Taking a deep breath and standing up, Brance shooed away the Sanford siblings. He didn’t want to accidentally hurt them with the channeling of his Mantra.
“My Earth lays the stone-like foundation to support me in my efforts to protect those I love. My foundation is guided by the steady bellows of my Wind, allowing it to soar to untold heights. My foundation shines in the radiance of my Light, allowing it to break the sky and reach the heavens.”
Unlike Cynrik, who chanted his Mantra in parts, Brance’s flowed out seamlessly in its entirety. However, the reaction from the Ambient Mana in the room was no less impressive than his older brother.
Sprouting from the ground like a sapling, an impressive micro-tower started forming. At first, it was just a shiny little spike jutting up from the floor, but very quickly, it took the shape of an intricate, white, shining cobblestone tower. This tower surged upward while emitting gusts of Wind each time it grew.
Gabby, like usual, gasped loudly, nearly breaking Brance’s concentration, as he stood over the now-meter-tall tower with his hands forming claws and facing each other. Second, by second, the glittering sturdy tower grew both in height and width until it nearly reached the dorm’s ceiling. Finally, just before it made contact with the ceiling, a dazzling bright orb of Light appeared and swallowed the top of the tower, finishing the tale told by Brance’s Mantra.
-You have perfectly harmonized your three Affinities.-
-You have unlocked the Fusion Skills Tab.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Fusion Skill Surging Earth Spike .-
-You have learned the Tier-1.5 Fusion Skill Radiant Tower.-
Brance released the breath he didn’t know he was holding, and the Radiant Tower phased out of existence, and he felt his legs turn to mush, causing him to fall back onto the couch while panting heavily. He was forced to expend several times more Mana than his brother to complete his Mantra.
“Brancie, are you OK? That was amazing. What do you call that tower thingy? Can you make it full-sized so we can live in it? Oh, oh, I could be the princess trapped at the top, and you could save me from your dastardly mad king brother.” Gabby pounced on Brance when he collapsed and started machine-gunning questions while shaking him.
The little pink bunny ears on the hood of her pajamas rocked back and forth, creating an adorable scene.
Brance was helpless to the vicious attacks of the little girl smitten by him and just laughed. The adrenaline rush presented by completing his Mantra and his Evolution to Tier-1 was starting to wear off.
“OK, OK, Gabby, you’re gunna get the gross impurities all over your bunny PJs if you keep this up. I have to go shower.” The moment Brance brought it up, Gabby’s eyes went wide, and she used Brance’s chest as a springboard to flip away.
“NOOO, not my bunny PJs. QUICK SIR HOPPINGTON THE 8th, WE HAVE TO GET WET NAPKINS AND WIPE THEM OFF.” So, being the innocent little girl she was, Gabby dashed off to the kitchen sink to get some wet napkins, with her trusty companion sitting on her shoulders.
Benny and Brance snickered at her overly dramatic act and went separate ways. Brance went to shower, leaving Benny chasing after his little sister so he could try and get her to go back to bed.
About 30 minutes later, the freshly bathed, Cynrik and Brance were back on the couches and scrolling through the list of Classes they had access to.
[You’ve got Warrior; that’s the prerequisite version of Paladin. It must be nice.] Cynrik couldn’t hide his disappointment that he didn’t get any unique Class options. Technically Brance didn’t either, but he felt Tobs was just getting back at him for trying to make her into a catgirl earlier.
[It’s not a big deal; keep scrolling through your list. I know you’re upset there are no overpower classes like Spellblade Assassin or something like that, but still, at least you’ve already got your Sub-Class picked out. I haven’t even gotten that far yet.] Brance rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling through the list of potential Sub-Classes.
[You should go after something that gives a boost to STR or VIT, from what I can tell, every class, whether it’s a Main or Sub-Class, provides some kind of stat buff or increase to your Distribution. See, like how my Engineer Sub-Class gives me 0.1 extra DEX on level up, it may seem like nothing, but it grows 0.1 every 2 levels I gain in my Sub-Class. So at level 20, ill have an extra 1 point added to my main level up Distribution. OH, how bout you go after blacksmith…er wait, you don’t have the prerequisite for that.]
[It’s annoying as hell that Tobs is restricting us to Non-Combat-related Sub-Classes. If not, I could have chosen something like Mage or Cleric. Well, maybe not Cleric, but you get my drift.] Venting his frustration in the mind link, Brance went ahead and clicked Warrior as his Primary Class and continued scrolling until his eyes landed on one specific Sub-Class.
