Chapter 137 - 137

Cain looks over the options he has in front of him. Lord or General. The two skills he saw available for level 100. From the tool tip he knows they're exclusive, he will have to finish one path before beginning the other, but there is still no solvable information about what these paths involve. 

Lord shows a picture of him in elegant clothes, but with a ruthlessness in his posture and appearance that screams dominance and power. 

General shows him in heavy armor, giving a Knightly impression with many blurred figures at his back. 

"So that's the choice, power or numbers" Cain thinks out loud inside the character creation area, an old habit of his. 

The numbers he has were enough to take a small city by surprise, mostly due to Lesser Demon Army and Summon Cloning. So he's leaning towards the Lord Option. If it increases the quality of his summons, or gives him Epic Golems, as the boss monsters were recorded, that would be the best path for him. At least in his opinion. 

"Choose option Lord" He informs the interface with determination. 

[Character Creation Complete] 

[Class Skill Gained: Puppeteer] Requires INT 100. Animate dolls as puppets. Puppets are always one tenth of the Casters level. Limit 1 Puppet per character level. 

[Lord Path Class Skill Gained: Merger] Requires CON and STR 100. A Puppet master can Merge with one or more of his Summons, or the summons may Merge with identical summons to increase their power. 

[Lord Path Selected: 20 Skill Points Used] 80 Skill Points remaining. 

Is that what stopped him during initial character creation? He didn't have the points to select an option? It says he used 20 but has 80 left, so he's been getting one every level, he just didn't have the option to use them because he was too low of a level to access the Class change screen. 

After level 100, it supposedly can be accessed anytime until you choose an option. A small blessing for transfers who are very close to a requirement and want to hold off on the change. 

[Knight] Rank achieved

[Skill Gained: Knightly Pride] Summons damage taken halved. Summons damage done doubled.

That's a pretty impressive first Skill for the Lord Path. With the ability to Merge with his summons to gain their power, Cain could be an absolute monster in combat if he should choose to. This is what he was hoping for right off the start, but it seems that he did so well on the random roll that he wasn't qualified for the very basics of the class it chose.

He's got points left, and it looks like there are 4 more ranks of the Lord Path left, so Cain drops twenty points into the next rank. 

[Baron] Rank Achieved

[Skill Gained: Retinue] Bodyguard and Sorceror type summons become Greater Golems. 

Greater Dread Spiders, or other agility types as his Bodyguards and his choice of spell casting Greater Golems as his Sorcerers? Now he's getting into the really good stuff. With that improvement, his personal guard could now be just as mighty as his front line Wrath Bringers were this morning, more if you account for the bonuses granted at the Knight Rank. 

No stopping now. On to the next, it's time to make this class truly overpowered. 

[Earl] Rank Achieved

[Skill Gained: Personal Guard] Summon two Epic Golem type guards. 

There it is, the ability to Summon dungeon bosses to aid him in combat. Not only that, but to buff them immensely. He doesn't know how he's going to break this to everyone else without getting lynched for cheating. The possibilities are endless though. They've faced so many cool and unique boss monsters so far, and they're all now possible to Summon.

The first that comes to mind was the Dark Elf boss that nearly Chopped his entire force to pieces. That guy was brutal. Or the Mage type Dark Elven Boss. Those Shadow attacks? That would be a great addition to their area attack power. 

Cain briefly wonders if it's possible to lead others down this path to brokenness. There's a class help button in the creation menu, maybe it has information? About the class, yeah, that's not new, class esthetics, yeah he knows that. Oh there it is, how to obtain Puppet Master Class.

Random Roll: Limited

Progression Path: Not Available

Alternate Path: Hidden Skill combination will unlock [Quest: All The Puppets] at level 200 if Stat requirements are met.

Well, that's not much detail, but he now knows that it is possible for someone else to have gained this class without using the random character creator. 

Time for another Upgrade. 

[Marquis] Rank Achieved

[Glory of the Mark] All active [Class Skill] Summons may be upgraded by 1 Rank in quality. 

What can Cain even say to that? He was daydreaming about the boss monsters he could Summon and how insane they would be, but the Marquis skill would theoretically make his Wrath Bringers every bit as fearsome.

