Epilogue
Sam lay in his bed, staring up at the curtains overhead. It was nearing midnight, and he was completely exhausted from the day’s events, but for some reason, he still couldn’t sleep. Gordon was lying next to him, his sides rising and falling with his deep breathing.
After Willow had left to retire for the night, he and Emma had discussed when to visit the guild to collect their rewards. After a few minutes of debate, they decided to go the following day. It was probably in turmoil at the moment, as whoever was now in charge was most likely trying to get the word out to everyone that they were finally free of Sirus and his gang, as well as notifying whoever was in charge of the guild as a whole of their predicament over the last year.
They’d stayed up and chatted for a bit after that, discussing their plans for the coming weeks and how best to accomplish their goals, but after a while, Sam started noticing how tired she really was and had excused himself for the night.
Emma had offered up her bed, of course, saying that there was plenty of space for the both of them, but Sam had politely declined, leaving the strange girl and going to his own room. Gordon had fallen asleep immediately, but Sam had no such luck. His mind was still racing from all that had happened that night, and it wasn’t shutting up. Finally, he decided to look over his status. He’d been wanting to leave that until morning, but since he was awake anyway, he might as well.
CHARACTER STATUS
Name: Sam
Race: Human
Level: 18
XP: 2,443/51,000
AP: 41
Class: Mage
HP: 130/130 (Regen 1.3 Per Second)
MP: 450/450 (Regen 4.0 Per Second)
STA: 140/140 (Regen 1.4 Per Second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: 6 (7)
Constitution: 13
Agility: 8
Endurance: 9 (14)
Intelligence: 42 (45) (+8 Class)
Wisdom: 37 (40) (+8 Class)
Charisma: 21
Luck: 12
ABILITIES
Mana Shot: Beginner LV - 19 (31%)
Mana Burn: Beginner LV - 17 (5%)
Mana Flare: Beginner LV - 15 (10%)
Mana Cloak: Novice LV - 10 (93%)
Mage Bolt: Novice LV - 5 (67%)
Speed Boost: Novice LV - 3 (28%)
SKILLS
Sprint: Beginner LV - 16 (84%)
Stalker: Beginner LV - 15 (67%)
Inspect: Intermediate LV - 22 (19%)
Mind Over All: Advanced LV - 40 (41%)
Mental Manipulation: Beginner LV - 16 (57%)
Browbeat: Novice LV - 9 (12%)
Critical Strike: Beginner LV - 13 (81%)
Sucker Punch: Beginner LV - 12 (23%)
TITLES
Butcherer of Bunnies
Punching Bag
You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry
EQUIPPED ITEMS
Clothing
Farmer’s Canvas Shirt
Farmer’s Canvas Pants
Farmer’s Leather Boots
Mage’s Sash
Total Armor Rating: 10
Set Bonus: +1 Strength & Endurance
Other Items
Name: Silver Orb
Damage: +5-8
Name: Pendant of the Novice Mage
Effect: +3 Intelligence & Wisdom
Name: Ring of Endurance
Effect: +4 Endurance
Name: Ring of Fortitude
Effect: +50% Resistance to Mental Manipulation
RULE OF THE DAY
Do not allow your HP to drop below 70%
Do not eat any stew
He blew out a long breath, now very much regretting checking his status.
At least the divine curse had finally worn off. Taking double damage was no joke!
He looked over his options again, feeling a headache coming on. There were just so many things for him to take care of, not the least of which was assigning his attribute points, choosing a sub-class, and picking an ability from the list he’d been given for reaching level 15.
Well, he had to start somewhere, and choosing a new spell was the easiest decision to make.
He’d already turned down the other two last time, so passing them up again wasn’t too difficult.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have gained a new ability!
Mage Shield: Coat your skin in mana, to protect yourself from all mana based attacks
Level: Novice 1 (0%)
Effect: All mana based attacks nullified
Duration: 8 Seconds
Cost: 100 MP
Cast Time: 1 Second
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
With that out of the way, Sam decided to check up on his sub-class options next, to see if any new ones were available. There weren’t. Closing the tab, Sam debated just choosing one, but decided to ask Gordon beforehand.
Looking over at the sleeping dog, he debated waiting until morning, then decided against it. The dog wouldn’t mind helping him.
“Hey, Gordon,” Sam said, nudging the dog in the ribs.
“What?” came his sleepy reply.
“I need some help choosing my sub-class.”
