Chapter 37- Lord Icarus

Ivar and I scavenged whatever we could from the two mini-bosses and quickly started a fire. Besides the enchanted tower shield, we found a few decent knives and we could always use spare cloth.

 I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed by Seline's performance thus far, her scouting left us time to prepare and her strength wasn't anything to scoff at. Taking out a speed-focused enemy on her own was impressive but given her level and the fact she had a class. 

However, I still expected more from a person seventy levels higher than us and who possessed a class. Not even to mention the fact that she was a vampire, and that surely gave her a plethora of abilities.

All she had shown thus far was a stealth ability, superhuman speed, and a proficiency with daggers that might even put Ivar to shame. But given his size, daggers would be a bad weapon for him anyway.

With a class with a name as ominous as Blood Reaper, I expected a lot. Blood magic for one, a scythe proficiency, along with a bundle of skills from the assassin, and rouge vocations. 

Still, that was all a guess based on my gaming knowledge, her class could be mediocre or completely lackluster.

But before I question the woman about the class system I should level up, and give us all a little time to relax after the quick battle. 'After all, there was something much more dire waiting for us' I commented to myself as I looked upon the ornate dark metal door the two mini-bosses were guarding.

-

{Essence: 223,000}

Lvl:115

Name: Ace Lothbrook

Mana: 565/610

Class: N/A

Rank: Human

Strength:10

Agility:24

Endurance:34

Dexterity:41

Intelligence:61

Faith:9

[Statistical Upgrade Cost: 103,000]

-

'Not bad, two levels from a quick fight. Intelligence it is.' I decided quickly as I waited for the woman across from me to finish her level-up.

Ivar's status was looking just as monstrous as ever.

-

{Essence: 39,000}

Lvl:118

Name: Ivar Ragnnarson

Mana: 50/50

Class: N/A

Rank: Human

Strength:82

Agility:8

Endurance:85

Dexterity:10

Intelligence:5

Faith:5

[Statistical Upgrade Cost: 104,000]

-

The new tower shield strapped over his bare back and the large Warhammer made him look like a picture-perfect tank. Honestly, he looked scary as hell.

'If anything I should advise him to take a tank-focused class. It would fit his fighting style, as even now he was the anchor of our team. After checking over Ivar's stats I had finally decided what I would go for if given the choice.

Either a combat-focused healer or a magic spearman-like class. Though it was a toss-up whether I would even get a choice, but I was willing to sacrifice to round out the team.

Though if neither of those were an option I would go for the closest thing to an all-around mage I could find.

"I've been meaning to ask but how does somebody acquire a class?" I asked Seline after she moved about a dozen feet away from the mortal arc. It seemed it had some kind of property that weakened her. Most likely holy magic, or vampires in this world were just incredibly weak to fire. 'Good to know if she ever feels like having a snack.'

"A statue of Icarus." She said as if I was supposed to know who the hell that was.

"He is the God of Life and Change. He's usually portrayed as a hybrid of a pegasus and a human. I doubt you've passed one at this point they are particularly hard to miss." She explained further as I hummed in reply.

"You believe there is one of those statues in this tower?" I asked as no matter how much I searched my memories I can't remember ever seeing a statue like that. Hell, I don't think I ever saw a normal statue.

"Surely, these towers are a challenge to man. The Gods want us to grow powerful here. As such they have designed these illustrious towers with their very hands and minds." She replied as if she was reading a text from a book she read years ago.

"So I assume you've already been to one? Seeing as you have a class and all?" I asked as she simply nodded. "What is the process like, do you get options? How many choices did you have? Were there any characteristics that you rem…." I continued before she held up a hand stopping my rant.

"I'll just give you a quick retelling of my experience." The vampire said, almost overwhelmed by my blabber mouth, but they were valid questions. If I get the wrong class all of my stats could become useless. An absolute waste of millions of essence and months of work.

"In my family, everyone is a warrior, it doesn't matter if you're a 'lady in waiting' or hundreds of years old. You're expected to at least become an Awakened." She began her story but I feared she was already losing me with the odd term, I could probably guess what it meant but luckily she explained.

"To become an awakened a being must be level one hundred and be lucky enough to acquire a class" She explained and I nodded at her as I followed along.

"It took me almost my entire adolescence to hunt enough monsters in the badlands and coast villages to reach the required level to be considered for a class by Lord Icarus. Thus my father took me to the capital where I stood in front of the largest statue in God of Life's temple" She continued as if reliving a memory, though it was odd that she had a frown on her face. Something she worked that hard for should be remembered with a smile.

"It appeared in my mind, a list of thousands of classes. Some were faded or missing letters, those were beyond me" She hummed and continued. "From my experience, there were few things I could discern, the main point being that not all classes seemed to be built the same" That caused me to raise an eyebrow and lean forward.

"The names themselves were separated by color, a ranking system I would later find out. Most of them were green and a handful were blue" she said as I was beginning to get the gist of this ranking system. It sounded similar to how enchanted items were ranked.

"Thankfully, I didn't choose any of those. Call it luck or just wanting to be different I chose the only purple one. Blood Reaper was an 'Epic Class', one of less than a thousand in recorded history" She said, causing my eyes to open fully and my mind to race. 

"More than that, all I know are rumors and legends." Seline shrugged after that and I couldn't even be sad. I learned more than enough to advise Ivar and be confident whenever we had a chance to choose our class. 

But there was only so much time I had to ponder this new information. 

Tensions were high as we all knew today was the day we'd beat this floor's boss. A chance of defeat wasn't even worth a thought. With the fact that we dismantled the two mini-boss door guards, well I felt we were more than ready.