[Chapter=11] New Class

There was no way he could climb up in his current, but there was a little bit of spring water left in the destroyed fountain of the sanctuary.

Bending down, he cupped both hands, dipped his hands inside and drank its contents, feeling the water wash and cleanse his systems, healing his points up to max.

"Ahh… much better." The man stood up straight, gave a little stretch to his limbs, and pulled out a few empty vials from the Hero's Elixirs of Life he has ingested.

He then dipped them at the last remaining source of the sanctuary's water, and plugged them up with their respective corks.

When he finished, the man looked down and said a small prayer. It was a shame that this sanctuary, a monument to the fallen rebels of Melromarc laid to rest, was destroyed...

'...But it's for the greater good... for power.'

The man breathed out a sigh, as he turned to the hole at the top. Looking up to the light shining down on his body within the dark caverns, the man scratched his head, wondering how to get up there.

"C-Captain! I see someone!" A young man's voice echoed from above.

"I know, you fool! I see him too! Now how are we going to get him out of there?!" Another gruffer voice hastily concurred, then looked down to get a better look.

However, that only proved his downfall as he nearly slipped down to the hole. The two knights gasped before grabbing their Captain and bringing him back to the edge.

"Watch yourself, Captain." The third voice, which belonged to a more mature man, chastised.

The three of them looked down once more, this time, more carefully. Now that Naofumi was in semi-perfect condition, he began to walk towards the spotlight from the sun, alerting the three of them above.

"That man in the green cloak..." The mature man's voice mentioned, squinting his eyes. "That must be who the front gate guards were talking about."

"Wait... Then that means..." The younger man's voice lit up in realization, before cheerfully yelling from above to the underground, towards Naofumi. "You're the Shield Hero!"

"Hey there." Naofumi greeted them, which came as a shock to the Captain in particular, who had his jaw so far down, it could probably reach down to the floor where Naofumi was. .

There wasn't any way to hide that fact that he is, in fact, the Shield Hero in the flesh, but with the new Shield, the man felt a lot more comfortable not hiding the fact that he is.

"W-What in blazes are you even doing down there?!" The Captain, over his shock, quickly got angry and shot forth that question, but Naofumi simply shrugged.

'Gotta watch out for that one...' Naofumi noted, before smiling at them. "Heh, sorry, I kind of fell down here when I got lost. Hope nothing happened while I was gone."

"Y-You fool! Do you know how much of our time was wasted trying to find you?!" The mustached Captain berated the raven-haired man. "We were literally going all over town just to find you, and then we see you outside of the castle and inside a hole!" The young knight on the left put his hand on the Captain's shoulder.

"C-Captain, please! Calm yourself!" He pleaded, but the Captain only swung his right fist at the knight, shooing him away violently.

"SHADDUP!" The Captain growled out.

The mature knight grasped the Captain's shoulder a little more harder, stopping the situation from escalating.

"Enough!" That stopped the Captain, who only clicked his teeth and looked back down.

The left knight, whom Naofumi was guessing was the innocent one, looked back down, a little hurt from the Captain's treatment to him.

"Done with your little hissy fit?" The Shield Hero called out to the Captain, who only smirked at the growl the tin can man was making.

"I was wandering about the town, and before I knew it, I fell down this hole. I don't know about whatever light show you were talking about. Sorry!" He shrugged, laughing a little at himself, hoping that the story would be enough.

"O-Oh, well then let us help you! His Highness is growing impatient! We can try to get a rope long enough for you to climb up." The younger knight asked politely, but Naofumi shook his head.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll find my way out of here!" Naofumi ended the talk, and then began to look at the extra feature he granted himself.

A wheel appeared around him, clicking around, seeing various crystallized orbs, with symbols on them, spinning around him. However, there weren't as many before...

[Welcome to the Job System!]

[Here, you may choose another Job to swap to at any given point, and you can level them up. Your weapon and arms can change shape to accommodate your fighting style. However, you can only start with 2 extra classes for now. If you want to unlock more classes, you must learn it through inviting other party members and gaining levels and EXP for those job-specific classes. And don't forget! You can advance your jobs at a Dragon's Hourglass once you reach a certain level! Please choose your first job!]

Naofumi narrowed his eyes at the limitations, but then noticed that he could increase his job count by inviting party members.

It was an interesting take, but there wasn't any way to get around those limitations. However, the man found it to be much more practical than ever before. So what was one job he could climb with…?

The Shield Hero kept cycling through the job wheel, until one caught his eye. It had the icon of a hood and a dagger pointing downwards through the hood.

[Assassin]

[Be one with the shadows, access any terrain, and slay your enemies in the blink of an eye! Uses daggers, knives, claws and hook swords.]

'Hook swords!' Naofumi smiled to himself, as he selected Assassin to be his new class.

He felt a small flash of light envelope his body, and he flexed himself, like a new person back from the dead.

[Naofumi Iwatani; Assassin Lv. 1]

[HP: 500]

[MP: 100]

[Attack: 25]

[Defense: 10]

[Speed: 40]

[STR: 20]

[VIT: 9]

[DEX: 25]

[INT: 15]

[WIS: 10]

[LUK: 22]

His walking stick, now glowing to the shape of a hook sword, was then stabbed onto the earthen wall of rocks and dirt, as Naofumi pulled upward and slowly climbed up with it, much like an ice pickaxe.

The other three knights were a little confused to what Naofumi was doing, until they saw a flash, and he began to climb with a stick that formed into a 'hook sword'.

"W-Whoa…! How did he do that?" The younger knight watched in awe.

"Incredible..." The other mature knight muttered out, his eyes widening at Naofumi's way of climbing.

From the legends, the Shield Hero wasn't able to use any other weapon, so to see him doing that looked... quite unbelievable. The captain, on the other hand, isn't very enthused in the slightest.

"B-B-But how?! The Shield Hero can't pick up and use any other weapon! That's just outrageous!" The captain ranted, his mind clearly unable to handle what he just saw.