Chương 161: 75. I'm an Optimist

I wake up feeling groggy as the first rays of sunlight shine through the window. Normally Evie's lucid dreaming doesn't interfere with our sleep much, if at all, but I guess using magic to pull our conscious minds into the dream isn't the most restful experience. It does have some advantages, though. I sit up and rub my eyes as I inspect the fruits of Evie's labor. [Level up!] Incandescent Souls has grown from level 6 to 7. +3 Power. +3 Resilience. +3 Awareness. +3 Ego. Adept has grown from level 7 to 10.

+3 Awareness (Violet). Tamer has grown from level 9 to 10. +1 Ego (Magdalena). Lucid Dreamer has grown from level 3 to 5. +4 Ego (E'ava'al'n). +4 Will (E'ava'al'n). Instigator has grown from level 5 to 6. +1 Ego (Reverie). Wow, that's a lot. If we ever get to a point where we're all leveling up different high grade classes at the same time, I might need to reconsider how I sort all that information. That's a crazy thought—it's rare enough for all of us to level up at once anyway. Except me I guess.

We didn't have a whole lot of time to play around with language stuff. I'm surprised that Revi gained a level there. What did she do this time? She really is a tough one to understand—not just because of her weird, abstract thinking or aloof attitude. She obviously has her own ideas and interests, but I feel like she almost... doesn't want to? Like she's trying her best not to be a person, somehow. Something to think about later—though that's getting to be a hecking long dang list.

Actually, now that I think about it, [Tamer] is sort of odd as well. All Maggie did was feed him a dream-fry, which was very cool, but "worth completing her class" cool? I cast my gaze to the foot of the bed and do a double-take at what I see.

"Wh— Nipper?!" Instead of the toothy black serpentine creature I'm used to, I'm met with the sight of a gently pulsating white orb made of his silken threads.

"A cocoon?" I gasp. What is that supposed to mean? I was under the impression that Nipper's kin could get a whole lot bigger. I remember the worm tunnel that was almost as wide as I am tall, and how panicked the rangers got when they saw the culprits. I almost regret not taking a look for myself, but you couldn't pay me to look down a chasm like that. I shudder at the very thought. We were warned that he'd end up evolving, but this feels too soon.

I mean, I'm glad that he's not turning into one of those giant chasm worms—oh, heck I hope he isn't—but what are we supposed to do with this? I scoot over and gently poke at it with a tentative finger, but the outer layer of hardened silk and glue is tougher than it looks. It's a little bit stuck to the blanket, but when I try to lift it, the cocoon peels away without too much trouble.

It's lighter than I expect, and doesn't give much impression of what's going on inside, not that I'm about to just shake it like a kid at christmas. It does flex and pulse in my hands like a beating heart, which feels super gross, so I quickly put it back down.

"Well, that's inconvenient," Maggie grouses.

"It's gonna be a lot harder to carry him around like that."

"Yeah..." I sigh, frowning.

"But on the other hand, it's probably safer to leave him here on his own."

"Unless he hatches into some sort of burning moth-phoenix while we're away and sets the entire estate on fire."

"Where the heck do you come up with this stuff?"

"I'm an optimist." I heave a frustrated sigh and sit down at the vanity to brush my hair.

"I guess it's good timing that you and Vi finished mastering your classes, then."

"At the same time?" she groans.

"Lame. I guess I'll take a tie."

"A tie, when you had a huge head start," I point out.

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbles.

"Let's hope they combine into something useful. I still need to master the new class before E'ava finishes [Lucid Dreamer]." I really doubt that's happening, but I'm not going to discourage her. There's also not a whole lot else to do while I go through my morning routine.

"Let's take a look," I suggest. I bring up the classes in my head to see what they'll combine into. Normally, I'd let Maggie take the front to do it herself, but I'd sooner go bungee jumping than let her do my hair. [Tier 1 Magical Tamer]** With your finely honed magical senses and deep understanding of wild animals, you employ magical techniques to bring out the potential of any beasts you tame. Skill - Bless Animal: Temporarily transfer one of your skills to a non-sapient animal as a blessing.

You may dispel the blessing at will. Skill - Magic Signal: Communicate your will with invisible magic signs, detectable only through magical senses or by those you designate. Those designated by you will always understand the signal's meaning. Attribute bonuses: Awareness, Ego. Advancement: Raise animals with magic.

"Not a bad start, right?" I comment.

"Eh, the signal skill is just support for something I already know how to do," Maggie complains.

"And Fargo said that we shouldn't rely too much on blessings."

"Yeah, but it looks like this one can be revoked at any time, so it wouldn't be too much of a burden, probably," I argue.

"And being able to give Nipper any of our skills is a pretty big deal."

