When Severance entered Olen's office, he found the smaller man poring over a long scroll filled with what looked like crazy person scribbles. It was entirely unintelligible, at least to Severance's eyes.
Olen looked up. "Severance. Come in."
It was a little late, since Severance was already in the man's office, but he sat himself down in the weird, low-backed chair anyway.
"Hi," he said.
Olen carefully rolled up the scroll and set it aside. He gave Severance his full attention, appearing very much like a professor listening to his student. "How can I help you?"
Severance hesitated. He knew he was supposed to keep Olen informed of what he was doing, but it still felt weird.
"Well," he began, "I got a bunch more vitality like you said. And now I have to advance my class. Augustine said I should find my own way, but how can I when the options are so vague?"
"I see."
Do you? Severance somehow doubted it. He wasn't even sure why he was asking Olen about this. How would a game person know what he was talking about? Sadly, there wasn't anyone else he could ask. Awesome Dude still hadn't come online. And Uncle Fenn was still away on his trip.
Severance curled his hands in his lap. How much longer was Fenn going to be gone? There were so many things going on now. What if he made the wrong choice? What if he messed everything up? Without Fenn, it felt like he was bumbling about in the dark.
"I will congratulate you for working hard," Olen said. "I know Outsiders have incredible potential, but seeing how much you've improved in such a short time is quite impressive."
The praise was entirely unexpected. Severance didn't know how to respond to that. Should he say thank you? Was that the polite thing to do? No one ever told him he'd done a good job or that he was impressive. It left a weird feeling in his chest.
"I also see that you gained the favor of the Valkyries." Olen's gaze dropped to Severance's wrist, where the corded bracelet lay. His lips thinned just a fraction before relaxing into a pleasant smile.
Severance also looked at the bracelet. He'd forgotten he even had it on. "Yeah, they gave it to me after I fought the Chosen."
"I see. In light of your efforts, I do have something for you. But before I pass it on, let's address your second question regarding your class advancement. Tell me about your options."
Relieved that Olen was willing to help, Severance quickly read out the text on the window.
"It says I can choose either a Moon Scribe, which 'becomes a shield to protect their allies', or a Battle Dancer, which 'becomes a force of nature and fights alongside their allies.' That's all it says."
Olen steepled his fingers. "Isn't that enough?"
"What do you mean?"
"That should tell you all you need to know." When Severance just furrowed his brow in confusion, Olen elaborated. "It's all in the description. Do you wish to protect, or do you want to fight? Do you want to shield, or do you want to become something more? Which one appeals to you?"
"But the last one doesn't even sound like a healer."
"It's still an extension of the class you have now. That means it'll have healing capability."
Well, that made sense. But something about this was strange. Were these things that game people normally knew about?
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"Logic." Olen tapped his temple with his long index finger. "Even amongst the impossibility of the Outsider existence, there is still order and reason. That is what I have observed. From your known skills, to what you call 'classes', there is a certain path of progression that you all share. Therefore, I can tell you with confidence that a cleric's advanced 'class' will not leave those lines of progression. It may appear a little different, but it will always remain what it is meant to be—a healer."
Severance squinted. That was a very wordy response and it hurt his head. But he did get the general idea of what Olen was saying.
"So both are going to be able to heal, but the second one is more about fighting," he said slowly, thinking aloud. "But if the first one is about shielding and protecting, wouldn't that make it a stronger healer than the second one?"
"That depends on what you consider a strong healer to be."
There wasn't anything to depend on. Shields were a lot better at keeping someone alive than better offensive skills. That was a fact. Severance had seen how Orion's Great Ward worked. It had literally repelled people as well as arrows. If he wanted to be stronger and be better able to protect his team, then that was the class he needed to pick.
He looked at the floating window, and lifted a hand to choose. But before his fingertip touched the screen, it stopped. Was this really the way to go?
"You are thinking too much about it," Olen stated. "Choose what appeals to you."
"But if I want to be able to protect my team, shouldn't I pick the first one?"
"Should has nothing to do with it. This isn't about what you should do, but what you want to do. Make your own way, Severance."
What I want? Severance lowered his hand to his lap. What did he want? Well, he wanted to help people. He thought of the orphanage, and of the dozens of badly hurt kids. He thought of the brave men and women who fought the fire and did everything they could to save every child within. He remembered waiting outside the ruined building for the next person to come out. Waiting for when he was needed. Even though he'd healed everyone who came out, there were still those who perished within.
A furrow dug into his forehead.
Then there were the dungeon runs. The battles at Fort Valkyrie. He'd kept his team alive, mostly. He'd Revived the fallen. But again, most of the time he'd stayed behind everyone else and waited for when he was needed. He could only watch the backs of his teammates as they did the fighting.
Wasn't that what a healer was? Even Orion had remained out of the fighting.
Severance looked at the two options again.
Moon Scribe: become a shield that protects your allies
Battle Dancer: become a force of nature that fights alongside your allies
What did he want?
