Mana Weaver.
If Kai didn't know any better, he would have assumed that the System had tailor made this class for Cecilia. It would've seemed that way, if not for the fact that there was definitely other people who made use of Mana Threads.
Still, it was a class that suited Cecilia perfectly, considering that her entire shtick was her Mana Threads, and she was getting pretty good with them too. They still had a long way to go before they had any practical use, but they were getting there.
"So... what does the class do?"
Kai was curious about this. Descriptions of classes were always somewhat interesting, especially the ones he had been offered, mainly the Statshifter class and his current class Statshifting Soulcerist of Change. Both had pretty interesting descriptions.
A dark blue thread manifested in between Cecilia's index finger and her thumb. She moves both fingers a little, but the thread held firm. Now that Kai was staring, even though the thread was smaller, it seemed thicker, stronger?
"It just says that it increases the potency of my Mana Threads while also making them more malleable and giving them a variety of different functions, like if I wanted them to be firm or bendy. It also included a bit about my desire affecting the threads."
Kai nodded. Overall, it was a class that greatly suited Cecilia. He wasn't exactly sure what path a Mana Weaver would follow, but he was sure that it wouldn't be just thread based abilities for the rest of Cecilia's days.
Although that wouldn't exactly be a bad thing, just a little niche.
However, his train of thought was cut off when Cecilia spoke up again.
"If you don't mind me asking, Sir, what was your first class selection like?"
Kai looked up at the roof of the cave, thinking back to that time. Learning to 'fight' by getting beat up by Noelle.
Yep, the good old days.
"Well, let's see, there was Apprentice of The Ever-changing, the class I ended up picking. There was also a Seer class. Oh, and there was a class where I become a scribe of an Archdemon, but that class had a 60% chance of death so I obviously didn't choose it... Well, not obviously, I did contemplate it."
After revealing his three perfectly normal class choices, Cecilia stared at him blankly for a few moments before shaking her head and giving up.
She then turned her head to look at the wall of snow that was blocking their way out of here. It was unknown how thick it actually was, but there would definitely be some digging involved to escape.
"We have to get out of here soon. We're going to run out of oxygen, and Petunia doesn't have a source of food or water."
Oh... right. Now that Kai thought about it, it was Cecilia who possessed the mythical food box, so they were the only ones who would be able to eat.
So they did have to get out of here quickly, otherwise Remy might be gone missing by the time they emerged.
Groaning as he stood up, Kai made his way over to the wall of snow and clawed at it a little, pulling away a small section of the snow. It wasn't exactly hard to do so, but he could tell that there was quite a bit of it.
Sighing to himself as he realised how long this would actually take, Kai shook his head and begin digging with his bare hands. It's not like he could actually make use of anything else. Esurient had to remain out there to protect Petunia, Umbra was resting in his shadow so he couldn't use his fusion, and the Mana form of Soul Flame didn't provide a lot of heat, it mainly worked as a magical UV light. Still, coating his hands in it did help a little with the digging process.
Bit by bit, the cave began to fill up with snow as a way out was being forged. Whenever Kai got too deep in, the snow above him would collapse, making him have to repeat the entire process once more. Still, every time the snow roof collapsed, it meant they were a little closer to getting out.
But after having dug for a little over an hour, Cecilia wanted to perform an experiment. She called Kai back over to show him what she had been working on.
There were two incredibly crude looking gloves made entirely out of Mana. They looked completely unstable, as if they would fall apart at any given second. He could even see gaps in the threads that created the gloves, that's how flimsy they were.
However, Kai couldn't help but be a little curious when Cecilia told him to put them on, especially considering just how weak they looked.
... Not that Kai would ever say thay out loud.
But when he put them on, he noticed that the texture was slightly different to how the Mana gloves actually looked. They almost felt...
"Why are these so sticky?"
Cecilia giggled as she rubbed her hands together, looking like a proud child who had created something they were handing to their parents for them to inspect.
"Yes! I figured that if they were sticky, it would be easier for you to pull away the snow."
Huh...
It made sense, in theory. Kai saw the use, and he was honestly pretty proud of Cecilia. She had only gotten her class a little over an hour ago and she had already created something useful.
Now he definitely didn't regret getting her up to level then.
Grinning happily, Kai clapped his hands together to applaud Cecilia, but when he tried to pull them apart...
He couldn't.
"Uh, Cecilia... I think you made them a little too sticky..."
Cecilia frowned, but Kai couldn't help but notice the embarrassed blush beginning to spread on her face.
"T-They shouldn't be that sticky, I tested, and I thought I made sure that they would work. Maybe... maybe..."
As Cecilia was going over some possible reasons why the gloves were stickier than expected, Kai was going through his own methods of freeing his hands from each other.
And it was pretty hard to do so. But strangely, it didn't feel impossible to do so, just slightly out of grasp, as if the Mana gloves were being empowered by something...
Oh...
Kai was just about to smack his head when he realised that his hands would then get stuck to his forehead. It wasn't that the gloves hadn't gone according to Cecilia's idea, it's that they actually were being empowered by something.
And that something was fairly obvious.
It would have been pretty lacking if the Mana variant of Soul Flame only worked as a glorified UV light, so it was a good thing that it actually had another purpose.
The Mana flames were able to empower Mana based items.
Items such as the gloves created entirely from Mana that he was wearing.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Kai temporarily let the Mana flames coating his hands die out and watched as the gloves became a tad bit brighter in colour.
Then, Kai was successfully able to pull his hands apart.
Noticing Cecilia's gaze on him, Kai simply shrugged and said:
"The Mana flames were boosting the power and property of the gloves. If I had to guess, the flames would basically be perfect for your considering that your main ability is entirely based on Mana."
If Kai was correct, then with his help, Cecilia would be stronger than the average Mana Weaver her level just from the fact that he could boost the abilities of her threads, making them even stronger, durable and versatile.
Maybe reaching the peak of the mountain wouldn't be so bad...
Yeah, no, scratch that thought, Kai wasn't going to underestimate this mountain any longer, especially not after being warned about the third trial.
Coating his hands in Mana flames once more, Kai got back to work on digging out of the cave. The process was a little easier with the help of the gloves. The snow split apart easier, and it was easier to dig in general.
Slowly but surely, the path out was being dug. Kai wasn't sure how much longer it would be until they were out of the cave, but they weren't in any sort of rush-
You have slain Minion of the Frost Legion
Kai froze.
He had killed something?
That meant that there had been something on the outside that Esurient had killed, presumably because it got too close to Petunia. And judging by the fact he hadn't leveled up, the minion hadn't exactly been a strong creature.
But it was still too close for comfort. Kai picked up the pace of his digging.
Another hour passed in which he rapidly dug, wanting to escape the cave and make sure Petunia was okay. He wasn't sure how much longer it would take, but-
"There, look!"
Cecilia's sudden shout stopped Kai's thoughts, but he quickly saw what she was on about.
Because a little above him, the final bit of snow had caved it, revealing a glimpse of natural light.