Zarian watched as the kitchen exploded into a meta-gaming affair, everyone else debating and questioning which class he’d picked. This was why he’d held back from telling Hannah. It was fun to see how everyone would react and how they would debate each other to figure out his most likely choice.
Things became competitive, too. Naomi wanted to win.
Zarian lounged back in his seat on the kitchen counter as he sipped more from his delicious beer. The shouting was growing louder in volume at this point. He couldn’t help but giggle like an evil maniac.
Ah, yes, this was perfect.
Finally, Bianca took charge of silencing everyone with a pulse of goodness and the weight of her Level 41 advancement. At the very least, she was careful not to push that on Zarian. He was glad she was mindful of him, even if it meant she’d led ill-advised genocides.
“Okay, let’s say my idea of the Wizard Knight class isn’t a strong one. I know. Sorry. But still. Wizard Knight sounds hot,” Bianca admitted. “Look at him. He’s gotten all muscle-y lately because of the training and food. Zarian could totally pull off the Wizard Knight look.”
“It’s not Wizard Knight, Bianca. Just drop it,” Gilbert grunted.
“Please, please, please be a Wizard Knight!” Bianca pleaded, hands clasped.
“Are you stuck on Wizard Knight because he’ll lose the evil alignment?” Hannah accused.
“What? No!” Bianca wriggled nervously in her corner of the kitchen. She let out a disagreeable puff. “It would be cute, y’know, with me being a princess and him being a knight.”“It’s not legendary,” Naomi said. “That’s pretty much saying you’ll keep your beat-up car instead of getting a new hot rod you’ve earned through blood, sweat, and tears.”
“Okay, fine, I give up. Goodbye, sweet knight.” Bianca let out a quick sob, wiped her face free of a lone tear, and went back to being upbeat and merry.
Has she gotten more … insane? Zarian wondered. She was still good +3. Maybe the new class was getting to her. I should really keep a closer eye on Bianca. If you leave this girl alone for too long, she’ll spark an entire world war or something crazy.
Zarian was crazy. But his craziness was tempered by a dash of wariness. Bianca was unfiltered craziness on a magic ecstasy ride.
With her choice of Wizard Knight out of the running, things were getting to the good part.
“What else are we eliminating?” Gilbert asked.
“Other than Wizard Knight?” Naomi shot Bianca a glare before she continued. “Black Wizard, because it’s plain and not legendary. And Magnificent Martyr. You can get the fuck out with that self-sacrifice, goodie-two-shoes bullshit.”
Naomi looked at Bianca again.
The Light Princess shrugged. “I don’t like that one either. It doesn’t fit Zarian. He’s our bad boy.”
Zarian covered his face with a palm to hide his smile. The kitchen fell into silence for a little while as everyone thought about the last three options.
“It’s not the Eldritch Wizard,” Hannah said. “While Para is strange and eldritch in some ways, she hasn’t changed while in the dungeon. I imagine getting Eldritch Wizard would develop her further into a more high-quality creature. While that would be both interesting and more terrifying, who knows what it would’ve done to Para.”
“She looks the same to me.” Gilbert raised his mug in a toast to Para.
The Parasite Cloak waved a fleshy hand back.
“So that leaves us with Devil Wizard and Madness Wizard,” Naomi said.
“Quick, repeat them for me,” Gilbert requested.
<Devil Wizard (Legendary): This class grants you the Seven Cursed Scrolls of Sinful Destruction, a soul bound skill. It offers 1 epic trait, 1 uncommon trait, and additional stats: +1 Wonder and +1 Mysticism. This class is evil aligned.>
OR:
<Madness Wizard (Legendary): This class comes with the Grimoire of the Mad Voidling Prince, a soul bound skill. This class offers 2 rare traits and additional stats: +2 Wonder. This class is evil aligned.>
Naomi, Hannah, Bianca, and Gilbert shared a look. Zarian felt a strange tingle down his spine as they all turned to him at once.
“Madness Wizard,” they all said.
“What?! Really? You had me figured out that quick?!” Zarian complained.
It was a little annoying, honestly. He’d thought they would debate between Devil Wizard and Madness Wizard a little longer. He’d figured the added +2 Wonder stat that the Madness Wizard delivered would throw them off. How did they know?
Naomi had the answer. “It sounds like you.”
“While the +2 Wonder is a strange selection, it’s not far off from your build. And we all know how extremely useful Wonder can be. It touches on so many facets such as supernatural perception, faith, luck, and so on,” Hannah explained.
“That new skill, Grimoire of the Mad Voidling Prince, sounds like something you’ll get instead of the whole sinful destruction one,” Gilbert added.
“I really wanted Wizard Knight, but Madness Wizard was my second choice,” Bianca said.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Again, it sounds like you,” Naomi repeated.
Zarian opened and closed his mouth.
His throat felt a little constricted. He felt weird. Off, even. Maybe a tad weak. There were stinging sensations in the corner of his eyes. Why was that?
Zarian had a strange ache inside of his chest. The eerie and surprising sensations only became worse because everyone was noticing his silence. Finally, Zarian realized what was happening.
Am I being emotional?
Why?
He refused to break down and cry. His evil alignment wouldn’t allow it, and Zarian himself wouldn’t want that either. But he was certainly affected. He didn’t get why until he thought back about how Naomi had kept saying, ‘It sounds like you.’
They really know me.
They’d gone on a genocide for him.
Hannah had shown more of herself during and after the dungeon crawl. She’d always checked in on him and asked for his approval on things.
These people liked him. They trusted him. They followed him, believed in him, and cared about his well-being despite his issues and all the problems surrounding him.
They were a step away from being as good to him as Ariana at this point. Which was amazing to think about because they hadn’t been around each other for long.
