Class (2)
“Commander?”
The word floated above the others in blue instead of white, standing out sharply against the rest. Perhaps because it was a Rare grade, it drew the eye all the more. For now, the first thing I needed to do was read the description for every class.
Warrior — Normal grade
A warrior who can fight on the front line is indispensable in any party. He can’t be called efficient, but he adapts easily to any weapon, whether sword and shield, spear, or axe. Later on, he can also advance into other melee classes such as berserker, knight, paladin, cavalryman, or mercenary. Endurance, stamina, and strength all increase by 1.
Archer — Normal grade
A ranged attacker. You gain basic knowledge of bows and arrows. Later, you can advance into close-combat classes such as thief or assassin, and you may also have the chance to move into higher-tier archer classes like spirit archer or mana archer. Agility increases by 3.
Mage — Normal grade
A ranged class that can use magic. You gain basic knowledge of magic. Later, you can advance into classes such as dark mage, alchemist, or summoner. Mana increases by 3.
None of the three were bad.
Warrior raised three stats that would be hard for me to increase on my own, while Archer granted basic knowledge of bows and arrows. For someone like me, who wanted to stand back and soak up all the easy benefits, it was a very appealing class.
Mage, too, held its own appeal. The fact that it raised mana, something almost entirely detached from me, felt strangely meaningful.
But what I was most curious about was the Rare class, Commander.
Commander — Rare grade
A class with almost no combat ability. Rather than standing on the front line, it is a class that reads the situation and issues orders from one step behind. Your field of vision expands slightly. Nothing is known about which class it can advance into later. Intelligence increases by +1.
Honestly, before I read the explanation, I had been leaning heavily toward Commander.
But after reading everything, my head really started to ache.
The class itself wasn’t bad.
What in the world is “your field of vision expands slightly” supposed to mean?
And it only granted +1 intelligence.
Compared to the other two classes, which gave +3 to stats, that meant I was losing out on two whole stat points.
And that wasn’t all.
Later on…
The fact that nothing was mentioned about what I’d do later left me uneasy.
Come to think of it, Kim Hyunsung’s own class was a normal one as well: Swordsman.
For a guy like him, a Rare class—or even a Heroic one—should have been within reach.
And yet, since he already had Sword Mastery as an attribute, it looked like he was avoiding Swordsman for the time being. More than immediate efficiency, he was clearly trying to walk a path he already knew, a route he’d already memorized.
While I was still hesitating, I saw Kim Hyunsung walking over to me.
“It seems you’ve opened your class list as well.”
“Yes.”
If I could tell at a glance which class was the right one, just like him, choosing would be easy. But since the first choice would determine everything that came after, I couldn’t help agonizing over it. I was even thinking about asking for some subtle advice when Park Deokgu opened his mouth.
“Hyung, this….”
“What?”
“I’m a little torn. For normal grade, I’ve got Warrior and Priest. For Rare, I’ve got Shield Soldier, but I can’t tell which one’s better.”
“Priest?”
“Seems like later I can advance into something like a crusader… and Warrior looks like it can become a berserker or something… Isn’t the Rare one supposed to be better?”
If I considered Park Deokgu’s potential, which seemed centered on stamina or endurance, Shield Soldier was by no means a bad choice.
“Shield Soldier….”
“It says it’s a class focused on defense. It explains there’s some benefit when wielding a shield, but the problem is it doesn’t say much about the classes that come after. Ah, and it says my strength drops by 2… but endurance and stamina both go up by 3.”
“It doesn’t sound bad.”
It was Kim Hyunsung who spoke up for me. He was trying to help without making a show of it, even though nobody had asked him to.
“Your endurance stat is already quite high, it seems. There is a penalty in that your strength drops, but the amount your endurance rises is certainly impressive. Even if your strength decreases, you still end up with four stat points to spare.”
I see.
If this were an online game, a front-line warrior—a tank—would be indispensable.
Judging by his reaction, the system here didn’t seem all that different.
It looked like not just priests, but tanks, were treated as valuable too.
“Mm… so that’s how it is after all.”
“Might I ask whether your attribute section has opened yet?”
“No attributes yet.”
“In my case, my normal class was Swordsman, and my attribute is one that increases attack power. I did want to choose Warrior, since it raises strength, but I judged that Swordsman, which greatly increases agility, was the better option. Now that I’ve unexpectedly received an attribute, I think the choice I made then was the correct one.”
Hmm.
The guy was slipping in his opinion without making it obvious.
It wasn’t just the class that mattered. The balance of stats, the presence or absence of attributes, and the effects of those attributes—
I could vaguely infer that when those three elements aligned, efficiency reached its peak.
