HH 3 - Class Selection

“What’s the class stone look like?” asked Castor. He pulled out his notepad and flipped through it, finding an accounting of Gully’s treasury beginning on page 23,709.

“It’s about the size of a six-week-old baby girl’s head,” said the demon. “A human baby,” he added for clarity. “Amber-colored, shaped like an egg. Smells like vanilla.”

Castor ran down the list until he found a likely candidate. He tucked the notepad away and walked to a group of chests. He carefully slid one of the smaller strongboxes aside and paused in front of the larger one behind it. The lid was closed and it was bound shut with a chain. 

Castor set down and opened his toolbox, pulled out the lunchbox he kept tucked inside, and grabbed a thick piece of beef jerky. He dangled it over the top of the chest and let out a series of trilling whistles. After a second or two, the chest began to shudder.

Gully followed Castor and bent down, placing two of his hands on his knees.

The chain unravelled and the top of the chest burst open. A barbed tongue shot out from between two sacks filled with rare spices and whipped towards the jerky. Castor pulled it back out of the tongue’s reach and held up a finger, stopping the tongue in its tracks.

“Hey!” he said. “Be nice.”

The chest rumbled from side to side, making a mess of the loot within, and let out a sad chirp. Slowly, the tongue reached for the jerky again, and Castor allowed it to take the meat. The tongue zipped back inside, followed by the sounds of wet chewing.

“Awwww,” said Gully. “Such a cute little guy.”

Having satisfied the Mimic, Castor leaned in and rooted around its contents. He pulled out a felt bag, filled with something hard and heavy that fit neatly in the palm of his meaty hand. He loosened the strings and revealed an amber stone within.

“Got it first try,” said Gully. “Impressive. Come on, let’s pop a squat.”

The Wrath Demon took the class stone and moved toward a sitting area within the vault with reptilian grace despite his size, while Castor clomped along behind him. Two high-back chairs were arranged around a solid, dark oak table, with a small tray of magnifying glasses, jeweler’s lenses, and various other appraisal tools. It served double duty as a way to evaluate Gully’s spoils and to show them off with class.

Castor settled into one of the enormous chairs, feeling like a toddler on his father’s throne. Gully let out a groan as he sat across from the human, snuggling into the overstuffed skin-leather seat and carefully unwrapped the stone. Within the bag was a small, jewel-encrusted stand, which he placed precisely in the middle of the table, before setting the egg-like stone on top. It glowed with a subtle light.

“All right,” said Gully. “What do you know about classes?”

“Poor people get what they get, rich people use a class stone,” Castor answered.

“More or less,” said the demon. “Do you know why the elite use class stones?”

“To get rich-people classes.”

Gully chuckled. It was a warped, grumbling sound. “There are different grades of class stones, but they all have the same core function. They can store a specific class and offer it to anyone who’s been permitted to use the stone.”

“Anyone?” said Castor. “Not just kids on their class day?”

“Sometimes there are requirements you have to meet, but yeah. With a class stone, a lifelong [Farmer] could become a [Knight]. They’d keep the stats from their [Farmer] class, and start with [Knight] at Level 1.”

“Doesn’t that make it easier to get attribute points?” asked Castor. “Do people normally stack up a bunch of classes to snag the early Levels?”

“Not really,” said Gully. “Class stones are rare and most have limited uses, so it’s not easy to start a collection like that. The [Farmer] would also lose any unique abilities that require them to be a [Farmer], but plenty of abilities are neutral so that’s not a massive downside. The real problem is class advancement and time. The System rewards those who stick with a class, and it’ll upgrade at certain milestones. That grants a permanent boost to the attributes the class grants each Level, which is retroactive.”

“So there’s power spikes,” said Castor.

“Yeah, and most people spend their lives trying to reach them. Humans usually die before they reach the second advancement, but [Hero]s and shit have an advantage there.”

“What does it take to advance?”

Gully eyed him impatiently. “Do you want a class or not?”

“I want to know what I’m getting into,” Castor said with a shrug. 

The demon chuckled. “So distrusting,” Gully hissed. “Fine. There are a bunch of ways to advance. Most people do it by completing a Feat, which is doing something exceptional by using the class. There are some class guides on how to get a Feat and advance, but after the second advancement most of them are useless. It becomes unique to the individual.”

