Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

Tier 1 Orb to gain their initial Class, it required 2 Tier 2 Class Orbs in order to advance your to Tier 2; that meant that you’d need at least 40 of the same Class Orb Tier 1 in order to advance.

Or, as one group had obtained, you could just get lucky and find a Class Orb Tier 2 in one of the Drop Chests – and be halfway there.  It was apparently an extreme rarity, but it was possible.

“For all the monsters we’ve killed, I can’t seem to get any gear for my Class.  I’ll trade you a Mage Class Orb for…2 pieces of armor and a weapon.”

Jeska didn’t know how he knew, but that was exactly what she had collected over the last few days.  She had a Linen Robe, a Copper Circlet for her head, and an Oak Staff – all of them giving bonuses to Intellect.  The Mage Class – so she had observed in the other groups – came equipped with a simple Pine Staff that had no bonuses, so anything that improved that was powerful.  Intellect, she had learned, was what made their spells more powerful – not that there were many that they had access to right away.

After asking around for the last 15 minutes, she knew that this was her last chance to acquire a Class for herself, unless her party got lucky over the next few shifts and obtained an Orb from a drop.  Still, she wasn’t going to give up so much of her hard-earned gear so quickly.

“How about this…”  Jeska negotiated with the former merchant, and she was pretty sure she still got taken advantage of; it ended up costing her the Robe and Staff, as well as a Minor Cooldown Potion she got from Kelty’s Inventory.  The Minor Cooldown Potion was incredible, as it immediately cut down active cooldowns for all your Skills by 35% – and it had 5 charges before it was completely consumed.  They had already used 3 of the charges, so it wasn’t that much of a loss in the end.

She couldn’t wait, just like the handful of people at the impromptu trading extravaganza; she had already seen those that had acquired the Class Orb they needed to use them.  Seeing their unclad bodies rising in the air as they screamed in both pain and excitement barely fazed her by that point, as she had seen so much death over the last few days that very little shocked her.

Jeska opened up her Class Orbs Available selection on her Hero Status, located the single Mage Class Orb, and then concentrated on it.

Would you like to absorb Mage Class Orb Tier 1?

Yes / No

Warning: Absorbing this Class Orb will consume it entirely.

Selecting Yes, she immediately felt as though she had been punched in the chest.  The next moment, she felt an unimaginable pain shoot through her entire body, and she felt the clothes on her body disappear.  The visual aspects of her transformation were of a much less concern, however, as the agony shooting through her body – and her head in particular – was so powerful that it blocked everything else out.

It seemed to last an eternity.  After what felt like decades of constant pain, she found that the pain was gradually replaced with a feeling of contentment and…completeness, if that made any sense.  It was as if she had finally become what she was meant to be, and through her painful “rebirth” she had found her true calling.

She was a Hero; more than that, she was a Mage.

Jeska nearly stumbled as her feet touched the floor of the Mayor’s meeting hall, where they were conducting their get together.  Opening eyes that she hadn’t even realize were closed, she looked around and saw her group smiling at her.  Arcen reached her first and slapped her on the back, causing her to stumble, which also clued her in to the fact that she was newly outfitted.  Looking down, she saw she was dressed in a simple black robe, cut to fit her perfectly; it was comfortable without being unbearable even in the heat of the day, and it was loose enough in places that she didn’t feel confined.  Opening her Inventory, she saw that it was called a Basic Mage Robe – the same kind that all of the other Mages possessed.  There was also a Pinewood Staff, which she immediately chose to equip, and it appeared in her hands.

This…this feels right.  Hefting it in her hands, she smiled as she looked down at it.  The weapon wasn’t necessarily something that she would use like she had her Training Weapon, though it could certainly be used to bash at a monster or two if necessary. Instead, it felt more like a focus than anything.  Jeska also equipped the one piece of armor she had saved from having to trade away, her Copper Circlet, and she felt its weight settle on her head; at the same time, her mind felt even sharper than it had just a moment ago.  In fact, her mind seemed to be racing in all sorts of directions all at once, so she had to spend a moment reining it back in.

Looking at her Hero Status certainly helped.

Hero Status

Name:

Jeska Porter

Hero Name:

(None Chosen)

Class:

Mage

Tier:

1

Health:

10/10

Intellect:

3 (+1 equipped)

Attack:

1

Speed:

2

Defense:

1

Inventory

Class Orbs Available

Class Skills (New)

There it was: Intellect.  She wasn’t quite sure if “4” was a good Intellect to have or just average, but she could see that her Copper Circlet was adding +1 to what she had already.  The statistic was higher than any of the others, at least, so that had to be a good thing.

She also saw that she finally had a Skill!  She wasn’t sure what Skill she would get, since it appeared as though