"It is, but I also bet that we have to be super careful with it," she says.

"Giving a lower tier monster one of our high tier skills might just kill it outright from magical strain. At the very least, I'd want to check it out with Fargo first." Fair enough.

"Speaking of which, should we consult him on this class fusion anyway?" I ask.

"It seems like the sort of thing his advice would come in handy for."

"We've already gotten a ton of advice from him, and while I trust his judgment, I don't want to go blabbing about every exact class and skill we have."

"Alright. Well, there's a couple of other options..." I'm pretty curious about what determines whether there are extra options or not. Sometimes we get a whole bunch, and sometimes there's just one option. Maybe it has something to do with how we gain our levels? Like there's some hidden prerequisites we can't see, even for fusions and upgrades. Well, anyway, on with the next class. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

[Tier 1 Monster Trainer]** You have developed a special affinity with the strange denizens of convergence points, allowing you to guide their growth as you develop alongside them. Skill - Magical Bond: Form a unique magical bond with one non-sapient creature of extradimensional origin. While bonded this way, you gain limited access to the creature's interface. Skill - Borrowed Power: You may select one trait of your bonded creature to use as if it were a skill. Attribute bonuses: Awareness, Ego.

Advancement: Tame and raise monsters.

"Oooh! This one looks great!" I exclaim.

"You never did figure out how to copy Nipper's silk production."

"I had other priorities!" she retorts defensively.

"I don't like how uncertain it is. Limited access to his interface? How limited? What the fuck is a trait? Actually, hold on— [Traits]." [Traits] Magical abilities intrinsic to certain species. Typically only available to non-sapient creatures after evolving at least once.

"Uh huh," Maggie mumbles.

"And I bet that's what makes monsters monstrous. Everything in the convergence point had traits, even the newborn worms. I wonder if it's possible to get some for ourselves? I bet the Alchemist knows."

"So they get those instead of skills?" I ask.

"Probably." Hmm. I guess it's got a lot of potential, but it's also kinda tricky to tell whether this is what we want or not. We don't know how much the first skill lets us see, and we can't know how useful the second is until we actually take it.

"Shortlist?" I suggest.

"There's only one more to look at, but sure," Maggie agrees. Speaking of which, let's see the last candidate. [Tier 1 Beastmaster]** An acolyte of wild magic, harnessing the power of nature to control beasts and monsters they have dominated. Skill - Assert Dominance: Dramatically increased Ego when using your natural charisma to assert yourself over others. Increased benefit against non-sapient species. Skill - Command Beast: Non-sapient creatures submissive to you will understand and obey your verbal commands.

Attribute bonuses: Awareness, Ego. Advancement: Expand your menagerie.

"Oh, uh... hm." I frown.

"I don't know if your 'natural charisma' is something we want to rely on."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too," she grumbles.

"Honestly, I'm not gonna lie, this one is shit." I can see lots of ways in which it could be powerful or useful. Speaking objectively, this one actually seems much stronger than the other two on the surface. We could assemble our own little army of animal minions like some kind of fantasy druid. But in terms of how I actually feel about it?

"Yeah, to heck with that one," I agree.

"Nipper isn't some expendable minion, and I don't like the language about control and domination. It feels like that class is more about using animal companions as tools rather than partners."

"Yeah, and Fargo would literally kill us," Maggie says.

"So it's down to the first two." The two of us deliberate for a bit while I finish up the morning routine, quietly wishing I had a bit of makeup. And more than just a couple of worn-out hairclips. And longer hair. And— Anyway, the classes. [Magical Tamer] is the safer pick. It's got clear utility and predictable benefits.

Even if we have to stick to smaller blessings, Fargo can help us with figuring out the safe limits for Nipper, and skill-based magical signals are far more reliable than the awkward system that Maggie's been struggling with for weeks. [Monster Trainer], on the other hand, is risky. It's a lot harder to tell how useful those skills are, which means that they could be amazing, or they could be total duds. It's a gamble, but one that could have a huge payoff.

It's also a class that's specifically associated with convergence points which, as Mags points out, usually means higher quality classes. Knowing Vi, she'd want to play it safe and take the more predictable option. Knowing Maggie...

"You want to go all-in on the gamble, don't you?" I sigh.

"All the fucking way in, baby!" she crows.

"The other one is way too generic, and this one might actually let us influence Nipper's evolution, which as you may have noticed has become a pretty imminent problem."

"I suppose so," I reply.

"And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about what Nipper's interface looks like."

"Great! Lemme at it, then!" Vi still hasn't picked what her new class is going to be, but that's her problem. I don't hesitate to confirm my choice and inspect my shiny new status.