“Huh,” Castor grunted. “Guess it doesn’t really matter for me.”

“Probably not,” Gully admitted. “Being immortal is a huge advantage, but you’ll be dead by the end of the day.”

Castor gave Gully a sour look. “I thought we were doing this so I had a chance to survive.”

“You might be able to scratch the guy,” said Gully. “Try and go for his eyes. I’m not gonna lie, even if you get a good hit in, you won’t live long enough to see the damage you dealt.”

“Then why are we doing this? In fact, why are you doing this?”

“Because of my generous nature?” said Gully. Castor gave the demon a blank stare. “Ha, fair enough.” 

Gul’thraxis sat back in his chair and crossed one pair of arms. The other pair remained on the table, presumably by habit, in case Castor tried to snag the stone and run. Not that he’d make it two steps. 

It was telling, though, that even after 2,000 years of flawless service, Gully still didn’t entirely trust Castor. That was a good instinct on Gully’s part, since Castor would burn the entire fortress to the ground if he could get away with it.

“You’re convenient to have around,” said Gully. “I mean, who else knows the entire layout of Lord Bythraxomonius’s domain like you do? Nobody can organize a hoard like you can, and imps are fucking shit at fixing a toilet. I’m pissed that this [Hero] is going to waste you.” 

“I see.”

“Also, the betting pool is juicy as fuck. 100 to 1 odds that you even land a hit.”

Castor couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s the spread on me winning?”

“10,000 to 1,” said Gully. “I bet 100 gold that you’d land a hit and 10 gold that you’d win.”

“So if I kill the [Hero], you’ll come out ahead by 110,000 gold?”

“Yeah, and if you lose, who cares? It’s a hundred gold.” Based on what Gully had told him, that was almost enough to live on for ten years. “Letting you use my class stone costs me a charge from the stone, but gives me… other rewards. And it always pays to be on the maintenance worker’s good side. Plus, if you win, you’ll be a [Hero] Slayer, and I can tell everyone that we’re friends.”

Castor had more questions, but he let them pass. He was satisfied with Gully’s explanation, and decided that the risk of the demon trying to trick him was low.

“What class does this stone grant?” he asked. Gully gave him a toothy grin and leaned forward, placing all four hands on the table.

“This is a Tier 3 class stone,” Gully said, nodding at the egg. “The Tier 1 effect guarantees the [Demonic Berserker] class, which is my own. It’s a rare class that grants twelve attribute points per level to start, mostly focused on Strength and Speed. The secondaries are Fortitude and Wisdom. Common classes only grant between four and eight points, so it’s pretty good.” 

Gully leaned in closer, until his head hovered over top of the stone. “It also gives you the chance at another class of rare quality or better, based on your history and aptitude. There’s a slim chance of a legendary class, and a microscopic chance at a unique. That alone means that if I wanted, I could charge 100 gold a head for people to touch this thing and roll the dice. That’s the Tier 2 effect.”

“And the Tier 3?”

Gully waved a hand. “It lets you gain a different common class. Basically, a respec stone for plebs. Those are slightly valuable, but on this thing it’s a worthless effect. I was pissed when I identified it, but the first two effects still make it really valuable.”

“Huh. Think I’d make a good [Demonic Berserker]?”

“Are you kidding?” said Gully. “You’re the angriest human I’ve ever met.” Castor raised a brow at the demon. “Heh, don’t pretend with me, I’m a fucking Wrath Demon. The other minions think you’re just depressed, but you’ve got the most delicious rage buried so deep down inside you, I bet you don’t even realize it’s the only thing you can feel anymore.” Gully took a shuddering breath. “It’s part of why I like you so much.”

Castor placidly observed Gully’s near-orgasmic state. “What do I do?” he asked. “Touch it?”

“I could give a speech about the history of man and the bright future that awaits you if you want,” Gully offered. “To make you feel more like you’re at home.”

“No thanks,” said Castor. 

Gully’s smile widened, and he gestured for Castor to go ahead and touch the class stone. The human reached out, placed his hand on the egg, and the world around him froze.

