Plate ]

[ Allow Plate to pair with Soul? ] [ Pair ] [ Refuse ]

Galahad was surprised to see the text pop up during the pairing process; he had no idea that someone could stop the process while pairing a soul to an enchanted item. Magic registration can lead to some very bad consequences if interrupted. Galahad didn't want to find out the result of refusing, so he confirmed to pair shortly after reading the option.

The blood coming out of Galahad's pinky then stopped spreading from the cut, a new fluid began pooling out of the same spot. It was a lot more thinner substance with the much darker shade of red, nearly black. The contents were concerning Galahad as it made him recall the material that made up the tall, barely human looking monster from his nightmare.

A loading bar popped up into the center of Galahad's view. Next to it was an indicator of the percentage of completion

[ Pair Process: 0% ] . . . [ Pair Process: 023% ] . . . [ Pair Process: 56% ] . . . [ Pair Process: 74% ] . . .

[ Pair Process: 95% ] . . . [ Pairing Complete ]

The process took over a minute to complete, then the results of the completion revealed themselves.

[ + 300 XP ]

[ Chi Counter Unlocked ]

[ Mana Counter Unlocked ]

[ Summon Duration Unlocked ]

[ Status Viewer Unlocked ]

[ Title Changer Available ]

[ Battle Class: Spartan ] [ 500/800 XP ] lvl. 8

The one that caught Galahad's attention was the title viewer. He had never had a title before, it was something he had yet to earn during his time as a Support Mage.

Titles are a very useful tool for any type of adventurer for multiple reasons. They were considered something of a true name to the bearer, it signified who they are and amplifies a certain specialty about them. Are not just unique names earned through one's actions, they act like a boost to their own abilities once they are achieved.

Galahad thought about what titles he had seen before, mainly recalling Victor's and Rosetta's.

'Victor had "Cold-Blooded Wall" and Rosetta has something to do with fire magic, no surprise since she loved to use her fire skills for everything.'

After thinking about the possibilities of titles, Galahad looked down at the Crystal and saw runes slowly etching into the edges of the crystal. Words started to form around the center as well.

————————————

[ Galahad Mystroff ] lvl. 8

Class: ???

??? HP

Title: Lone Survivor

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

Agility: ???

————————————

'Well that's good luck, I hope. Now I don't have to worry about my parents seeing that I'm a battle class Spartan, whatever that even is.'

Galahad was relieved at the lack of information given, and realized that he still needed to know those statuses himself.

'I still don't know anything about this class except that it uses chi. I need to figure something out about that as well as trying to get back in the dungeon. I can't go around without a proper assessment of my strength.'

He remembered the Karmic plate giving him a reading for mana regeneration because he was capable of using it. This time nothing was shown, just unmeasured attributes and a title.

Karmic Plates were made to be very intuitive; they registered classes of different kinds into their enchantments so a user could get a scaled understanding to measuring their powers in a number format. Galahad's used to explain the speed of regenerating mana in the body and how much he expelled with his tethers or his single attack spell.

As Galahad thought about all the new problems he was facing with so much unknown information; decided he was going to sit at his desk and jot down what he knew so far in a old journal from school he never ended up using.

'Thank you Mrs. Hornfeir for the boring class lectures in botany, otherwise I'd have written notes instead of sleeping.'

Galahad first wrote the last date he checked his old Karmic Plate and all its stats. He wanted to try to his sanity to written data only he would review, if somebody questioned him, he could always look over his old class information. Plus putting it in a paper journal acts as security versus anyone who can access plates with stolen Guild equipment.

'Level 23'

'1245 HP'

'Attack: 9'

'Defense: 16'

'Agility: 18'

'Abilities included; Support tethers (Def., Speed, and Health) and lightning attack.

No titles and no magic armor, tools, or gear.'

He then wrote down everything that went after the explosion in the dungeon. It made him feel like he was meditating again, he figured this might help him cope a bit like his parents him to. He still skipped the details of the Spriggan and Blemmyaes though, and only put down what pretended to remember.

'It's unikely for someone to get this out of my room, but I'd be less paranoid about the journal if it didn't hide every secret about that night.'

As he made his way into the class unlock in the Succubus pit, he stopped and recalled something. 'I remember something unlocking titles when I unlocked battle class, but how do I see what does Lone Survivor?'

Right as he asked himself the question, his text window helped him out.

[ Lone Survivor ] Fighting alone sparks your resolve. Your strength and agility increase the longer you fight.

"Huh, that's... I'm not sure how I feel about that description. Must have came from being the only one of my team to survive the incident."

Galahad closed the journal and thought back on his day, just one day and so much happened. He rest head against his hand propped on the desk, smirking to himself.

"Eight levels in one day. I'm excited to see what I can do in a next week."

Galahad left out a mischievous grin that shined in the dark of his room. He slept for the first time without any strange dreams, only a fire burning within.