[Available Subclasses:
Name: Cleric
Description: Heal! Heal! Heal! Solve everything by restoring the state of things back to normal perfection! Heal wounds, cure fatigue, restore magic… Then, if for whatever reason you want to do something else, call in a favor from those whose lives you've saved.
Benefits: Increase Rate Law for Healing Talent by 10%
Cost: Cuts of your ability to learn or acquire non-Healing Skills and Spells — Until, of course, you evolve your observable Class to Secondary Cultivator.
Name: White Mage
Description: Because apparently, strictly healing isn't good enough. If you want to be a well rounded support, look no further! For as a White Mage you become proficient in the three most infuriating abilities of a combat controller. Heal your troubles away, Empower yourself and allies, and Sabotage your enemies with myriad ailments.
Benefits: Fuses Healing Talent with Controller Talent, leaving a single Rate Law affecting both original Talents which is subsequently improved by 5%.
Cost: Cuts of your ability to learn or acquire "non-White-Magic" Skills and Spells — Until, of course, you evolve your observable Class to Secondary Cultivator.
WARNING: The Rate Law outcome of a Talent Fusion can and will be lower than the higher Graded Talent unless both Talents are of equal Grade.]
'Controller?' Miles asked himself inwardly. 'It certainly would be useful to have the ability to buff and debuff targets. But, do I even have talent for it?'
There was only one way to check and Miles just so happened to have a conveniently ever-present shop present in the very core of his being. Now he'd only have to wait for Yvette to go to sleep to buy a Common Controller Skill. In the meantime… he'd suffer the process of scrolling through an alphabetized list of Skills.
An hour later, after cleaning up the portable kitchen and setting up their camping tent, Miles convinced Yvette to take the first sleeping shift. He had installed barriers to nearly eliminate the chance of a Dungeon Monster attacking, but one could never be too cautious. So, one of them would have to stay up while the other rested.
Fortunately, Miles was a Healing specialist in all but Class and his Invigorate and Restore Spells could significantly reduce the amount of time the two of them needed to sleep everyday. However, his proficiency, though staggering in progression, was far from potent enough to completely eliminate the need for sleep. It was also the reason he couldn't just wantonly spam some of his spells left and right without consequence.
So, after ten minutes silently passed with Yvette unmoving in the camping tent, Miles navigated through his System Shop.
[Shop (Skills):
…
Buffing Spell: Double Time | 30 System Points
Description: Instantly teaches you the Common Buffing Spell: Lesser Double Time. Manifested Skill allows you the ability to increase the Agility of your target.
…
Debuffing Spell: Paralysis | 30 System Points
Description: Instantly teaches you the Common Debuffing Spell: Lesser Paralysis. Manifested Skill allows you the ability to curse your target by targeting their peripheral nervous system.
...]
'Welp, here goes nothing...' Miles thought as he confirmed the transactions.
[Personal Talent Discovered]
[New Skills Learned]
[Talents:
...
Name: Controller (Buffing, Debuffing)
Grade: Common
Rate Law: 1x
Description: You can still be a genius, only it will be through hard work and not latent talent. You shouldn't have trouble learning Controller-type Skills and Spells. Mastering them, however, is another story altogether.
Skills:
Name: Common Buffing Spell: Lesser Double Time
Classification: Acquired Common Skill
Level: 1
Description: For when you need that extra kick in speed. Versatile, and almost unconditionally helpful, casting this Spell makes its target faster in every sense of the word.
Cost and Effect: ~10% of current Magic instantly increases the Agility of your target by 5% for thirty seconds.
Name: Common Debuffing Spell: Lesser Paralysis
Classification: Acquired Common Skill
Level: 1
Description: Congratulations, simply by virtue of learning this ability, you've become a nightmare to deal with. Typically, it's the White Mages that pick up Spells like this, but you might as well have joined the metaphorical dark side. You can curse targets to lose their motor control, stun them, or at the very least damage them magically.
Cost and Effect: ~10% of current Magic has ~20% chance of inflicting the Debuff Paralysis, ~40% chance of creating an artificial pause through Stun Lock, and ignores physical defense to deal Magical Damage relative to your M. Reserve Stat.
Restrictions: Spell Potency and Success Rates exponentially lower the greater the target's M. Reserve Stat is compared to yours.]
"Oh? What a pleasant surprise," Miles unconsciously muttered as he fully expected his Controller Talent to be worse. Seeing that it wasn't, he was left with only one thing to consider before choosing his first Subclass.
The Fate Dissociation System seemed to agree...
[Choice Quest: Hyper Specialization Vs. Versatility
Description: There comes a time in every hero's journey when they have to choose between their talent, desire, and pragmatism. There is no right answer, only a list of potential benefits and detriments. So, consider, ponder, think, and debate internally upon the path you wish to pursue. As the Hero of Fate, all outcomes will inevitably lead to the same destination..
Choice 1: Hyper Specialize as a Cleric. You'll still have Talent Stealing and post primary subclasses to recant your decision should you wish to do so in the future.
Choice 2: Level your talents as a White Mage. You might have to sacrifice a bit of talent in the Healing field, but you'll still improve at a stupid-fast pace; as both Healer and Controller, no less.
Choice 3: Spit in the face of reason and forgo opting into either of the two most practical subclasses. You're still a Primary Cultivator, so you don't have to necessarily pick a subclass yet. Who knows, maybe there's still some unknown Talent in you which trumps Healing… Pfff, yeah right. ]
Ignoring the system's less than benign comments, Miles felt that the right choice was obvious.
The third option was naturally out of the question, as even if by some miracle the System's joke of him having another Epic or higher Grade Talent turned out to be true, he wasn't about to waste his time trying to find it. For all he knew, his theoretically hidden talent might be something esoteric or insufferably specific like possessing talent for "Claw Martial Arts."
The first choice, though nice on paper and perhaps even better in the short term, wasn't really that appealing when Miles considered it would involve him being in a passive position going forward. He'd never admit to disliking his Healing Talent, but subconsciously he wished his talent would have been something where he could be more… involved.
Miles could not stand the thought of becoming some uber specialized Healer that was to be safeguarded and protected from a fight as the highest priority. To be forced to stand back and simply cast Healing Spell after Healing Spell while everyone else got their hands dirty, fought and moved with their lives on the line… Miles couldn't imagine a worse life.
Sure, that path would undoubtedly be the safest and with his Talent and hypothetical acceptance of the Cleric Subclass it would also be the easiest. However, Miles was not exactly known for his pragmatic and sensible decisions. Despite his exterior disposition and steadfast behavior, his stoic personality and impulsive inner desires constantly bled through his actions.
It bled through when he chose to leave the "safety" of his foster home at five years old to roam the streets and search through trash for food, instead of beg. It bled through when he chose to teach himself at the town library in preparation for his future freedom as a child, instead of sulk, cry, and curse his situation.
Most recently, it bled through when he decided to side with Yvette if only because he empathized with her, instead of discarding her to save his reputation.
Besides that… What would Miles be left with when shit hit the metaphorical fan? If he became a Healer through and through, only his Magic-related Stats would grow to any meaningful power. He'd be left too physically weak to fight back, withstand, or even flee if calamity struck.
'All outcomes point to the same destination?' Miles' eyes were tinted ever so slightly with the color of insanity. 'We'll just have to see about that,' he snorted as he accepted White Mage to be his Primary Subclass.