Crests And Classes - Part 2

"You asked me what I believed about cardinal just now right....well I think it's both, crests can be used for both good and evil purposes." 

Her somber expression hadn't returned but her voice did sound a bit less jovial. She promptly changed the topic after noticing the subtle shift in the tone of our conversation. 

"Enough about that for now, you need to know about the types of crests that you can obtain." 

Now changing gears, she gracefully slid off the table and planted her feet firm on the ground. I could only hear a faint rustling sound as she made the abrupt motion. 

"Crests are usually very specific in their nature, but there are three general types that all the other derivations can be grouped under. First was Brünnhilde - This was the crest given to those that specialized in melee attacks, and this crest takes the form of two white swords that form an "X". Those with this crest usually specialized in physical enhancements, body reinforcement, and more often than not, mastery of a weapon to obtain greater diversity in their skill set. Those with this crest often have classes like tank, berserker, swordsman -" 

I furrowed my brows, and as she took notice, she paused before asking a question. 

"Are you confused about something?" 

"Yeah, can you explain how the whole "skill" and "class" thing plays into the crest that you're given." 

She formed a thin smile. "Sorry was I going too fast?" 

"Yea, a little....." 

"Alright, let's slow down a bit. So first about classes, a class is something you obtain alongside your crest. It's basically the position you're best suited to occupy based on the skills granted by your crest – think of it as a talent. Someone with the Brünnhilde crest might have skills suited to blocking, so they would get the class "tank". Was that any easier to understand?" 

"Yea! Much easier" Mustering up the luster, I urged her to continue. 

"Alright, now on to Skills, these are the abilities that are associated with your given class. If someone's crest allowed them to manipulate water, they could always do it without using skills, but if they wanted to achieve a unique effect, or unleash a powerful attack, then they would have to rely on these skills, which is what ends up draining most of their mana. So to sum it up, skills were just special moves that cost a lot of mana to use." 

"Ohh now I see, so your crest, skills and class dictate your role huh...." With a hand curled up under my chin, I murmured those thoughts aloud. 

"That's right, but we're not exactly done yet. The second crest is Aetheria – This is the crest for those who specialized in using magic, and it usually allowed them to manipulate the natural elemets of the world like fire, water, wind and earth but that was the most basic class given to those with this crest – The Elemancers. But there's more to it, Aetheria can actually grant access to niche classes like the healer class or the summoner class. But for now, just think of Aetheria as the crest for people that specialize in using magic." 

"I know about this one, it's one of the rarer crests right?" 

"Yea, and it's also my crest." In her usual bold tone, she revealed the back of her right palm to me, and on it I saw the crest for Aetheria, it was a white schematic of a hollow looking five-point star with each element represented along the tip of the edges, and there was a strange symbol in the center of it. 

"Oh this looks kind of amazing...." 

"Kyaah...!" 

Her outburst had once again bewildered me. 

Just now, I had grasped her right hand, and lightly ran my index finger across her crest and the moment I did, she jolted backwards and collided with the table. Now crouched in down in the hollow grass, her beet red expression peeked up at me with curious eyes. 

"What's wrong Chelsea?" 

"N-n-nothing, I was just a bit surprised that's all." Dusting herself off, she calmly rose to her feet, and took up a firm stance in front of me, emphasizing the subtle difference in our respective heights - her dignity had now seemingly returned. 

"Ahem....Now for the final Crest – Equinox. Also known as "The Cardinal's Apex" this is the rarest and most sought-after crest in all of Drakonis. Anybody who possesses an equinox will be able to attain a class from two, if not all three crests combined." 

I could feel the subtle expression of shock quietly growing over my face in the brief moments after that explanation. 

"T-that means..." 

"Heh, Yea....Anybody with this crest would be able to wield at least two times the power of your average magus. For example, an equinox with the ability to access two classes from different crests could choose to be a "tank" and a "Elemancer" at the same time. Giving them the option to cover both offense and defense. Although it's said that less than one hundred people possess this crest in all of Drakonis." 

"Now this is starting to feel a lot more exciting... I want the equinox cres-" 

"HOLD ON" 

In a bold voice, and with her outstretched palm, Chelsea stopped me in the midst of my childish fit of enthusiasm. Perhaps I hadn't mastered the art as well as I'd thought. 

"The crest and class you get is determined by the capacity of your soul, the amount of mana you possess and the alignment of your mana circuits, so unless all three of those things lined up perfectly for you, then I'd say the odds of that aren't particularly favorable. People with an equinox were a one in ten thousand find after all." 

"Ohh....I think I understood the majority of that but what do you mean by "the capacity of my soul" After I asked the question with a somber look, Chelsea heaved a low sigh before continuing her explanation. 

"The cardinal ingrains the skills for these classes onto our very souls, they're not just pretty decorations and the capacity of every soul is different – that's why its said that people with the Brunhilde crest have the lowest soul capacity because their souls can only manage to store melee type skills, which don't require the input of any new aspects onto the soul itself." 

So, this cardinal had the power to tamper with souls and input foreign aspects onto them eh....? 

"So unless my soul is really, really big, I won't get the equinox crest?" 

"Unfortunately, no, the Cardinal holds information on every skill in existence so bestowing a human with more than what their soul could manage would undoubtedly have dire consequenc-" 

"Heheheheeh....hahahahahahahaaha..." 

In spite of myself, I began to laugh maniacally, clutching my sides and even curling my body. The things these humans found amusing often eluded me, but I was starting to catch on the more time went by, and the moment she'd confirmed that fact..... a devious idea had popped into my mind. 

"A-Arlen....are you alright?" 

Looking down on me with blatant curiosity in her eyes, I hurriedly assured her. 

"Yea Chelsea, sorry about that, I just remembered something funny." 

"I-I see, well it's been a few hours since we started so why don't we move on to something more.....practical?" 

Pointing towards the large pond nearby, I got a vague inclination as to what we were about to do next. 

"Lead the way."