“Can it not wait until morning?” he asked, sounding more than a little exasperated.
“No. We’ve got too much to do tomorrow, and I’d rather get it all out of the way now.”
Gordon cracked his eyes open and glared at him.
Okay, maybe the dog did mind just a bit.
“Don’t give me that look. You’re supposed to be here to help me, remember?”
“How could I ever forget?” he replied, rising to his feet and stretching out his back. “Tell me what options you have available, and I will give you my opinions.”
“Great. Out of the eleven options, I was thinking of going with either the Force-Mage or Fire-Mage sub-class. They both fit my style, and the other ones just sound boring.”
Gordon glared at him again.
“You had one of two choices to make and would not have the time tomorrow morning?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Holy shit, that was unnerving, especially seeing as the dog didn’t have any eyebrows.
“We’ve got a lot to take care of!” Sam said defensively. “We have to go to the guild to get our rewards, then we have to make sure the Princess is sent off safely. After that, I’ll need to go shopping for some new stuff, since all of my old shit was stolen!”
Gordon just rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed huff.
“Speaking of your items,” the dog said, “I have been holding on to these since you gave them to me. I believe that you can take care of them yourself!”
Then, two items appeared on the bed next to him.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to sleep somewhere where you will not disturb me!” And with that, the dog walked up to the door, pulled the handle down, and left, closing it behind him.
Sam would have paid attention to the dog, but he was too busy looking at the two items that had fallen onto the bed. One was a Spell Scroll, cracked and flaking at the edges, and the other was the glowing red vial he’d found in the first dungeon he and Gordon had tackled. He’d completely forgotten about handing the items over for safekeeping and was glad that Gordon had remembered them, even if he was kind of an asshole about it.
He had handed them both over on a hunch, just before he’d been robbed, something which he thought was very strange. He hadn’t gotten much information on them last time, but now that his Inspect skill was at the Intermediate stage, he figured that he might have more luck.
ITEMS FOUND!
Name: Spell Scroll
Durability: 3/10
Rarity: Epic
Quality: Enhanced
Contents: Over-Burn Spell
Effect: Create a massive inferno in a targeted area
Requirements: Level 18 Over-Mage
Name: Overlord’s Boon
Durability: 25/25
Rarity: Soul-Forged
Quality: Reinforced
Effect: Bestows the drinker with the hidden Over-Mage sub-class, regardless of current level or class
Requirements: None
Sam’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.
There was no way in hell that this was a coincidence! The Overlord must have planted this, but the real question was why.
Sam opened his sub-class selections, and sure enough, the Over-Mage sub-class was now available.
OVER-MAGE
The Over-Mage sub-class is one focused on complete and total domination. To accomplish this, Over-Mages have a wide variety of abilities, including damage, debuffs, healing and even mental manipulation.
Over-Mages gain +3 to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma with each level gained.
However, they will suffer massive penalties to Strength, Agility, and Endurance, requiring 5 AP to raise any by a single point. Furthermore, raising them outside of spending attribute points will become impossible.
(Attribute boosting items will still function as usual)
The path of the Over-Mage is not for everyone, so be wary before accepting it. Once chosen, there is no going back…
Sam closed the window, and felt his heart rate increase, as he stared down at the small glowing vile of red liquid, sitting on the bed just a few inches from his fingers.
Judging from the item’s description, he could already imagine the sort of devastating power he’d be able to wield if he chose this sub-class.
It also fit his acquired skills perfectly, which led him to one conclusion. The Overlord had been pushing him towards this path from the very beginning.
Sam felt a cold shiver run down his spine at that thought. He was half tempted to just dump the potion and choose a different path, but in the end, pragmatism won out.
So what if he’d been led to this option from the start? It was still the best choice he had. Sure, he would suffer massive penalties to Strength, Agility, and Endurance, but none of those were going to be particularly high anyway. He also had a pretty strong feeling that this was the item that Millicent had been searching for. An item that was so powerful, it could change someone’s class, something which the system itself had said to be impossible.
Picking up the glowing vile in shaky hands, Sam’s fingers closed around the stopper. This time when he pulled, it came out easily, with a soft pop. He stared down at the glowing liquid for a few more seconds, heart racing.
Then, he grinned to himself and raised the glass in the air before him as though in a toast.
“Game on, Overlord. Game on!”
Then, he tipped the glowing red liquid down his throat.