Gully went utterly still, and Castor found that his own body was in a similar state. All that he could move were his eyes, which were drawn to the text that now floated above the class stone.

Choose a class:

[Demonic Berserker]

(Rare)

The [Demonic Berserker] derives strength from rage and burns the world around them for fuel. Unlike a normal [Berserker], the [Demonic Berserker] is more discerning with their targets, and will not automatically attack any nearby allied demons while Berserk.

First Active Skill: Enrage

First Passive Skill: Demonic Discernment

First Intrinsic Skill: Any offensive martial skill of User’s choice

[Demonic Berserker] gains the following attributes at each Level:

+5 Strength

+4 Speed

+2 Fortitude

+1 Wisdom

Castor read through the first option, feeling a strange sense of irritation bubbling up. While Gully might think he’d be a good fit for [Demonic Berserker], the idea of ruthlessly slaughtering everything around him other than demons disgusted him. He would have been happier with the opposite, a class that only allowed him to slay demons.

The class also prompted a thought that Castor had been ignoring. He didn’t want to kill the [Hero], but he refused to just roll over and die. While [Hero]s were sometimes more trouble than they were worth, they typically fought and killed creatures that could comfortably be classified as ‘evil’. 

There was always collateral damage, and human [Hero]s had a strange habit of killing more humans than anything else, but the majority of those were bandits, servants of villainous tyrants, invading soldiers, blood cultists, and so on. [Hero]s were, on the whole, a net benefit to the race they hailed from. The [Hero] awaiting Castor was human, and as a human himself, Castor had little reason to want him dead.

Castor would try to talk to the [Hero] first, to clarify that he’d never intended to become a minion of Lord Bythrax. Maybe the [Hero] would help Castor escape once he realized the man had been involuntarily signed up for the [Demon Lord]’s service. However, if words failed, Castor would defend himself. 

If it came to that, Castor still wasn’t willing to give up his humanity. [Demonic Berserker] was clearly intended to be used to the benefit of demonkind. Castor would rather die than give the demons anything more than he already had.

He moved on to the second class.

[Underlord]

(Legendary)

While the [Overlord] leads from within the light, the [Underlord] rules from the shadows. A master of back alley deals and outspoken threats, the [Underlord] commands the loyalty of their followers through brutal strength, and the obedience of all others through fear.

First Active Skill: Cowing Strike

First Passive Skill: Demoralizing Aura

First Intrinsic Skill: Leadership

[Underlord] gains the following attributes at each Level:

+5 Charisma

+4 Strength

+3 Wisdom

+2 Fortitude

This class was more appealing. What’s more, it was marked as legendary. While [Demonic Berserker] granted twelve attribute points per Level, this one granted fourteen. It also had a heavy focus on Charisma, which might help when he tried to talk things out with the [Hero].

Otherwise, the class stank of something the Church would assuredly classify as evil. Castor knew that many classes were ‘unapproved’ and outlawed in places ruled by the Church–eavesdropping on the screams of the damned had told him that much–which meant either of these first two classes would spell trouble if he ever left Lord Bythrax’s domain. 

Castor didn’t buy into a binary classification of morality. He thought the idea of an ‘evil’ class was absurd, but his feelings wouldn’t stop the [Inquisitor]s from trying to snuff him out for the crime of existing without approval. Even so, this class appealed to him more than the first. 

He only wished the ‘persuasive’ elements of the class were more positive. [Hero]s were, as a rule, very resistant to intimidation. Even polite requests to submit to authority were met with outsized responses. There were countless stories of a king asking a [Hero] to kneel or bow, and having their kingdom destroyed as a result.

Suffice it to say, the [Underlord]’s Cowing Strike and Leadership skill probably wouldn’t be very helpful.

Castor moved on to the third option.

[Handyman]

(Common)

Nothing is too broken for a [Handyman] to fix, and no problem is too small for a [Handyman] to solve. As a true jack of all trades, the [Handyman] can become competent in nearly any skill, but mastery may remain forever out of reach.

First Active Skill: Adhesive

First Passive Skill: Industrial Transmutation

First Intrinsic Skill: Maintenance

[Handyman] gains the following attributes at each Level:

+1 All

Castor hadn’t expected much from the final class, but now he was intrigued.