After all of us had rested, I carried on my explanation to Max.
‘See, how it works for us is that we have total power and we have potential power right? When you were first named your potential was probably what? 50? 80? Maybe even less. That is a limitation placed on us by the system based on our species. Sure it may deviate a few more or less but that’s about it. True power is when you finally break that first constraint. You saw Levine and the fire squirrel right? Levine seemed to have broken the constraint with his agility and maybe some other stats as well. Although right now he’s badly injured but once broken, always broken, his potential has grown. And now it’s the same for you, your potential limit must have broken and your total stats rose above 100, that is why the choice of paths opened up to you.’
I could see that it was a lot to take in for Max.
‘Well think about, also Rox said to talk to her about choosing a job, she’s directing the healing team with Levine and the fire squirrel so go find her there.’
As he walked away I started to look through some of the messages that had popped up. I first looked at the ones Rox wouldn’t be too interested in as they weren’t dungeon related.
Fucker! My rank according to the system was Rank B because of my Rank A skills. So fighting and killing lower rank creatures weren’t a good way of raising my abilities at all.
Next I looked at the carcass of the wolf. It was a grizzly duty but I think the materials from the body would be good to make a few pieces of equipment. Boy did I feel bad for the squirrels and hares that got that job!
‘Ok troop, some of you have to separate out the claws and the jaws of this beast… get the pelt out too. Leave the rest.’
Leaving the troop I made my way to find Rox as well. I considered, it was probably time for me to cancel the skill er… Rox is not going to be too happy with me.
The big downside to the skill. It had phenomenal power but for a limited time, so I always had to use it as a last resort. Which is also why I always traveled with Bird and Cadet.
I headed inside to find Rox.
I… well I found Rox. I also found Max…
‘Max, the fuck are you doing?’
Max was currently dashing from one side of the room to the other. In his way was a box and he was jumping over the box as he was ran each time. He cleared the box with, near as I can tell, only the slightest of margins.
‘Don’t disturb him, can’t you see how busy he is?’
Rox was watching Max do his crazy dashing about with folded arms.
‘Is that all you’ve got Max? Pathetic! A newborn mewling runs better than you!’
The figure of Max moved slightly faster…
‘Rox… what’s going on…?’
‘Well you see Alex, Max is going to be choosing his class soon, which is a very big decision. And well, the choices he has for classes I’m not satisfied with so I’ll make him train until he unlocks something good!’
I became speechless…
‘Wait… what?’
Rox looked at me with a very smug look, ‘During the battle, while I was training that fire squirrel, I gained an ability!’
She brought up a screen then showed it to me.
‘Holy shit that’s insane! You can give folks classes?!’
This was something really and truly incredible. When you get to the point where a class has to be picked, usually it’s a complicated process. And you don’t get to choose from a list, you have to navigate a series of yes or no questions and then a class is bestowed upon you. This was huge!
‘Rox, you have upgraded to a class changer!’
‘That somehow feels really insulting…’
By this point Max was lying on the group panting for breath.
Rox tilted her head while looking at me, ‘Wait, why are you so weak right now.’
What the… could she see my stats? No I think she can feel the aura. I shrugged as I told her, ‘It’s the rebound from using my skill. I’m weakened for a time after I use the skill. I’m as weak as Max is right now.’
‘… Sir! I’m right here…’
'... little dickwad, you used your power right after coming out and leaves you like this?!'
I could sense a small bit of fire igniting in her eyes...
'Actually the increased stamina was good, helped me heal faster! I was going to leave it on for the day to finish off healing but I don't want to risk being weakened for 2 days... just in case.'
Maybe I had gained Levine's [Silver Tongue] ability somehow because Rox seemed to be accept my answer... now to divert attention away!
‘Anyway, if you can take a break we can go through all the different messages we’ve been putting off.’
‘... Sure sounds like fun.’
Of course the first thing we looked at was the level up message. That message sure does send a warm feeling throughout my body.
‘Skill bestowal?!’
Rox exclaimed in shock, this was a godly ability! It meant if we had the skills, everyone could be insanely outfitted. I was looking at the screen with my mouth open in shock!
I almost wanted to cry! On earth, how much trouble did we go through? Skills were like fragments of heaven that we chased after in our quest for survival… and here I can be like... POW! Here’s a skill?!
There’s got to be a catch.
‘Show me all the skills!’
‘Most of these are fucking useless aren’t they? And that disgusting wolf’s ability shows up again! Who wants the ability of a regenerating cannibal?’
Of course there was a catch, the abilities were expensive, 50 souls even for the lowest rank skills. Most the other skills were also useless.
