Welcome to the Class Advancement Trial.
Using a portion of power of the Sacrifices User has provided this far, a synthetic body has been created for the Trial. User’s consciousness has been projected into it.
In the blink of an eye, the connection to Jorn’s real body snapped, and he was standing in a white space.
User will now be given an objective. Complete the objective and the trial will end. Fail the objective or die and the trial will end.
You are free to accomplish the objective in whatever way you see fit. Class Advancement is determined after the trial has ended. Failure does not prevent Class Advancement, but may negatively affect the outcome.
In order to minimize turbulence, you will be prevented from providing any details regarding your identity or background.
Your objective is to clear Rift #008, Failing that, lower the damage to civilians and infrastructure from the opening of Rift#008 and eliminate as many monsters and extradimensional entities as possible. Use whatever means necessary.
There was a sudden sensation of falling, and suddenly Jorn was standing naked in the middle of a wide-open area flooded with sounds beyond anything he’d ever experienced.
Strange glass bug-shaped carriages with humans inside made outrageously loud noises while the humans inside gestured angrily at him.
“Hey kid, get out of the road!”
Jorn saw a person gesturing to him in the distance, where a crowd of people were staring at him. The man trotted over to Jorn and roughly grabbed his arm, hauling him away.
The loud noise ended abruptly as the shiny carriages continued on, following the immaculate grey road.
Jorn craned his neck to look at the buildings around them. They reminded him of the strange crystalline buildings of the 8th Floor.
Am I on the 8th Floor, or…what?
“Are you high, kid? Did you take something? Did someone give you something?” The older man asked, grabbing Jorn’s head with rough hands and peering into his eyes.
He was fat, a bit like a noble, but his unkempt appearance and rough hands spoke to the opposite, leaving Jorn a bit lost.
“I just…” Jorn’s words failed as something stopped him from mentioning his Class Advancement Trial.
“What’s your name, kid?” The older man said, taking his coat off and wrapping it over Jorn’s shoulders.
“I can’t say.” Jorn finally admitted.
“You hungry?” the older man pulled out some kind of glowing Relic and began poking it before raising it to his ear.
“Yeah, I found a naked kid standing in the middle of the road. I’m at the bakery on central. About fifteen, I guess? Didn’t give his name. Sure. Will do.”
“Let’s get something to eat, kid.” the older man said.
“What’s your name?” Jorn asked.
“Micheal,” the man said rummaging through his pockets and producing a handful of crumpled pieces of green paper. “You can call me Mike. Follow me.”
Ding!
A bell sounded as they entered one of the towers, entering a bakery with an inordinate amount of perfectly clear glass.
“Order anything you want, kid, as long as it’s less than…fifteen bucks.” Mike said,
“Umm. One of those, please.” Jorn said, pointing at some kind of sugar-sprinkled pastry before following Mike to a small rickety table where the older man watched Jorn eat the pastry, staring out the window to the busy street outside.
“That’s a thick accent you got there, kid. where you from?”
“Can’t say.”
“What can you say?” Mike asked.
“Not sure,” Jorn said, taking a bite of the ‘scone’. It was fantastic.
“Are your parents in town? Uncle? Aunt? Legal guardian?”
“None of those,” Jorn said, shaking his head. “I can take care of myself, I’m-“
Jorn’s mouth clamped shut before he could claim to be a level fifty-five Climber.
“I know you think you’re all grown-up and shit, but if a grown-up suddenly wakes up buck-naked in the middle of the street, the first thing they would do is get help, you feel me?
In a few minutes, some guys from the police are gonna show up. You’re not in trouble or anything, they’re just gonna find out what happened and try to help you.”
Jorn shook his head, wiping crumbs off his face with the toilet paper on the table before he spoke. “That won’t be necessary. I have something I have to do.”
“I can’t very well let a kid wander around city naked. ‘Specially a scrawny one like you.” Mike retorted.
Jorn paused, thinking.
