As he was unconscious, Samuel had multiple nightmares, some inexplicable, and some where his family had turned into monsters by a creature. Another notable one was one where he had looked outside his window, and there was a monster staring him in the face, surrounded by floating body parts.
After what felt like an endless nightmare sequence, Samuel awoke and abruptly stood up, ready to fight whatever landed in his sights. But while his mind was ready to fight his body was not as all the blood rushing back to his head from abruptly standing up made him lightheaded.
Taking a moment to look around, Samuel realized he was back at the warehouse, standing up while the family of three was eating with their backs turned away from him.
"Am I that ugly to look at?"
"More like looking at your face will give us headaches." Replied Will.
"I didn't ask for sass, Will."
"I am being completely literal when I say that looking at you gives me the worst headaches I've ever had. Take a look in the mirror to your left." He quickly responded without turning around.
Samuel did as he was told, and turning to the mirror in which he saw that his face... wasn't there. It was replaced by a dark void that he could see things move around in. He finally realized that this was what the death knight had cursed him with
"That fucker. So this is what he meant by never showing my face ever again."
"Language!" Marie shouted out while covering her daughter's ears.
*Which fucker? You mean me?*
Samuel looked around in shock as the Death Knight's voice rang out in his ears, before his ethereal form finally appeared in front of Samuel.
"I thought I killed you!"
*Oh you did. This is the other part of the curse, where I and the 10,000 other vengeful souls harass you into insanity.*
"Killed who? Sam, are you okay?" Marie asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, mo- Marie. Don't worry about it."
"If you say so."
The Death laughed loudly, yet the other three couldn't hear him at all. Only Samuel was tormented by the knight and his attempts to disrupt him.
'If I ignore him he should just leave me alone, right?'
*Not happening.* The knight appeared to be capable of hearing his thoughts.
'Damn it all.'
"I made you a mask so you can talk to us normally. It's to your right, next to your two item drops. You can come eat once we're finished, though, I don't know if you can even do that in your current state."
[Reminder! Please check your notifications.]
"System, open my notifications."
Doing as told, the system showed Samuel his three notifications, one for his achievements, one to pick his class, and the most important one, the system's apology.
"Show me my achievements."
[Please pick your class first to unlock the status window.]
"Fu- Bastard." Samuel wanted to curse, but he remembered that Marie and Rose were there, so he made his curse slightly less vulgar. "Fine, show me my class options."
*Oh? Picking classes?*
The Death Knight quickly responded once he heard Samuel's words. The man tried to ignore him as he looked through the class options available, finding an endless wall of text assault his eyes, filled with all sorts of filters and options.
*Don't ignore me, you chicken. I might have tried to kill you yesterday, but I actually know more about the system than you do.*
"Alright, come eat. We'll go out on a hunting trip and discuss later." Said Marie, before the three of them got up to walk away.
Samuel walked over to the food to have a meal. As he was eating, he read through the classes available. Some seemed common, like axe warrior, and Swordsman, but as he got further into the list he saw some classes that he couldn't help but say out loud.
"Ascended Sage? Machine man? Imperial knight?"
*God, you are terrible at navigating the menu. Just put class rarity to the highest one available and narrow it down with filters.*
Samuel, while reluctant to do so, listened to the Death Knight and put the class rarity to Mythical. And while the search results were definitely less, there were still more than hundred classes to navigate through.
"Damn isn't Mythical supposed to be so rare it should only have ten classes max?" What he said was merely an assumption fron the games he played before the apocalypse.
*Mythical? You have the chance to get a mythical class?* It was the Death Knight's turn to be surprised.
Samuel merely nodded as he navigated through the classes before deciding to narrow it down by entering the tags [Summon, Magic, Taming], after which he was left with four options.
[1. Ruler Of The Dead: You are an affront to the gods, demons and the people you use. You gain the abilities of necromancy, soul manipulation, black magic and instant death. Death-related creatures like undead and Nightmares are more friendly towards you.
2. Nature Sovereign: The plants and animals love you, the people and demons hate you. You are a protector of nature and as such, you are stronger in areas full of life, be they the city streets or the lush forests. You gain the abilities of plant control, monster creation, buffing, and healing. Beast type species become easier to tame.
3. Dragon Master: Prideful warriors who value one's own power above all else, their words are only second to the dragon god. They swear no allegiances, not even to those capable of killing them. You gain the ability to manipulate the 8 elements, true dragon blood, and a pocket dimension. Reptile type monsters will follow you once you prove your strength.]
Samuel didn't even need to see the last class before pressing the Dragon Master class, sending a pillar of light towards the sky, despite the warehouse's ceiling being there. As he was illuminated by the pillar, he could see a droplet of blood fuse into his body, making him more muscular and taller, along with sending a soothing feeling through his whole body, that raised his mana perception.
[User has awakened into class: Dragon Master.
All stats +20. Some utilities restricted.]
Samuel, now finished with both his food and his class picking, finally remembered his pets, which he rushed to after picking up his mask and the two items. One was a purple spherical crystal, and the other was a metal ball with a dark gold aura surrounding it.
[Death Knight (incomplete) core {Unique}: The core of a powerful warrior who met his end at the hands of a weaker opponent. Can be absorbed for a skill or used to make equipment.]
[Unnamed Blacksmith's Masterpiece {Epic Rank} (Growth-type): With the god of combat's guidance, a nameless blacksmith was blessed by creating a tool that could adapt into any weapon of the user's choosing.
User must be level 20 or above to use this item.
All stats +50.
Skills:
1. (Locked)
2. (Locked)]
Samuel wasn't expecting to get an epic rank item, but he wasn't complaining about it, either. The restriction was a bummer, but it made sense to him.
He put on his mask just in case his pets were affected by the curse before reaching his hand to open his car door, and tore it out of its place instead to reveal seven wary reptiles that approached him once they knew his scent.
Samuel picked all of them up, chuckling softly as they all licked and bit him for locking them up in a car for four days.
[Poison neutralized by Dragon Blood Lv.1]
His eyes widened as the sytem's notification appeared, before he breathed a sigh of relief upon reading it. Samuel's reunion with his pets wouldn't last long as he heard footsteps outside of the warehouse, undoubtedly attracted by the pillar of light. "System, how do I put my familiars in that pocket dimension?"
[Think about it while using magic manipulation. A portal should appear.]
Samuel did as he was told, shoving his pets into the portal before getting up to intercept the new visitors.