Class Change

Mythic-grade?

I ignored Epathos, who was still laughing his head off, and checked the skill at once.

A single line of effect. But that single line was absurd. Was this even real?

I opened the skill window with trembling hands.

For a moment, my mind went completely blank.

Double the initial slots. My starting count had been six, which meant I now had twelve in total. Tower's Blessing occupied one of them, leaving eleven. That number alone matched the Archmage who had been a Ranker in the first cycle.

It took a long while before my heart settled enough to speak. I turned to Epathos.

"…Is it really all right to hand out something like this?"

Epathos let out a dry chuckle, as if he'd just heard something ridiculous.

"Have you forgotten who you're up against? Even this much isn't enough."

The Giants. Prince-class, at that.

My head went cold in an instant. He was right. Without at least this much, saving my family wasn't even a dream I could afford. My goal wasn't to clear the Tower — it was to save Earth. This wasn't something to celebrate. I needed to grow even stronger. There was a reason I was playing nanny to Na Seoyun and laying plans to build a faction of my own.

"…I see. I suppose I got a little carried away, picking up a skill I'd never even heard of in the first cycle."

"I understand. Support of this caliber has been rare even in the Tower's history. But mark this well: you are not the only regressor to have received such aid. And even then, those who succeeded can be counted on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one hand."

I nodded, taking his words with a serious face.

I selected the complimentary skill at once and started pouring money into buying more. Only one skill came free. Anything beyond that cost a hundred gold apiece — a fortune. Among the current trainees, the number who could afford even a single extra skill besides myself could be counted on one hand. The combined reward I'd earned for clearing the 3rd Floor trial so thoroughly, plus the extra the lord had given me on the 4th Floor, had been a mere ten gold.

And even after sinking that much money, every skill available here was Normal-grade. Unless a skill was Legendary or higher, you couldn't overwrite it to clear the slot, which meant filling them now was the kind of move that would poison you later. But that wasn't the only way to free up a skill slot.

There was a method available only to the talented — those with abundant skill slots and the right information. A method that cost such an outrageous sum that even those who knew of it scarcely dared attempt it.

Skill Synthesis.

Skill Synthesis could only be performed with skills of the same rank, and a successful fusion reset proficiency to zero. If the information was wrong, you simply burned your gold and the skills remained as they were. If the information was accurate, they fused. Proficiency still reset, of course, and there were cases where the resulting skill proved useless. When the recipe was correct, however, the skill's rank could rise — meaning two Normal skills could become a Rare. For a time, that was why Skill Synthesis had been called a lottery.

The catch was that you could only synthesize skills you had already learned. Without precise information, a fortune in gold, and spare skill slots to work with, it wasn't a method anyone would even consider. I was something of an exception at the moment.

I started synthesizing immediately. I purchased and learned five weapon arts plus a shield art, then fused them into Weapon Mastery. It was a skill few people ever acquired, since it required five or more slots. Those who fought with a sword alone sometimes picked a single weapon art like Swordsmanship instead, because the bonuses hit harder that way. But I needed weapon arts, shield arts, and even orbs in place of staves, so Weapon Mastery was the better choice. It was a matter of versatility. On top of that, mastery skills were growth-type — if your realm climbed high enough, they could rise from Rare to Super Rare and all the way to Legendary — which made the single slot they occupied well worth it. The problem was the price. Obtaining that one skill had cost over two thousand gold. If gems couldn't be substituted for gold coins, I likely wouldn't have finished even a single synthesis.

I moved straight on to the healing line and fused my way to the Rare skills Great Heal and Body Cleansing. The total spent was a staggering five thousand gold. Three synthesized skills — Normal-grade Weapon Mastery, plus Rare-grade Great Heal and Body Cleansing — and the bill came to five thousand. Fuse Rare skills together and you wouldn't stop at ten or twenty thousand.

I hadn't originally planned to pick up those two healing skills. But with the extra slots, the calculus had changed. I revised my plans in high spirits and added all three. I'd overwrite them with Legendary skills later, of course. I gave serious thought to how the remaining slots should be used. Countless Legendary skills I'd had to abandon, swallowing tears over a lack of space, drifted through my mind.

That was as far as it went for now.

The budget was too thin. Spend any more on myself and there wouldn't be enough left to invest in my companions. Put that gold into them now, and we could take a definitive lead into the Middle Floor. …Not that the Middle Floor was reachable until after the thirty-fifth floor, so that was still a long way off.

There were no more skills that would do me any good even if I kept going. Three was enough.

"Finished, are you?"

"Yes. I'm done. When will the others get here?"

"Thanks to you playing nanny, that team's overall level is high. They'll clear it by tomorrow."

I nodded. Time to spare until then.

I drew my weapon and started training the new skill. First-cycle experience made raising Weapon Mastery easy. In a single day — just swinging a sword at empty air — it reached level 2. The bonuses were applying fast.

And a day later, just as Epathos had said, my party reached the 10th Floor.

"Oppaaaaa!"

A welcome with no brakes on it. The moment Na Seoyun saw that I had already arrived, she flew into my arms. I hadn't expected her to be quite this overjoyed, and I was a little taken aback.

"Uh, uhh…?"

"Oppa, oppaaa."

Unfazed by my flustered state, Na Seoyun nuzzled her face into my chest. The memory of the line I'd decided to draw came back to me, and I gently eased her out of the embrace. It couldn't show on the outside, of course. It was only a boundary in my own heart.

"Oppa?"

Na Seoyun looked up at me, her expression caught between disappointment and confusion.