“Let’s make a bet, Mike. Let’s arm-wrestle for it. If you’re not horrified, then I’ll stick around for these ‘guys from the police’.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Mike sighed and put his arm on the table.
“Okay, then, but when you lose, don’t, ACK!”
Without ceremony, Jorn put his opponent’s arm halfway over the rickety table, eliciting a squawk of surprise from the friendly stranger as he twisted sideways to prevent his arm from snapping.
“Jesus! That felt like my arm got trapped in a hydraulic press! What the hell are you?” Mike demanded, cradling his arm.
“Thanks for the scone, but I’ve got a job to do,” Jorn said, leaving the building and scanning the surroundings for some indication of where he needed to go, Mike trotting along behind him.
“Holy hell there’s more of ya’.” The rough man said peering past Jorn at nearly twenty other nude men and women, staring at their surroundings in awe, drawing the ire of the shiny carriage-drivers.
One even got out and tried to punch one of the fellows, who reflexively broke his arm, with the speed only a Climber could have.
Those must be other Trial-takers.
But where the Abyss am I? Jorn thought with a frown, neck craned up at the massive panels of glowing pictures showing attractive young men and women with unnaturally white smiles. The sheer number of people, the unnaturally clear glass. The strange Relics…
He didn’t get much further into his observations as the world twanged. Everything was suddenly different. Jorn could feel it. There was a clear sense that everything was different and nothing would ever be the same.
He felt miasma.
“Mike. You should run,” Jorn said, his eyes landing on the massive purple tear in reality that bisected one of the crystalline buildings.
A cacophonous wave of sound assaulted Jorn all at once as screams combined with the sounds of breaking glass, horns and a rocky landslide as the massive building collapsed from having its supporting pillars bisected.
The structure toppled over deceptively slowly, slamming into the identical building across the street, sending dozens of people flying from the towers shattered windows to slam into the road below, their screams suddenly cut off as they broke upon the stone.
The concentrated miasma spilling across the road revived them.
The bodies revived, twitching and morphing as they rose back to their feet, their distorted faced filled with madness.
And from the rift in space…something else. An entity, more felt than perceived. It was an amorphous shape, it didn’t fall anywhere on the visible spectrum, but his eyes hurt to look at it. It radiated potent miasma like a mammal radiated body heat. Jorn could tell at a glance it was a god, emerging newly born into this world, curious and utterly apathetic to their suffering.
That. Is. A. GOD.
They were ants wrapped in their shed skin, convinced that it would give them enough power to vanquish them. What could they hope to accomplish with such paltry imitations of the real thing?
The headache passed and Jorn returned to himself, slightly nauseous from the exposure to the sheer quantity of miasma.
Someone made a huge damned mistake.
“What the Abyss am I supposed to do about that!?” Jorn demanded in frustration.
“URK!”
Mike doubled over and began vomiting, his color changing as changes began rippled under his kin.
Well…I do what I can, Jorn thought, rushing forward without much of a plan to speak of.
He sprinted towards a man who had torn a chunk of metal pipe out of the ground and was using it to destroy the reanimated corpses.
“Let me last-hit one!” Jorn shouted. The warrior nodded and crushed the legs of the rapidly changing monster before tossing Jorn the pipe.
Jorn speared the pipe through the monster’s head and laid his palm on the corpse.
Bone arrow x20
The corpse’s bone popped out of it’s skin, forming arrows that began seeking other targets according to Jorn’s will, perforating monsters before they had a chance to escape further.
I need some bodies, too, Jorn thought.
He laid his hand on the next corpse.
Totem Guardian
195 Charges remaining.
Toggle
Focus 220 -> 192
A hideous blending of woman and cockroach appeared in front of Jorn, along with nineteen smaller copies.
With a single mental command, they spread out and began swarming the other revived corpses, taking the pressure off the other warriors. Between Jorn’s summons and the efforts of the other Climbers, they began beating back the monsters and those who had been unable to resist the transformative effect of the miasma, slowly regaining some semblance of control.
Until the newborn god turned its attention towards them.
