Rodius sat down with a small smile on his face as he beheld the fragile form before him. White hair and soft features graced his eyes.
“Father.” Darius pushed aside the curtain that hid the room where Rodius looked over his sick wife. Rodius did not turn around to acknowledge his son, but Darius did not mind. The red haired boy stopped behind his father and looked at his mother’s pale, unmoving figure. This was the fifth year since she had last opened her eyes.
Darius still remembered the events that occurred during the Great Shift like they had happened yesterday. He remembered how helpless he was when their village had been raided by the unruly demons. Those that could fight had gone forward to do battle with the invaders, and his mother was one of them.
The instigators of the fight had been the Demons, which were few in number, but among them was a Necromancer. He had controlled swarms of Undead to overpower the defenders, forcing them to abandon their home and flee. A lot of good people had been lost that day, and many more had been permanently injured or traumatized in one way or another. His mother had been one of them, trapped in an endless cycle where she had no hope of ever escaping.
Through the first few years, she had drifted between sleep and consciousness. She had never been conscious for more than an hour, though. Then suddenly, she stopped waking up. It had been five years since the last time that Darius had seen his mother’s blue eyes grace their world.
But now, things would change.
“Do you have it?” Rodius asked without turning around.
“Yes.” Darius reached into the satchel hanging on his side and pulled out a vial of silver liquid. He handed it to Rodius with his heart thumping in his chest.
The potion was a specially made soul soothing potion that had been made by Baba Yaga using some rare herbs and materials that were incredibly difficult to find. Luckily, they had found the necessary ingredients on the Island of Fate during Divinity’s Bout. Upon returning, they had given Baba Yaga the materials and had waited faithfully for it to be prepared.
Rodius carefully propped up his wife’s head and pressed the vial to her lips. Then he slowly fed her its contents until nothing remained.
“Baba Yaga said it would take some time before she wakes up.” Darius told his father in a low tone.
“How long?” Rodius asked with an emotional tone.
“Two weeks. He said she had been sleeping for a long time, so it will take some time for her body to recover and wake her up. We need to be patient.” The young man explained.
“Alright.” Rodius nodded his head and turned back to his wife. A tear slipped down his cheek and Darius knew it was time to leave. His father needed some alone time. The red haired young man left the room quietly, leaving Rodius alone with his sleeping wife.
“Marina… Soon, you will be with us again. Your children did great. I am especially proud of our little kitten. She has grown really well. I wasn’t much help with that. You will be surprised when you wake up….” With tears streaming down his face, Rodius caressed his slumbering wife’s face.
.
.
Leon turned to look at Elena when she roused from her meditative state with his eyebrows raised up. He had a small smile on his face as he watched her. Through out the past week, she had been constantly training when they stopped moving, and meditating whenever they were moving. Through her constant efforts, she had steadily broken down the barrier that separated her from D rank. And now, she had finally surpassed that threshold!
“Congratulations.” Leon praised her when her eyes snapped open.
“Hehe, thanks. But I’m nothing compared to you.” Elena beamed. She was referring to the time when she had initially met him in the ruins of the desolate town. Back then, she had yet to gain her first Class, while Leon was straddling the threshold between E and D rank. It had not been too long ago, yet Leon had left her so far behind.
“You are still pretty good.” Leon did not feel like bragging so he only smiled and waved off the matter.
“Hmm…” Elena hummed and said nothing, so Leon took the conversation into his hands.
“So, I’ve been wondering. What is your Class?” He asked. He had read up a bit on the Class system that non-monsters used. While monstrous beings like himself used Race Advancements, others used the Class system.
The line that separated the two was quite thin, actually. Scholars still regularly debated on what classified a person as a monster. If Leon was considered a monster, even though he was more civilized than some who were not classified as a monster, then why did he not use the Class system as well? It seemed like this separation was left to the liking of the Gods.
“Oh…” Elena’s eyes went wide and her hand went up to scratch the back of her neck. “My Class is the Rogue Class.” She said. When Leon heard that, he was instantly reminded of the Class system of games back on Earth. With Rogues, Paladins, Swordsmen, and the like. It was the same thing here in this world.
There were Class progression paths too. From Rogue, Elena would change her Class to a more advanced version of the Rogue Class. Something more tied with magic and whatnot.
“You should be level 100 already, right? What Class do you plan on switching to?” Leon was curious.
“I’m not sure. It depends on what options are available to me when I return home.” Elena twirled a lock of her red hair with her index finger while thinking.
Leon understood what she meant. Like Monsters, which needed a Catalyst to advance their race, non-monsters needed something similar to change their Classes. This ‘Catalyst’ for them, was referred to as a Class Change Crystal. It was a rare and very expensive crystal that was usually possessed by the ruling powers of a place, or the Mercenary Association branch in a place. Hence, it was not that easy to change Classes on the fly.
,m One thing about the Class Change Crystals was that they also provided multiple change paths that a person could choose from. Unlike monsters that just advanced into whatever race they could advance to, non monsters were able to choose from a list of at most three different classes that were compatible with their skills and stats.
With a smirk, Leon opened his mouth. “What if I told you I have a Class Change Crystal with me?” He asked.
“What?! You have one on you?!” Elena was shocked! Class Change Crystals were incredibly hard to find! But when she thought of all what Leon had been through during Divinity’s Bout, she realized that it was not so strange that Leon had gotten his hands on a Class Change Crystal. He had cleared a dozen floors, and beaten the last floor of the Tower of Trials. The chances of coming across the crystal was immensely high in his case!
“Yup. I have one.” Leon leaned back in his seat and flicked his wrist. A jagged, transparent crystal the size of his head appeared on his palm, and he held it out to Elena. The girl was about to lean forward to activate it when she paused.
“Are you sure this is alright?” She looked up at him and asked. In her village, Baba Yaga was the one who held the Class Change Crystal, and even he said that it was rare. If Baba Yaga said something was rare, then that meant it was extremely rare!
Baba Yaga was someone who had a lot of things in those bottomless pockets of his. He could easily pour out tons of gold from his pockets if he wanted, including various exotic materials, but for him to say something was rare only hammered in the reality of the situation.
This made Elena very hesitant at the moment.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Leon smiled and handed the crystal over to her. He was not giving it to her to keep, but just to change her Class. She had already hit the cap of her current Class which would make it more difficult for her to make progress. By starting from level one in a new class, she would make rapid progress!
With wide eyes, Elena poured her mana into the crystal, and it lit up in a burst of bright colors!