Cynrik, on the other hand, finished up by just going with the good old Thief Class. Depending on how he built his stats and skills up, he could eventually get the Assassin Class or even a Legendary Unique Class later on down the line.
-You have chosen Thief as your Tier-1 Primary Class. Would you like to lock in your choice? Remember once you accept, this change can not be undone (Y/N)-
[Yeah, yeah, Tobs, just do the thing.]
-You have obtained the Tier-1 Primary Combat Class Thief.-
-Your Stat Distribution has been adjusted; you will now receive an additional 0.1 points in DEX and AGI upon increasing your Main Level.-
-You have learned three Tier-1 Thief Skills.-
-Since the host has similar abilities to the traditional Thief skills, you have been given a different batch of Starter skills.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Thief Skill Pick Lock.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Thief Skill Backstab.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Thief Skill Disarm Trap.-
Cynrik felt a sharp pain in his head as the information about his Thief class flowed in. Massaging his temple to relieve some of the pain, Cynrik checked out his three new skills. He noticed the lack of Thief staples, like Stealth and Detect Traps, but it couldn’t be helped since he had Mana Sight and Shadow Veil. Pick Lock, and Disarm Trap, which were what Cynrik considered “quality of life skills,” left him with a neutral feeling upon getting them early. But when he read Backstab, Cynrik’s left eyebrow raised up and a sneer formed on his lips.
-Tier-1 Passive Thief Skill Backstab
-All attacks to the back of a target will have a 25% chance to deal twice as much damage and inflict a bleed status on the target. 0/25 –
[Welp, one of the skills I just got is super useful. Backstab does double damage and bleed. It’s pretty savage. Hurry up and choose Warrior already.]
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Brance chose Warrior as his Primary Class.
-You have obtained the Tier-1 Primary Combat Class Warrior.-
-Your Stat Distribution has been adjusted; you will now receive an additional 0.1 points in STR and VIT upon increasing your Main Level.-
-You have learned three Tier-1 Warrior Skills.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Warrior Skill Taunt.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Warrior Skill Parry.-
-You have learned the Tier-1 Warrior Skill Shield Bash.-
Even though Brance had been slamming his shield into opponents for ages, he only now got an actual skill for it. The main difference being it not only increased the damage output of his attack but also had a 10% chance of inflicting a Stun Status on his opponent.
When he told this to Cynrik, he got the expected ridicule, but instead of dragging out his harassment, Cynrik changed gears relatively quick and went back to nagging about choosing a Sub-Class.
Cynrik was worried about pulling too far ahead of Brance. Even though at the beginning, the increase in specified stats was minuscule at best, by the time they reached the cap and started pouring XP into their primary level, the added stat bonus would be significant enough that it would break the power balance between them.
Figuring it was useless to keep pressuring Brance to search for a Sub-Class faster, Cynrik decided to pull up his skills, starting with his Elemental ones. After each skill, a numeric value signified how many SP the skill needed to evolve to the next Tier.
From what he could tell, Basic Grade Tier-0 skills like Fireball needed 10 SP; in comparison, Tier-1 skills such as Air Missle required 25. But this changed when it came to his Special Advanced-Grade Dark Affinity. The Tier-0 Skills sported a 25 point price, Tier-1 needed 50, and lastly, his two Tier-1.5 skills, Shadow Leap and Shadow Sewing required 75 SP to evolve.
This revelation made him frown for two reasons. The first was the introduction of half Tiers. Requiring a massive 75 skill points to level up a single skill seemed overly counterproductive, even if the skill was kind of OP. But this raised his second concern. Would the skill increase a whole Tier, or only half when he inevitably did evolve one?
[Sigh, Brance, looks like we need to find a steady influx of Skill points. The cost of developing our Elemental Skills is kinda ridiculous.]
-Host Cynrik is incorrect. Skill points not only evolve the skill they are used on, but they also strengthen the present form of a skill. For example, using the Tier-0 Fire Skill, Fireball, if you reach the 50% mark, 5/10, you will see an increase in the size, temperature, and power the construct can handle. You were limited to how much Mana you could pour into the skill before releasing it in the past. This limit would slowly be removed by feeding the skill SP.-