"You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

The question came out naturally. She answered with a bright smile.

"Yes, oppa! I'm fine! What about you?"

As if only then remembering, she started checking me over from head to toe.

"I'm fine too. It was more manageable than I expected. Epathos wouldn't recommend a place I couldn't clear."

"Oh, it was easy for us too! And my mana went way up. I've gotten so much stronger — next time I'll be the one protecting you, oppa."

A short laugh escaped me. And when exactly is that day supposed to arrive? I thought, calling to mind my expanded skill slots and physical potential.

"I'll look forward to that day."

"Okay!"

Once Na Seoyun's storm of affection had passed, the rest of the party came forward, smiling despite their exhaustion.

"Shin-hoo really is on another level. There were four of us, and you still arrived first."

"Shin-hoo, you're not hurt, are you?"

Sisters, through and through. Na-yeon started checking me over all over again. I waved her off that I was fine and answered Joo Ha-yeon.

"You're the only ones besides me. You were plenty fast."

They were. They had every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right to be proud of it.

At my words, Epathos the Floor Master nodded as if to say the same. Objectively, it was true.

"Seoyun was flying around out there. She grows so fast you can see it day by day."

"Were the rewards decent?"

"Yes. Our mana stats went up. Eun-ju got one, I got three. Na-yeon got four. Seoyun…"

"I got seven!"

Seven. Enormous. Supreme-grade potential really was on another level. I'd thought five was the maximum, and she'd blown right past it.

Nam Eun-ju looked a little deflated. She'd probably felt the gap in talent. The rewards hadn't been ranked by contribution — that feature hadn't been unlocked yet. The incoming experience was the same to begin with, so she would have realized it. This split was purely a matter of talent.

I changed the subject by sharing what I knew about the 10th Floor, and the party nodded along.

"It's like a game."

Joo Ha-yeon's remark. I'd thought the same thing in my first cycle, so I nodded without thinking.

"Well, unlike a game, dying doesn't mean you get to come back."

"Have you already received your class, Shin-hoo?"

"I have. I even got a fairly dramatic change out of it."

I gave them the rough version — that my unique skill had given me two classes, and that my skill slots had increased. It wasn't something I could keep hiding forever. Having two classes wasn't a particular problem anyway, not when hybrid classes like Magic Swordsman already existed.

Then I started ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feeding them false information.

"A Hidden Class?"

"Yes. There turned out to be quite a few of them. I picked one, and honestly, it's not that great."

I ignored the indirect message without a second glance and kept talking.

"On top of that, I picked up a Skill Synthesis recipe on the 1st Floor. It's been an enormous help. I tried it myself, and the quality of the skills is on a completely different level."

"Skill Synthesis?"

"You combine several skills into a better one. It takes a lot of slots and a lot of gold, so it's not easy… but having done it, I can tell you it's remarkable. The problem is, the recipes only cover Normal skills… Honestly, after trying a Hidden Class, I think you'd be better off picking a regular class and synthesizing."

"Wouldn't a Hidden Class be better in the long run, though?"

A fair question. But I had a Floor Master in my corner.

"That's not necessarily so."

Epathos stepped in to support me and began laying out information. A Floor Master was permitted to advise trainees, but there were conditions. In a case like this, if I did most of the talking and he merely confirmed it, those conditions relaxed considerably. A price was still required, so I passed him a portion of the gems as an information fee.

"Hidden Classes have their limits, make no mistake. Honestly, the whole reason one takes a class is the skills. Every skill that appears in those recipes is excellent. If you're asking my opinion, I'd tell you that following Shin-hoo's advice is the better path."

Epathos's backing. He was on my side to begin with. And I was a regressor — telling them to follow my judgment wasn't a lie. I had no intention of deceiving them in any way that would do them harm.

Even so, I watched them with a slightly nervous heart. Choosing a Hidden Class wouldn't have been a bad thing. Gaia's priority wouldn't vanish, and if I held their hearts firmly enough, the odds of them leaving me were low. But if they ever learned the truth about Earth, their feelings might change. I wanted to cut that possibility off at the root.

They didn't need Hidden Classes. I was a regressor. I had more than enough ability to make them stronger than that.

"I'll do whatever oppa says."

"…Me too. I already decided to do as I'm told."

Na Seoyun and Na-yeon. The two sisters agreed to follow me without a second of hesitation.

I felt, honestly, as if I'd just achieved ninety percent of my goal.

So everything I've done up to now wasn't for nothing…

I was quietly satisfied.

"…Well, Shin-hoo wouldn't do anything that would put us at a disadvantage."

Joo Ha-yeon seemed to trust me as a person. The only question had been whether my information was solid. With Epathos backing me, she had nothing more to say.

"…I'll do as the party leader says."

Nam Eun-ju spoke in a voice that lacked all confidence. Knowing her talent was the lowest in the party, she seemed to have grown even more timid. She looked as though she'd decided that to survive, she had to cling to the party — to me, especially. She seemed more dependent on me than before.

Wearing a satisfied expression, I began actively intervening in the party's classes and skills.

Getting them to choose was easy. Na-yeon as a Spirit Master, Na Seoyun as a mage for now, Joo Ha-yeon as a priest if only for the skills, and Nam Eun-ju had no class to pick but warrior.

After that we started synthesizing skills according to plan. The process itself didn't take long. …Though it left my pockets completely empty.

When the party wondered where the money had come from, I glossed over it by saying I'd gotten it from a dungeon.

Once I'd assigned their classes and skills, I used the Administrator's Eye to check how much they'd grown.