There was a flash of Light, and Lukas appeared in a large hall.
He blinked, looking around.
While the hall was visually the sa as the hall back in Salaria, with its high ceiling and the sa gate in the middle, its size was a different matter entirely. It was almost double the size of that one.
And just like the previous hall, Adepts moved through the space, none of them even blinking at seeing newcors appear out of thin air instead of through the gate. So even looked amused, rembering when they were also in that position.
Before he could do anything, a ssage appeared in front of him.
[Welco to the Second Floor.]
lody and Akira materialized beside him a mont later in separate flashes of light, both looking around with the sa assessing expression he suspected he was wearing.
"Move aside please." An Adept appeared through the gate behind them, needing the space to move.
They stepped away from the gate area and moved to the side of the hall. This way, they wouldn’t block the flow of traffic in the hall.
"The wish," lody said imdiately, voice low.
"You got the ssage too," Lukas said.
"All of it," Akira confird. "Whoever reaches the top first."
They held each other’s gaze, before glancing at the rest of the room. The other Adepts passing through looked amused, recognizing the expressions on their faces.
One of the passing Adepts even raised a finger to his mouth in a gesture for silence, a smirk on his face. That was as clear a sign as any that they weren’t supposed to discuss the wish openly.
"We’ll talk about this later," Lukas said. "Sowhere private."
They nodded at that.
Then he pulled up his status screen.
[Lukas Valentine]
[Race: Human]
[Rank: E-Rank Adept]
[Class: Thief, Hexblade, Necromancer]
[EXP: 0.00%]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 9053]
[Agility: 8325]
[Constitution: 8879]
[Mana: 10,094]
[Skills: Pickpocket, Lockpick, Cursed Blade, Hex Shield, Blood Armor, Resurrect, Death Bolt, Smite, Wing Fortress]
He smiled as he stared at the numbers. He didn’t know how he compared to other Adepts, but he was sure he could compete with a lot of them. Who knew how many years or months it would take them to gain those sa 4000 stat points across each stat?
Then a notification appeared before him.
Ding!
[Requirents t.]
[Thief class detected. You are eligible for a class change. Would you like to undergo the class change quest, or retain your current class?]
[Available classes:]
[1. Thief]
[2. Assassin]
He blinked at what he was seeing before telling his wives.
"Finally," Akira said. "Are you taking [Assassin]?"
Before he could answer, another notification appeared, overlapping the first.
[Fate Key detected.]
[Would you like to consu the key to reveal hidden class options?]
[Yes / No]
Lukas’ eyes were wide as he stared at the notification.
"What’s wrong?" lody asked imdiately, expression serious.
"The Fate Key," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen. "It’s asking if it can reveal hidden classes."
Both of them froze.
"So that’s what it does," lody said quietly.
"Use it," Akira said imdiately.
Lukas selected Yes.
The earlier box expanded. The two existing options remained, and beneath them, new entries appeared one by one.
[Available classes:]
[1. Thief]
[2. Assassin]
[3. Ghost]
[4. Grim Reaper]
[5. Void Walker]
His jaw dropped. A second later, he made the box visible to his wives. And just like him, their jaws dropped in shock.
Now available to him were five classes, with three of them hidden behind the Fate Key, unavailable to anyone who advanced through the standard path without it.
No matter what he did, he couldn’t see any descriptions of what they were. He would be choosing without any indication of what any of them could do beyond what their nas were.
But even with just their nas, he could tell that none of them were ordinary options. They had to be powerful classes on the sa par with [Hexblade] or [Necromancer]. Maybe even more powerful.
"Which one should he pick?" Akira asked, glancing at lody. "What do you think each class actually does?"
"For this [Ghost]," lody said first, studying the na, "I think it could be a fusion of [Thief] and [Assassin] combined into sothing that incorporates the best of both. So a package of stealth and speed to make one a figurative ghost."
"Or it could be more literal," Akira said. "The skills of an actual ghost. Passing through walls, becoming invisible, existing sowhere between present and not present." She paused. "Which would pair extrely well with what you already have."
"We genuinely don’t know," Lukas said.
"[Grim Reaper] is more obvious," lody continued. "It has to be a class built around death. Maybe sothing like harvesting life force or commanding the dead."
She glanced at Lukas. "Though given that you already have [Necromancer], there might be overlap, or it might be sothing we haven’t considered at all."
"Classes are weird," Akira agreed. "He might even get the sa skill from two classes."
"What about [Void Walker]?" Lukas asked. "What do you think it could be about?"
"Void suggests space," lody shrugged. "Or absence. So we’re looking at either a class with skills like teleportation, or sothing completely out of left field."
"It sounds like the strongest option," Akira said. "Or the most unpredictable one. Those are usually the sa thing."
"We don’t know," lody admitted. "Any of them could be extraordinary. Any of them could have limitations we can’t anticipate."
Lukas looked at the list.
He knew, sitting there, that whichever na he chose, so part of him would always return to the ones he hadn’t.
That was the nature of irreversible decisions. Once in a while, you’d always sit down and ask what could’ve been if you’d chosen sothing else.
But at the end of the day, he still had to pick.
lody and Akira looked at him.
"Whichever you choose," lody said quietly, "we’re with you."
Lukas looked at the five options one final ti.
"I’ll choose..."
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