[Ding! Level 15 reached. Job advancement unlocked. For details, check the official website.]
Lucas grinned, having just defeated a cat demon, but his excitement faded. "An official website? They forgot to leave the link…where am I supposed to go for that?"
Since the game's "mutation," it was a whole new beast. Going back to the old website for tips? Total joke. With no other ideas, he figured he'd give the Pro-Players Forum a shot, hoping the experienced players there might share something useful.
He quickly posted, "Just hit 15 and looking to become a mage. Any dungeons around L City I should try?"
Almost instantly, replies started flooding in.
"Oh, future wizard! Mind sharing the magic with us?"
"Fire mage is the way—tons of damage and a huge impact range!"
"Ice mage's better! They've got control; helps the whole team."
"What about poison and lightning? No love for those?"
"Lightning and poison? Those are rare classes! Unless you have the specific passives, don't even try. And skills are insanely expensive!"
Lucas sighed, scrolling through the mess of responses. He'd asked about dungeons, but here they were, debating mage types.
"Classic internet," Lucas thought, shaking his head. Finally, one reply had real advice:
"Try Flashstrike Goblin Dungeon near L City. They have fire and ice goblins, plenty of mana sources for advancement."
Lucas's eyes lit up, ignoring the side comment about some rich-kid team snagging first place there. Flashstrike Goblin Dungeon? It was the same one they'd used for the summer event, so he knew it well.
Wasting no time, he hopped back into the game and headed for the dungeon.
Inside, everything was quiet, no monsters in sight. He tucked his character into a bush and began drawing in mana from his surroundings. A few seconds later, the chime sounded.
[Ding! Fire element detected. Absorbing… Progress: 1%.]
[Ding! Ice element detected. Absorbing… Progress: 1%.]
"Nice! I'm really absorbing both!" Lucas grinned, but then paused. Typically, you'd choose one element at advancement, but here he was pulling in both fire and ice. "Wait, can I actually dual-spec?" he muttered, intrigued.
Lucas watched the progress intently, afraid to miss a single detail. Slowly, it ticked up—5%…10%…25%. Thirty minutes in, both elements had reached 25%.
[Ding! Fire element absorption at 25%. Continue to advance as a Fire Mage?]
[Ding! Ice element absorption at 25%. Continue to advance as an Ice Mage?]
Just as he was about to choose, a new message popped up:
[Mana Surge passive has reached an evolution threshold. When progress hits 100%, it will advance to The Elemental Heart.]
Lucas froze. "The Elemental Heart? Is… is this the sign of a rare class?!"
A rush of excitement took over. He'd heard of rare classes before: mysterious, immensely powerful, and next to impossible to unlock. He was sure he was onto something special.
Lucky for him, the game's prompts had shown him the way. He imagined players who might've unknowingly picked the regular elemental mage classes, never realizing their Mana Surge could've unlocked a rare path.
For most people, discovering such a convoluted path was impossible. Powerful families guarded these secrets, and for ordinary players, unlocking rare classes was a pipe dream.
Thinking about it, Lucas felt a mix of emotions: if he were to reveal the secret of this rare class, he'd likely end up as a target.
The powerful families, people's relentless curiosity, and assumptions that he might know even more hidden paths could all turn against him.
He was on his own—no powerful allies, no strong background.
Not to mention the warriors, priests, and tanks out there who'd been chasing after rare classes for ages.
Sharing this would only pull him into a storm he wasn't prepared for.
Taking a deep breath, Lucas shook his head. "Guess this rare journey's one I'll be taking alone." But the small grin he couldn't hide betrayed his excitement.