If it was only Naomi, it would’ve made sense. But Bianca and Hannah? Even Gilbert?
Bianca moved slowly from across the kitchen and joined his side. “It’s okay to cry.”
“I’m not crying.”
“You can cry on my shoulder.”
“No.”
“Please cry. I want to see you cry.”
Zarian snorted and laughed. He wiped his eyes, and the stinging went away. “You are so fucking weird, Bianca.”
“Don’t you hide your tears from me! Let them fall free on my shoulder! They’re so precious!”
Bianca sparked a play-fight over Zarian’s tears for the next couple of minutes as the others watched and drank. The duo of good and evil, the Light Princess and the Madness Wizard, wrestled back and forth across the kitchen counter, which showed that Bianca had learned some moves from Naomi.
Still, she ended up in a triangle choke with her head and arm caught between Zarian’s thighs. If it wasn’t for the System’s casual suppression of their stats and abilities, they would’ve destroyed the kitchen easily.
Once Bianca finally gave up. Zarian admitted to some of his gains from selecting the Madness Wizard. Starting with his latest soul bound skill:
<Grimoire of the Mad Voidling Prince: Through the ruinous text left behind by the prince of mad voidlings, you can evoke the maddening magic of the void. The grimoire must be summoned as a medium. You currently have 1 learned spell: Void Step.>
<Void Step (Epic): Step in and out of the void to relocate to a location within your awareness. Beware of what you might find during your journey. Or what you might bring back. Scales with Wonder.>
“When did you learn that?” Hannah asked.
“While you were asleep,” Zarian said cheekily.
“Can you bring others?” Naomi asked, excited.
“It might not be safe. I haven’t tried it yet. But I can tell that the spells from the mad voidling prince are really hard on the mind, if they’re not like mine.”
“No, thanks.” Gilbert chugged from his mug before having another refill.
Zarian shook his head at the other man. “There’s a bunch of other quirky things I have now.”
Choosing the Madness Wizard had given him two new rare traits:
<Uncanny Valley Effect (Rare): The more unusual or creepy you are, the more unsettled strangers or enemies will feel. This will obscure your true motives, flaws, or anything that you telegraph, making it especially hard for others to read you.>
<Void Mysticism (Rare): While using void-like abilities, they will partially scale with your Mysticism as an addition to their normal scaling unless they scale with Mysticism already. That is unlikely since most if not all void abilities scale with Wonder.>
“So you’re really going to invest more in the Wonder stat?” Bianca remained sitting on the counter next to him, bumping shoulders. “It’s awesome just like Hannah said, isn’t it?”
Zarian nodded. “Yeah, well, it’s a worthy investment. But I’m most likely going to throw more Free points into Mysticism.”
“For the aura recovery, I imagine,” Hannah said.
“For our aura recovery.” Zarian chuckled. “I imagine you’re all wondering why I’ve emphasized that. Just hold on. I got two more major things. I have the third spell from the dread mire gator.”
<Dread Mire Bellow (Epic): After the Quagmire Pit and Dread Mire Bite, the invisible and horrific creature will release a boisterous roar. The nearest enemies will suffer some sonic damage and significant mental trauma. Scales partially with Wonder and Mysticism.>
“I like it.” Naomi flashed a mean smile.
“Does that sonic damage and mental trauma have anything to do with your singing, chief?” Gilbert asked with a drawl.
All the ladies refocused on Zarian with strange looks. He felt like he was under the microscope now. Obviously, nobody gave him more scrutiny than Bianca.
“Singing?” Bianca’s eyes flashed. “You were singing?”
“So, onto the next thing!” Zarian shouted.
<You’ve gained two additional alpha skill slots!>
<You’ve gained three additional beta skill slots!>
<Your actions have deemed you outstanding upon reaching your First Class Advancement. You’ve gained an additional +2 Free Point.>
That last part redirected the flow of the conversation away from Zarian’s singing to how the System had deemed his actions as outstanding. Unlike Zarian, Bianca and Hannah had only received exceptional and an additional +1 Free Point.
It made sense, though, since Zarian had done quite a lot.
Bianca seemed satisfied. Hannah accepted that with grace. And Zarian was pleased.
Henceforth from Level 40, Zarian gained +2 Willpower, +2 Wonder, +3 Mysticism, +7 free per level.
“Okay, everyone, I need you to open your mouths now,” Zarian said. “This is for one of two treats I have for you.”
“No,” Gilbert flat out said.
“Okay, Bianca, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Upright posture. Don’t forget to smile. The money shot is important.” Bianca lowered from the counter and got on her knees.
Everybody gawked at her. Even Zarian. Then Naomi let out a big sigh and started lowering down as well. At that point, Zarian finally realized where the mistake was coming from.
He waved his arms frantically to stop them. “No, no, no! That’s not what I meant. It’s for Spectral Spider Network +1! Here, let me explain.”
<Spectral Spider Network +1 (Level 15): Summon hand-sized spider ghosts who carry a link with you and each other using phantom network threads. They are highly proficient in supernatural stealth, distraction, and rare arcane webbing. Through them, you can open direct communication channels and use their senses to perceive their world. Advancement: +1 allows the spiders to phase into the minds of your allies for a more direct networking approach. Scales with Mysticism.>
“Oh! So you want to shove the little guys into our mouths. Ah. I see.” Bianca nodded slowly. Then she slowly shook her head. “No bueno, no bueno.”
“Can’t you have them phase through our skulls directly?” Hannah asked.
“Are you hearing the words coming out of your mouth?” Gilbert said in Hannah’s direction. “Ghost spiders. In our minds? That’s pushing it a little.”
“Spider me up, sir,” Naomi demanded. “I’ll take it in my mouth.”
“Pause.” Gilbert chugged his beer. He refilled the mug. “Okay, continue.”
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