Hunter Class Choice

Later, in his hotel room, Alexandre studied the documents he had up on his laptop. Now that he'd signed his paperwork and get student card it was officially a student, he had access to the Hunter Academy research and information database… or at least a large portion of it. There would of course be many secrets kept even from the students.

But there was still a rich wealth of information to be studied in the regular database, at least several thousand different topics. At first, Alexandre was at a loss regarding where to start reading. Then he remembered what Professor José had said about combat and how Alexandre should strategize how his skills would evolve to support his preferred combat style.

A few database queries later, and Alexandre had found one of the foundational treatises on Hunter combat: a description of "combat classes."

Generally speaking, there were two basic elements to combat—ranged and melee warfare. Apparently, there were three video game-style classes associated with melee combat in the Aurora system:

The Boxer class specialized in hand-to-hand combat, preferring short-range enhancements to the body's natural weaponry. For example, brass knuckles and steel-toed boots. The three most important statistics for a Boxer, according to the database, were Strength, Endurance, and Resistance.

A sidebar claimed that Boxers were the most advanced class to master, requiring intense focus and bodily control to develop, as well as putting the user in the most dangerous proximity of all the classes. It took a special kind of insanity to put yourself in a Zombie's bite range, after all!

Yet, the database also said that as Boxers evolved their bodies, they gained an incredible amount of adaptive toughness that indeed helped them survive in hand-to-hand combat, like RPG-style tanks. This quality made Boxer-type Hunters highly sought after by Hunter guilds.

The next melee-oriented class was the Warrior. This class specialized in traditional melee weapons like swords and hammers, unsurprisingly. The same tools that had served humanity since the stone age were still very effective in the modern day! The preferred stats for Warriors were Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance.

Alexandre was once more reminded of Professor José's eccentricities when he saw the next melee class. The Thief was different from the previous two classes in that it specialized in exploiting a target's weaknesses in an underhanded sort of way. Thief-style Hunters tended to use combat knives and other tools that could be used to create subtle but savage wounds, but they also often specialized in the use of rifles and other similar ranged weapons. The preferred stats for Thieves were Agility and Dexterity.

Next was the Rifleman class. As the name suggested, Rifleman-type Hunters focused on using ranged weapons to keep as much distance between themselves and their targets as possible. Riflemen often used common ranged weapons like assault and sniper rifles, and they benefited the most when they focused on the Dexterity and Perception stats—with a smaller focus on Agility, especially for Riflemen who used shorter-range guns like SMGs.

Next was a class that somewhat surprised Alexandre, even though he knew very well by that point that Hunter abilities could be quite paranormal in nature. The Mage class specialized in manifesting elemental powers such as fire and ice manipulation, though there were apparently also numerous subtypes of this class such as Demonologist and Warrior-Mage.

At its core, the Mage-type Hunter wanted to do the same as the Rifleman: keep a distance from the target and avoid bodily harm as much as possible! As something of a departure from the other classes, the Mage's preferred stat was Intelligence, with the more ordinary Dexterity falling closely behind.

Alexandre looked over the personnel and class records which were available to him as a student, looking over the ratios of how many people belonged to each class. One statistic became immediately obvious: It was much more popular to be a ranged class than a melee class. In fact, over 70% of Hunters at the academy were either Riflemen or Mages!

"Makes sense," Alexandre said to himself. "After all, the Zombies want nothing more than to get you within arm's reach…"

Of the remaining 30% of Hunters who were melee classes, almost all of them were Warriors. Again, this made sense. The average person would feel much more comfortable protecting themselves with a sword than with a knife, after all… to say nothing of using their bare hands!

There was a certain kind of edgy appeal to both the Rogue and Boxer classes, of course. A good number of students who hadn't yet seen combat had chosen these classes. However, Alexandre's keen eyes saw the truth at once: Among students and staff who, according to the database, had encountered actual combat in a Black Zone, the number of Rogues and Boxers was much, much lower.

Was this because all the Boxers and Rogues tended to die early on, or did they simply realize their mistakes and choose a new class upon returning to the academy after their first mission? Perhaps it was a mixture of the two, Alexandre thought. Nonetheless, both Boxers and Rogues together made up a grand total of only 10% of the academy's Hunters.

Alexandre stared at all this information for what felt like hours. He needed to choose a class of his own.

But which one was right for him? Which one would best help him achieve his goals and destroy his enemies?