"Ah, gee, you shouldn't cut a rat's fur like that! Stop ruining everything—do you even know how valuable its fur can be?" Arya's voice echoed through the dungeon like a particularly irritated banshee.
She snatched the rat out of my hands before I could make yet another mistake.
"I'm trying, okay? Why is this harder than fighting the damn rat?" I huffed, frustrated as I wiped the sweat from my brow. Seriously, I'd rather take on another mutated Chunky Rattus than deal with this.
Systie, thankfully, was still asleep. If that smug little furball had been awake to witness my miserable attempts at rat skinning, I'd never hear the end of it.
After what felt like hours of Arya's exasperated sighs and my increasingly desperate apologies, we finally managed to dismantle the giant rat and the smaller ones around it. We gathered up the most valuable bits—the nails, blood, teeth, heart, and eyes—and piled them up in front of us.
The whole scene looked like some kind of twisted alchemist's grocery list. I added a whole bunch of red and purple roses to the mix, hoping to make it look less horrific—it didn't work.
"How are we supposed to carry all this?" I asked, while barely holding back my urge to puke. There was no way we could haul all this out of the dungeon by hand. I was half-expecting her to suggest we stuff everything into our pockets or, worse, make me carry it all.
Thankfully that wasn't the case, instead, she just smirked and without saying a word, pulled out this tiny, nondescript fist-sized pouch.
Then, as if it were no big deal, she started shoving all the rat parts into it. Yep, you heard me right. A whole pile of rat parts just disappeared into a pouch the size of my fist.
"What is that!? Some kind of storage pouch?" I asked, my voice practically dripping with envy. Do you know how many valuable things I could—uh, I mean, how useful that could be?
"Yep, it can store almost a room's worth of goods," Arya replied, still acting like this was completely normal.
I could practically feel the stars in my eyes. As a thief, the idea of owning something like that was the stuff of dreams. My brain was already spinning with all the creative ways I could use it—swiping treasures, sneaking loot out without anyone noticing... But before I could get too carried away, Arya snapped me back to reality.
"This pouch is for exclusive noble use only. If you get caught using one, you'll be sent straight to the central prison," she said, her tone full of warning.
"Hey, that's unfair! Wait—then why do you have it? Don't tell me you're a pompous noble too!" I shot back, suspicious.
A tick mark appeared on Arya's forehead, and she glared at me like I'd just insulted her entire family line—which I did(indirectly). "Did you just call me pompous? I guess I'll take away all the dungeon rewards, then. I am a pompous lady, after all."
"Sorry, ma'am! You are the noblest lady I've seen in my two lives. Please don't take away my rewards," I begged, putting on my best "innocent" face. She sighed in defeat.
"Fine, fine. You don't need to butter me up that much. Anyway, I'm going to choose my advanced class now, so don't disturb me," she said, finding a quiet corner to focus.
As I watched her settle down, it hit me—I'd completely forgotten about my class evolution! Excitement bubbled up in my chest as I mentally called up my status screen. Sure enough, the system had a shiny new notification waiting for me.
*Ding*
*Class evolution possible. Do you want to evolve the basic class? Yes/No*
I didn't even hesitate. I mentally shouted "Yes," and the next notification appeared.
*Ding*
*Class evolution initiated.*
*Choose an evolution from the following choices:*
1. Hunter
2. Shadowstalker
3. Trapmaster
Okay, deep breath, Ervin. Let's think this through. Each class had its perks, and honestly, they all sounded pretty tempting. But as I read through the descriptions, I started narrowing down my options.
Hunter: A combat-oriented class geared towards hunting monsters. The class provides 2 extra points for Physical Defense and MP stats, and 3 points for Physical Attack. The class also helps users learn damaging skills.
I scratched that one off the list pretty quickly. Sure, it looked powerful, but after facing that giant rat, I was all about avoiding any more confrontations if I could help it. Plus, the extra Physical Defense stats? Yeah, I'd rather not be in situations where I need to use those.
Trapmaster: A combat-oriented class geared towards trap-setting and luring opponents into traps. The class provides 2 extra points for Magic Attack and Magic Defense, and 3 points for MP. The class also helps users learn trapping and field-setting skills.
This one had potential. I could totally see myself luring enemies into traps and cackling maniacally from above. But the Magic stats? Those were the weakest of my stats. Plus, if I chose this option then I would have no way to fight back if the traps failed.
That left me with Shadowstalker—A combat-oriented class geared towards stealth and assassination. The class provides 2 extra points for Physical Attack and MP, and 3 points for Agility. The class also helps users learn stealth and damaging skills.
It's a class built for the sneaky things that I'd been getting pretty good at. The extra points for Agility and MP were right up my alley, and boosting my stealth skills? Yes, please!
After a bit more consideration, I made my decision and mentally selected 'Shadowstalker.'
*Ding*
*Advanced class selected—Shadowstalker.*
*The stored experience points from killing the level 28 Mutated Chunky Rattus are now usable.*
*You have levelled up to level 22.*
*You can now learn the
*Use 4 skill points to learn the skill: Yes/No.*
Oh! A new skill and it sounded pretty useful too, but I wanted to learn more about it first. After all, it costs 4 skill points, and I didn't want to waste that many on something mediocre.
I concentrated on the skill a bit more, and its description popped into my mind.
Consumes 5 MP to use. Allows the user to travel from one shadow to the nearest shadow within 10m of the user. All attacks aimed at the user become ineffective while travelling from shadow to shadow. Prankster ability bonus: Due to the Prankster ability, the effective distance that can be travelled is increased from 10m to 20m. Warning: Repeated use of the skill—more than 5 times within a minute leads to unconsciousness.> That's perfect! With this skill, I could escape from tricky situations without sustaining any injury. The only problem was I wasn't sure if I could take the cat with me while using it. That was a big drawback, but it was still a fantastic skill. I mentally pressed 'Yes' to learn the skill, and then let out an impressed whistle as I felt the changes wash over me. My body seemed to hum with energy, all the exhaustion from the battle melting away. I felt stronger, faster—like I could take on the world (or at least a couple of mutated rats). Curious to see the new me, I whispered, "Status." Name: Ervin Age: 12 years old Gender: Male Level: 22 Class: Shadowstalker (Advanced Class) - evolves upon reaching level 60 Ability: Prankster Stats: HP: 32 MP: 55 Physical Attack: 55 Physical Defense: 25 Magic Attack: 23 Magic Defense: 26 Agility: 58 Skills: Slot 1: Lurk Slot 2: Poison Stab Slot 3: Shadow Step Slot 4: — Skill Points: 12 Not too shabby! I was feeling pretty good about my choice—no, scratch that, I was feeling awesome. Shadowstalker was the way to go. I couldn't wait to see what kinds of mischief I could get up to with my new skills. As I finished admiring my new stats, Arya returned from her corner, looking just as refreshed as I felt. I gave her a curious look. "So, what class did you pick?" "Pyromaniac," she replied with a grin. I didn't know what that class did, but it had something to do with flames. She looked pretty smug about her class, and I couldn't help myself from poking fun at her, "Oh man, so you were not just a brash, pompous noble but also a maniac too!?" that remark caused a tick mark to appear on her head. "What about you, junior? Did you gain the kiss-stealer class?" she asked, causing me to groan. "Give me a break. I got the Shadowstalker class," I informed her and saw her ears perk up. "Wait, you're not just a kiss-stealer but also a stalker too! Will your next class be 'Creepy-Kiss-Stealing-Stalker'?" she teased. "Of course not," I snapped back, praying there was no such absurd class. With our collecting work done, I picked up the sleeping cat as we made our way back to our home sweet home.