"Your class, Clarissa. How does it operate?" Dorian asked, his expression serious.
Clarissa was taken aback by his question and stammered, "W-what? My class?"
Rowan immediately nodded in response, genuinely curious about why her class was titled that way. As a reader of ethereal descent, he was familiar with all the classes and understood how most of them functioned. Nevertheless, there had never been a class like hers in the novels he had read.
Meanwhile, Clarissa remained stunned, puzzled by Dorian's sudden inquiry about her class. She wondered if something had gone wrong elsewhere. Nonetheless, she proceeded to answer his question, starting by telling him the name of her class and explaining that she didn't understand it.
"Hmm, you don't understand your class?" Dorian mused, then continued, "You should have received a description of your class at the beginning. What did it say?"
Clarissa nodded. "It says my survival rates depend on how close I am to the main characters. At the beginning, it was eight percent, and just now it went up to ten percent."
Clarissa explained everything about her class.
'Survival rates increase the closer she is to the main characters, and it went up by 2% while interacting with me. Strange,' Dorian thought, placing his hand on his jaw as he pondered.
The class itself was peculiar. There had never been a class like hers in the hundreds of novels he had read, which made it intriguing to Dorian. It hadn't even appeared in ethereal descent, which featured many unique classes.
'It went up by two percent when she interacted with me, which naturally makes me one of the main characters. Would it increase the closer she gets to me? Or would it only increase when she gets closer to another main character?' Dorian's mind wandered.
'If her survival rate hits one hundred percent, she would become overpowered with numerous plot armors! Now that I think of it, her class isn't bad at all,'
'But how would she grow stronger with such a class at her current level? With this survival rate, she would definitely die against a zombie. Surviving the second trial would be almost impossible for her.'
Dorian's thoughts kept drifting while Clarissa stood and waited for a response. Meanwhile, Clarissa couldn't help but wonder what Dorian's next step would be. She had heard him talk about disliking those who contribute nothing.
'Would he keep me out because of my useless class?' she panicked. But her panic quickly subsided when Dorian finally concluded his contemplation and spoke to her.
"You have a nice class, Clarissa," he said.
Clarissa's eyes brightened instantly but then dimmed as she replied with a pained voice, "But I can't contribute to anything. It doesn't give me any special strength boost or magic like the others. I am useless."
"I don't want to depend on you all the time. I don't want to depend on others. I want to be able to fight for myself. I want to help others!"
The more she spoke, the more determination shone in her eyes. Dorian easily understood her concerns; she felt like she was leeching on the team without contributing anything. Fortunately, her situation was changeable.
"Your class is advantageous in many situations but has the disadvantage of not granting you an instant boost or magic like others at the beginning.
While you don't get the immediate boost, you can change that by slaying zombies. Once you reach level two, your strength, agility, and every other stat will double, and it keeps increasing as you level up.
Your class has a significant disadvantage, but it can be overcome by your own personal effort."
Dorian explained this to her. Clarissa listened thoughtfully, understanding the steps Dorian presented and feeling hopeful. However, she wondered aloud, "How am I going to slay zombies with my current strength? I am very weak and slow."
Prior to the apocalypse, Dorian liked Clarissa. She was among the very few students at Starmap Academy who never insulted him for his poor background. He had expected her character to change due to the apocalypse, but from her words just now, she seemed to be the same nice and thoughtful girl he rarely spoke with, and he liked her even more for that.
"Do not worry about that. I'll take care of it. You just have to come with me," he replied with a smile.
Clarissa's face brightened immediately upon hearing his reassuring reply, and she thanked him right away. However, she hadn't finished thanking him when she received a flash notification.
[ Survival rate +1%, Current Survival rate: 11% ]
"It went up again just now!" she exclaimed, drawing Dorian's attention.
"By how many percent?" Dorian asked.
"It went up by one percent, now eleven. I think the system tags you as a main character, which is not strange," Clarissa responded.
Dorian nodded with a calm smile — He believed he was more like the main character at this point, but he also believes very soon the real main character of ethereal descent would start popping out in the world.
Nevertheless at the main time, he would appreciate his role and play his part as best as could while garnering as many benefits as he could.
"Who knows? Maybe I might get to bind with the actual main character in the future and steal his enviable aspects," he muttered with a smile as he walked away from Clarissa's room to join the others.
Clarissa locked her door and went back inside her room with a hopeful and joyous expression on her face.
She pumped her fist and punched the air excitedly, "Dorian is really cool!"