He wanted to be stronger, like Awesome Dude. That crazy player wasn't afraid of anything. From Thelma to scary Elionans, Awesome Dude didn't even bat an eye. He just charged right into the fire.
Severance wanted to be like that.
He didn't want to stay back and wait. He didn't want to watch his friend do the fighting for him. What he wanted was to have the courage to brave the fires himself.
Severance lifted a hand and firmly tapped down on one of the options. This was his choice.
The System burst out in a melodic flurry of chimes. They filled the air around him with a triumphant cry.
Congratulations, Severance! You have successfully advanced your class to Battle Dancer!
You have learned new skills!
You have learned: Earth Dance
You have learned: Sky Dance
"Have you chosen?" Olen asked.
Severance watched the words fade away. "I did."
"Which one?"
"Battle Dancer." As he said the name, Severance marveled at how the words themselves sounded strong and powerful. Any doubts that he'd made the wrong choice vanished. This was what he wanted to be.
Olen smiled faintly. "Since you have chosen, you will need new weapons. Please wait a moment." He got up from his desk, and went to one of the shelves lining his office.
Severance watched as the man collected a few items. It struck him that Olen must have prepared these beforehand, as if already knowing what Severance would need. He curled his fingers in his lap, a tiny furl of warmth unfolding in his chest.
No matter how it got to this point, he couldn't deny that the Veiled were really doing their part. They were looking after him, more so than he'd ever expected. Not even his own family had put in this kind of effort.
"Here." Instead of setting it on the desk, Olen came around and personally offered the items. There was a folded black coat and what looked like two closed folding fans. They were made out of silver metal, and each metal rib was sharpened to a deadly point. There was no question that they were designed to be weapons.
Severance immediately stood. Fans? These were his new weapons? That was definitely not what he was expecting, but either way, they were a million times better than a lame tree branch.
He took the whole bundle carefully, though inwardly, he was buzzing with excitement. "Thank you."
"Of course." Olen moved back, giving him some room.
Not even a minute later, Severance was wearing his new coat. Sleeveless, it fit loosely over the tunic and trousers he already wore and fell to his knees. It had a loose cord at the waist to tie it closed if he wished, but he left it open. It looked cooler that way.
Next, he picked up the war fans and held them, one in each hand. Even though it was the first time he ever touched them, they felt strangely familiar. With a simple flick of the wrists, he snapped them open.
Each rib shone silver, their tips razor sharp. The material between them looked like thin black fabric, but their outer edge was capped in a silver filament. It too, looked dangerous, though Severance wouldn't know how much until he tested out the fans.
Whoa, so awesome. He snapped them close. They folded near instantly, becoming a compact little shape that he could easily tuck into his waistband. He flicked them open, enjoying the whooshing sound. After a moment of admiring their smooth metal ribs and stiff black fabric, he snapped them closed.
Man, they sounded so awesome. He repeated the process a few more times, before Orion cleared his throat.
Severance froze, suddenly remembering that he wasn't alone. Whoops. He might have gotten a little carried away for a moment there. He placed the war fans into his Inventory.
"Sorry," he sheepishly said. "They're really cool."
"I'm glad you like them," Orion said politely. His gaze flickered to the door. "Ah, Maun. Good timing."
Severance turned to see Maun standing in the doorway. He leaned against the door frame wearing that perfectly pleasant smile, the one that raised Severance's hackles. "Looks like our little healer is growing up."
"I'm not little," Severance returned. He knew for a fact that he had at least a couple of inches on Maun.
Maun's smile widened a fraction.
Meanwhile, Olen's gaze shifted to Severance. "Maun mentioned you were heading to the Chosen Den. Is that right?"
"He did?" Severance tilted his head. He hadn't mentioned that to Maun. Or had he?
"I did?" Maun spoke almost exactly at the same time as Severance. He raised his eyebrows at Olen, who merely looked back at him. Maun cleared his throat. "Ah, right. I suppose I did."
What is this? Severance frowned. Maun didn't say anything just now. How does this Olen guy know all this stuff?
"Well?" Olen prodded gently.
"Well, that's my next quest," Severance admitted, "but I was going to wait for my friend..."
"Excellent," Olen smoothly interjected. "There's quite a few resources there, so I'll put together a list. If you find any, I would appreciate it if you collected them for me."
After having gotten a cool new coat and weapons, Severance couldn't exactly say no. Especially if he was going there anyway. "Okay."
"Right," Maun mused. "That place is a corrupted hellhole. It doesn't work like a normal dungeon. If you wanted help with that one, Sev, I won't be able to go. The things inside remember me, and I'd only aggravate them further."
"We could send Wellon," Olen suggested. "He hasn't been in there before."
Maun nodded slowly. "Hm, that could work. Wellon could use some exercise anyway."
"All right. I'll inform Agadhi."
"And Sev and I will let Wellon know." Maun nodded towards Severance. "Shall we continue, Sev?"
Severance looked from one clansman to the other. He had the sneaking suspicion that he was going to be all but shoved into the Chosen Den whether he liked it or not.
He sent a silent plea towards Awesome Dude. Please log in soon!