That's 80 points in, so a transfer who got this class through the quest would reach this point at level 280 through sheer determination with no luck or saved Skill Points. No wonder they don't come anywhere near the starting zones if this is the sort of power level they're all working with at the higher levels. 

One last Rank to go before Cain loses his nerve. 

[Duke] Rank Achieved

[Advisors] Appoints all Companion type summons as Advisors. Advisors are Epic Quality Summons that gain the ability [Bonded Forces] allowing them to Summon 4 Greater Golem type Guardians from their racial category. If no Companion type Summons are known, grants 1 Random Companion. Bonded Forces do not benefit from [Glory of the Mark] but gain all other bonuses granted to the Puppet Master's Summons. 

Laura is going to be stoked, she can become an Epic Dragon right away. Vala and Nemu are already Epic, so no change there, but having them control their own sets of Demon, Beastkin and Dragon type Golems will be an adventure on its own. Cain can only imagine what Nemu is going to pick for her Bonded Forces. He could likely force her to pick something specific, but as a Companion he thinks it's better if she's given some autonomy.

Plus, she is amazing at the pouting face to get what she wants anyhow. 

Cain finishes looking over the options, making sure there is nothing he has missed. No, the Lord Skill tree is finished, and he can now select General, once he gets Twenty Skill Points that is. Maybe it's time to start using his [Appointed Companion] Skill too, granting Kone all the buffs and abilities applicable to his Companions. He can blame it on the level 100 change without raising any eyebrows about him getting another S Rank Skill book.

Plus, Kone has earned it, she follows him everywhere and is immensely helpful in every way she can. 

The Spirit Folk Druid has become like a daughter to him, more of a family member than just a Guild member. Cain was sad that Misha chose to take on Guild Recruitment duty and return to Sunnybrook, but he would be devastated if he was separated from Kone for an extended period like that. He's far from ready to let her go her own way in life. 

Meanwhile in the other side of the couch, the Druid in question was looking over her options. The Druid advancement is obvious. They're essential the Tank, Healer and mixed options, of which she's currently on the mixed path. If that was all there was, it would be a simple choice. 

But she finds herself looking at the Beast Lord Option, afraid to select it to look, in case it pulls the same 'no second chances' stunt that the character creation screens like to. The option is really appealing though. It looks regal, the picture makes her look like a proper lady. Plus, there's the shadowy forms of animals in the background, which makes her think it's a summoning class. Kone has been hiding a severe case of hero worship, wanting to be every bit as cool as Cain, standing at his side and not just as his most beloved sidekick.

This class option really, really looks like it might be the way to become more like him, but still maintain her own role so she doesn't become useless to him. 

It's not long before the temptation becomes too much and she selects the Class Change option. 

[Hidden Class Change: Beast Lord] initiated

[All Skills Reset] 

Okay, that's definitely not normal. Selecting Advanced Classes at level 100 should add on to your existing skills. You gain more cool stuff, you don't start over from zero. 

[Beast Lord Available Skills] 

[Monstrous Regeneration] Grants Beast Lord and their [Companions] a Healing Aura. regenerates 5 percent of all Allies HP per second. [Cleanse] effect every 5 seconds. 

[Lord's blessing] Greater Heal, recovers a large amount of targets HP.

[Bestial Allies] Summon 8 Beastkin type Greater Golems.

[Control Beasts] Beast and Beastkin type monsters in the area are under your control. Up to 10 may be actively controlled at once. Number of targets controlled scales with Beast Lords Level. 

[Wild Nobility] Increase damage done by self and summons by 50 percent, reduce damage taken by 25 percent. Double all base stats. 

[Wild Affinity] Summon Companion of a specified type. Choice is final once made. Gain benefit based on Summon Chosen.

[Existing Compatible Skills] 

[Cleave] 

[Critical Healing] 

[Thorns of Retribution]

Kone does her best not to panic as she looks over the new skills. She kept a few existing skills, the ones from books. But everything else is reset. Only 6 class skills to work with at level 100? But they look pretty powerful, and Getting them all would use up all 100 Skill Points she has, so it must be intentional. 

There is really only one option at this point. Kone puts all her points into her new skills and double checks her interface to see if anything is missing.. Now, to exit the menu and hope that Cain isn't too mad that she gave up most of her Healing abilities.