The sheer weight of the creature’s attention brought the Climbers to their knees. Its thoughts licked against their skin, tangible miasma with a mind of its own.
The Climbers around him were already succumbing, their eyes rolling back in their heads, mouths frothing.
Strangely enough, Jorn’s summons didn’t seem to be affected by the god’s presence, still killing monsters as the surrounding humans mutated.
As the entity approached and Jorn’s mind began to shut down as his Focus was overwhelmed, he gave his summons an order:
Follow the entity and move humans out of its path.
As the entity came closer, Jorn felt his consciousness fade to white.
I wish I could’ve done more. Jorn thought as one of his summons scooped up Mike and hustled away with him before the miasma could turn him completely.
*******
Jorn blinked his eyes open, his face pressed into the cold stone of the 15th Floor ruins. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw William Oh and Loth the Luminary kneeling over him.
“What’d I miss?” Jorn asked, feeling lightheaded. Like he’d just lost a lot of blood.
“Nothing much. Good to see you’re still alive.” Will said, his forehead covered with bloody streaks where he must’ve wiped sweat with a blood-soaked sleeve.
Jorn was going to follow up with a question about that when he was interrupted by The System.
Class Advancement review:
Contribution: High
Methodology: Summoning, Bone, Fueled by death, Ability-heavy.
Outcome: Failure. Several beneficial outcomes saved as possible instances.
Generating Advanced Class…
“Does everybody fail?”
“So I’ve heard.” Will said.
“Not me.” Loth replied.
Advanced Class generated:
Bone Shaman:
Bone Shaman creates weapons and curses from the bones of their enemies, and protectors and blessings from the bones of their allies.
They are both respected protective shamans, and a scourge on the land, and the difference lies in their allegiance. They are always balancing these opposing concepts on a razor’s edge.
Bone Shaman are enduring but not strong or coordinated. The Bone Shaman receives bonuses to Enchanting, Buffing, Crafting and Summoning with a focus in Bone-related Abilities.
Jorn frowned as his Upgrade options began flooding past him.
“The Class upgrade fixed the curse. Pick whatever you like,” Will said, sitting back against a stone wall and letting out a long sigh before crunching one of Loth’s grubs.
“You’re not gonna tell me which one to take?” Jorn asked.
“Not unless you want me to.” Will replied.
Jorn gave Will his list of options.
“I’d probably take…Scrimshaw upgrade to a Primary.” Will said.
“Oh?” Jorn asked.
“Out of all the options, it synergizes best with your Primaries and unlocking more upgrades for it would drastically increase their power.” Loth said.
“Plus Sense Danger gets upgraded to a Secondary, so you can give it upgrades and expand your sensory abilities, getting shot in the back less.” Will said.
“…True, I would like to get shot in the back less,” Jorn mused, rubbing his back.
He could feel the faint scar tissue across his back, a pockmark where the arrow had been originally and a smattering of soft texture where Will had gone rummaging around in his back while he was unconscious.
Part of him wanted to know what had happened. How close he had been to dying. After all, it made for a good story. The rest of him didn’t want to know at all.
If he knew exactly how close to death he had been, he might never be able to take another step outside his comfy house.
“Alright,” Jorn nodded.
Upgrade Scrimshaw to a Primary Ability?
Yes.
Scrimshaw** is now a Primary Ability (2/6)
Danger Sense is now a Secondary Ability (0/2)
“Four extra upgrade slots for Scrimshaw!” Jorn cried in excitement.
“Whoohoo.” Will gave a tired fist-pump before his hand dropped down on Jorn’s shoulder, forcing Jorn to look at him.
“Seriously, don’t get shot in the back again.” Will said, the circles under his eyes making his stare even more intimidating.
“Yessir.”
“Here.” Will said, handing Jorn a wand. “Summon some of these butlers and use your leech Ability to drain their health. They don’t mind. I’m taking a nap.”
“Eat some food too. You were out for five days.” Loth said, offering him a plate with two roasted steakbugs.
“FIVE DAYS!?” Jorn demanded.