He didn’t insist too strongly, but Kim Hyunsung clearly seemed to want Park Deokgu to choose the Rare class, Shield Soldier.
“What do you think, hyung?”
“I think the same. I don’t know whether you’ll get an attribute that increases attack power later, but for now, Hyunsung can make up for your lack of offense. And if you think about the present rather than the future, getting four stat points outright is certainly not a bad thing. Still, the choice is yours.”
“Mm….”
“Priest is….”
“The worst.”
Priest was the worst.
Even if it could later advance into something like a crusader, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Priest was simply not the way to go.
Park Deokgu didn’t have much talent in mana, after all.
After a little while, I felt his body flash blue for an instant.
He had successfully advanced.
“Did you choose?”
“Shield Soldier seemed the most suitable.”
“Really?”
“Well, you can take care of yourself, hyung, but I figure this’ll let me protect you better too. And as for offense, leaving that to other people doesn’t seem so bad. Besides, if I get a class like mage later, couldn’t I just blow things up from afar? Standing at the very front is a little scary, but I think I can do it.”
“Good choice.”
Kim Hyunsung nodded as well.
“If it isn’t too presumptuous of me, may I ask what you chose, Kiyoung?”
I was about to pause for effect, but then I simply opened my mouth.
“I haven’t chosen yet. For normal grade, I seem to have Warrior, Archer, and Mage. For Rare, Commander is showing up in the list.”
“Commander….”
I saw his face flinch for just a moment.
Trap card?
I couldn’t help but think of Commander as a trap card.
“Mm… I see.”
“Kyaa. Hyung. Commander! Commander somehow feels like it suits you perfectly!”
“R-really?”
“I didn’t say it, but isn’t hyung basically a commander type? Just imagining you coolly waving from behind makes me go, whoa…. If you’re the one commanding us, we’re bound to win.”
Park Deokgu seemed absurdly excited at the thought of me being a commander, but the truth was, I couldn’t really call myself commander material.
The reason was simple.
I don’t know the first thing about tactics.
I’d never even read a strategy manual.
I wasn’t good at Go or chess, and I certainly wasn’t unusually brilliant compared to other people.
As for any experience commanding others, all I had was a handful of times as a raid leader in an online game whose name I no longer even remembered.
Honestly, my character was less a commander and more a fraud. At this point, I was even thinking that a thief class might suit me better.
“Just give the orders, hyung!”
This bastard….
He was cute, in his own way.
Apparently he had already decided I was going to choose Commander.
“It says your field of vision expands and intelligence increases by +1. I’m sure you’ve all seen the other classes already.”
“It does seem to grant a little less than the others. Usually, other classes give about three stat points….”
He was sounding faintly dismissive now. As expected, the Rare Commander class was probably a trap.
“Hyung is a commander! Commander!”
Leaving aside that idiot who was excited on his own, I decided to think it over a little more carefully.
“At first glance, being Rare does make it look good, but it also bothers me that I can’t see what classes it can advance into later. There’s no guarantee that the classes available afterward won’t all be normal-grade ones. The first class choice is extremely important, so for now….”
“Hyung, I’m telling you, it’s Commander! Commander! Hurry up and command me!”
“…….”
“Maybe Archer isn’t so bad either, Kiyoung. Being able to use a bow has its own merits, unexpectedly so. If you can support from range, it’ll be a huge help. And later on, there are classes like thief….”
“Hyung is Commander, I’m telling you! Commander! Lead me!”
“For now, raising stats would probably… be helpful.”
“The one that can make the most of hyung’s strengths is Commander! Commander without question!”
“Archer….”
“Commander!”
“Archer….”
“Commander!”
“Archer really does—”
“Commander!”
“Then Archer….”
“Commandeeeer!!!”
The two of them kept at it, and that only made me more confused.
Damn it….
At this rate, it felt like the others nearby might rush over too.
Kim Hyunsung, who seemed to know a little about Commander; Park Deokgu, who seemed convinced Archer would be a way to raise me properly—though he still didn’t know my potential was garbage.
I kind of want to be Archer myself.
But if I chose Commander, that would be a problem too. Mage kept catching my eye as well. My mana was pathetic, yes, but at least it felt like I could make use of my relatively high intelligence.
What should I do?
What mattered most was making the best use of my strengths. Either way, my attribute, Mind’s Eye, had already led me to conclude that I had no future to speak of.
“Ah….”
In the end, I had no choice but to select the class that seemed most efficient.
As I shut my eyes and made my decision, light flashed, and I could feel my body changing slightly.
“Phew….”
I had successfully advanced.
Kim Hyunsung and Park Deokgu both spoke at once.
“Commander?”
“Archer?”