[Magdalena: Tier 2 Human] [Class Slot 1: Tier 2 Incandescent Souls]* - Level 7/10 [Class Slot 2: Tier 1 Monster Trainer] - Level 0/10 [Attributes] Power: 57 Resilience: 57 Awareness: 67 Ego: 67 Will: 6 [Skills] Inner Flames Pyrothaumaturgy Burning Innervation Explosive Throw Magical Bond Borrowed Power That eleven-to-one ratio between Ego and Will is probably gonna be an issue at some point, but we'll get around to fixing that at some point, I'm sure.

Right now I'm a lot more interested in checking out this [Magical Bond]. I can already sort of feel it—like an invisible thread between me and the Nipper-ball that just needs me to put a little bit of power in to solidify. I imagine it would be a lot harder with some random monster, but we've already done the groundwork with Nipper. Placing one hand on the pulsating cocoon, I close my eyes and focus on the skill.

With only the barest exertion of will, a new set of words appears in my mind, distinct from my own omnipresent interface with Engie, but just as clear. [Magical Bond] [Nipper: Tier 0 Abyssal Wurm Larva]* - Level 10/10 [Attribute Total]: 25 [Traits] Magical Constitution Matter Conversion Limited Pyropathy [Evolution in Progress]: 1% Pretty bare bones, but it actually lets me see his exact tier, grade, and level. All of which apply directly to his species, rather than any classes.

It only tells me his total attributes, and I can't expand them to get a more detailed breakdown. Twenty five seems low, but it's about the same as mastering two tier zero classes. I wonder how he's supposed to raise his species grade. We don't even have a grade on our species, and I have to assume that fusion isn't an option without classes. Looking closer at the traits, I can at least get detailed descriptions of those, though I already know what the last one does.

[Magical Constitution] Requires magic to survive and converts all matter digested into magic. [Matter Conversion] Slowly converts stored magic into biomass. Shit. Lost the gamble on that one, I think. I had assumed that I'd be able to copy his string production or at least the venomous saliva, but I guess those are "natural" properties that are only aided by the magical ones. Actually, the saliva is probably entirely natural, but I know for a fact that his silk isn't produced naturally.

I suppose that's where [Matter Conversion] comes in. It also explains why he's able to eat like twenty times his own volume without breaking a sweat. Finally, the last line. The evolution. I'm a little worried about this one, to be honest. I wasn't expecting him to evolve so soon, and I was hoping to get a little further along before needing to deal with it. I just hope it isn't too late. Thankfully, it does let me expand it into more detail.

Evolutions available for [Tier 0 Abyssal Wurm Larva]*: [Tier 1 Abyssal Wurm Larva]* (1%) A cave dwelling worm that spits sticky thread to capture its prey. [Tier 0 Flame Eater Wurm Larva] A monstrous worm that consumes and spits fire. [Tier 0 Astral Wurm Larva] A magical worm that burrows through space. [Tier 1 Abyssal Moth Chrysalis]* An odd cocoon, hiding a dark metamorphosis. [Tier 0 Rock Snail Nymph]* A juvenile [Rock Snail] that has not yet developed its characteristic stone shell.

That's a lot more than I expected. It looks like evolving to a higher grade means either stalling or resetting the tier, and it's hard to tell which. My guess is stalling, since it wouldn't make much sense to go completely backwards. The default is to just keep going down the same path, which is how I assume his older kin got so fucking gigantic. The last two are a little weird. Sort of side-grades.

If I'm reading this right, the Abyssal Moth path is an alternative to the default progression, with no strictly mechanical pros or cons—though leveling as a chrysalis is probably kinda hard. I bet he'd need to stockpile all the magic necessary while he's still a wurm in order to take that path without starving to death. I'm guessing the reason we never saw any moth variants is because none of them can manage to do it before hitting the level cap and just evolving. Then there's the rock snail option.

Contrary to my earlier point about not going backwards, that option would, in fact, go backwards. It's such a weird option to even have. Nipper could, in theory, start life over as a rock snail, for no benefit whatsoever aside from I guess being a different species. I wonder why the option to radically shift species is even there, especially since it looks like most non-sapient beings just pick the default. But then it occurs to me what we heard about the Serpentfolk.

Supposedly not all of them are sapient, but I have to assume that they are still people. By whatever metric Engie uses to determine such things, it seems entirely plausible that there are thinking beings out there that are using this dumbed down version of the interface, without classes. Well, either way, I'm not turning Nipper into a rock snail. If that's even an option.

Experimentally, I try highlighting one of the options in my mind, and I'm met by a rather lovely line of text that fulfills exactly what I was hoping for. Choosing a new evolution will lose all progress towards the currently selected option. Select the option again to confirm. I rub my hands together gleefully. Looks like I get to help decide how our little Nipper grows up.