I changed the option in the dungeon menu to hide the useless skills that I didn’t want to look at again. That left me… with 3. The slime skills [Minor physical resistance], the hare skill [Minor heightened hearing] and the squirrel skill [Minor sense of danger]. These were the only good ones. Of course the insane cost meant not everyone could have it… this troubled me. I was going to have to think of a way to resolve this.
‘Right Alex, we’re naming the fire squirrel right? She definitely proved herself!’
She had most definitely proved herself. Of everyone who fought, she had dealt the most damage to the Demon Wolf, even at great cost to herself. Hell, without that cannibal ability, she would have outright killed it.
‘You said you wanted to name her right? Actually I was wondering about that. In her case it’s clear that she deserves it but what about the others? We can just play favourites but I think we need to figure out a way to reward those that do well…’
‘How about a merit system? With merit points, they’ll get points for contribution in battles, how much mana they bring in etc and they can exchange it for equipment, skills and of course the grand prize, being bestowed a name!’
‘Rox… you’re a genius! That’s a great way to split resources as well as motivate everyone to work!’
With that, everything settled down. The wounded were being treated and soon only Levine was left recuperating as he had a particular problem.
The problem Levine had was he was [Manaburnt] and we didn’t know how to treat it. So Rox kept him in inside and kept studying him to try and figure out what the problem was.
As for the rest? Well we started collecting from outside the dungeon again. There was a new vigor to the movements of everyone. We had announced the merit point system and when we revealed that if they collected enough merit points they would be getting named, there were screams of excitement. Some tried to run out as soon as the announcement was over to try and get started on getting points!
It was after a while that Rox dropped another bombshell on me.
‘You… you know how to get these guys to evolve?!’
That’s right, Rox had figured this out! The fuck dude, what have I been doing for this past year?
‘I noticed it because the fire squirrel evolved right in front of me. It’s simple if you think about it. She had a high intelligence and when I taught her mana control her magic power must have increased. Now I’m not perfectly sure but I believe this means that if you have two stats that break the species limit, then they will evolve. I mean if you can evolve, I know most intelligent species aren’t supposed to evolve…’
Well call me a monkey’s uncle…
In my defense, I was really only knowledgeable about growth by humans… but both Rox and I had been watching these guys all this while! Yet she noticed it… well I admit when I am outclassed in something.
‘Alex will you stop sulking? It’s been two days!’
I was NOT sulking, I was brooding! There is a difference!
Anyways, Rox had gotten Levine, the fire squirrel and Max to start training together. She was thinking hard about the name I could tell. We decided that in a week’s time we would be holding the naming ceremony for the fire squirrel held in the dungeon crystal room. It was going to be our first big celebration thing, so I was fairly excited… so I guess I had to stop brooding.
So, mana was steadily and quickly pouring in, Max and co were being trained by Rox to unlock better classes before picking and we were preparing for a naming ceremony.
I looked through the dungeon menu at the special skills category. Two names burned into my eyes… soon guys, I’m trying my best so just wait for me.
I had woken up to the strangest sight you can imagine… Max and that fire squirrel were hanging from the roof… doing situps?
‘Come on, put your backs into it! You need to find strength to fight, even through exhaustion. To feel focus in times of stress! I won’t have you slacking one bit!’
Lady Rox was standing on the side arms crossed while she watched them do such an odd looking exercise.
I covered my mouth with my hand as I tried not to laugh.
‘Levine I know you’re up. You’re going to be joining them tomorrow!’
My blood ran cold… I was going to be doing that? But…
Well, I seemed alright… fuck wasn’t I injured? What happened?
There were a couple of messages from the system so I looked at them… and the first ones had me trembling.
‘Lady Rox? Can you look at this???’
Lady Rox came over and saw the message without any surprise.
‘What did you expect? Mana is more violent than fire of lightning and you set it off inside your body! If it wasn’t for Alex summoning a holy elemental stone and the fire squirrel channeling her own mana into you until it ran out, you would have just burnt into nothingness!’
My heart sank…
Lady Rox looked at me without a change in expression and said, ‘Don’t feel down about this, there is always a path… all that’s happening is now you’re walking a different one alright? You didn’t have any active skills before, so what’s the big deal? Also, have you looked at your other messages?’
I hadn’t, the shock of the first two had made me pause.
When I did look, I could only draw in some breath… I was slightly confused but I also knew that it was significant.
Lady Rox smiled at me, ‘Like I said, there is always a path! Congrats Levine, you have taken the first step just like Max! You can choose a class!’
A female swordswoman, covered in dirt and sweat walked through the gates of a city. If the dungeon crew had seen her, they would have recognized her. She was the one who had come to scout out the dungeon.
The female swordswoman walked her way to a building. On top of the building’s entrance could be seen the words ‘Adventurer’s Guild.'
She drew up to the counter and said, ‘I’d like to report the appearance of a new dungeon.’