Classes can both shape the person and what the person will become. It is a well known fact across the world and in the artificial world of the dungeon. Information, words, concepts, anything that can be passed down, will. For the Gejan, very few things get passed down through their species. The reasoning is unknown, but the Gejan have never been known to exist in large numbers, even though they should be able to.

Even so, one piece of information that is consistently remembered is the weakness and slow leveling of crafting classes. Classes like [Alchemist], [Enchanter], [Cook], and others are difficult to level for a variety of reasons, though the most significant is resources. Constant resource usage and experimentation will allow quicker leveling initially, but eventually even that will come to a slow drag. So, to surpass this hurdle, a master and student relationship forms. In this way, the student can get information that they otherwise would only obtain through countless trial and error. And the master would… well, it depends. In some cases it can be free labour, money, or in certain but numerous circumstances, explicit sexual favors.

Arecia would consider herself a genius. The understanding of specific carapace qualities and how to best utilize them comes relatively easy to her. It is also why she is the highest level smith and only [Carapace Smith] that the Gejan have. But, over the past month, her level has risen quickly once more as new concepts and understanding is supplied to her by the one named Quasi Eludo.

He came to her smithy and started screaming profanities about her skills and how carapace smithing should not make sense and should not work like a thing called metal. He had used the word stupid several times during what to Arecia seemed like a very childish tantrum. Then he went and started listing techniques for her to use that had quickly shown how ignorant she actually was.

Drawing and Upsetting. Bending, punching, proper heating, hardening, annealing, tempering, shrinking, and even welding. Many techniques and all of it was thoroughly explained to her. The only problem he had seen is that the chitin worked like metal only while it had a water content.

“Arecia, *Cough* *Cough*. Did you call for me?”

Arecia looks at the Gejan coming in and perks up.

“Tessa. Perfect timing. Your armor and weapons are ready.”

The Gejan, Tessa, squints and even frowns as she steps into very heated water. She coughs again from the extreme humidity of the room and walks her way towards Arecia.

The whole room is steaming as water is constantly being boiled with very few locations that it can be released. The reasoning is to reduce the speed in which chitin dries so that Arecia can do some more intense and tedious smithing techniques.

“Where is it?” she asks. The steam is making it difficult for her to see.

A blurry figure steps out and grabs her arm.

“Follow me. It is in the back.”

Tessa follows Arecia and they step out of the water and then travel deeper into the smithy to a spot where the steam is almost nonexistent.

“Wow.”

The room’s size is at least ten times that of the workstation. On the walls of the room are armors of different sizes, types, cutouts. They all look widely different considering the various types of monster parts used to create them. In the center are dozens of stands with a whole bunch of various types of weapons ranging from swords, hammers, halberds, and even a set of nunchucks.

“Yours is farther in the back. Let me show you.”

Arecia leads Tessa to the back where a piece of form fitting full body armor is located.

“Here we are. The armor is made with indented chitin scales that were from the Zerebran monster type that was modified by Nighmora. It is lighter and stronger than it normally would be.”

Arecia bends down on the floor and takes a little bit of stray sand.

“It’s also enchanted by your commander. The armor gifts you the [Sand Veil] and [Sand Camouflage] ability on top of [Sand Surf] and an increase in your dexterity stat.”

Tessa moves up and touches the armor. She runs her hand over the armor, feeling the smooth exterior. It has a slight glow from the mana prevalent within.

“What is it called?” she asks.

Arecia rolls her eyes. “I have no idea why armor even needs to be named, but he called it the Sand Shark.”

Tessa pauses. “What is a shark?”

Arecia shrugs, “I have no idea.”

___________________________________________________________

“Alba, your control has improved quite a bit.” says Nighmora.

The Myrmer’s gaze hangs on the movements of five Myrmeke no longer under her control. These five had been wrestled from her control by Alba’s new skill [Dominate Monster]. It is a very powerful ability that any normal Queen would be incapable of stopping. Even she would not be able to stop it if she had not been able to practice.

“It is still difficult compared to you,” Alba says, gazing at the changed form of the [Myrmer Queen]. Her carapace is smoother, less blocky, and her face now has a full degree of expression. Nine new abilities were gained over the course of a month with various interesting effects. Each new ability had leveled her up and allowed greater control of body manipulation, including her own. Granted, she has modified her body to better mimic the Gejan form, which had positive effects on those she rules over. Though the biggest change is the thicker and more numerous antennae on her head. Each one now gives her at least several hundred Myrmeke to be under her control. Still not as much as the [Swarm Queen] she had consumed to gain the ability, but still a noticeable increase.

“My ability extends to those created by me. Yours is different. You can control anything that is mindless enough. That versatility is impressive on its own.”

Alba nods, taking a moment to look at the nineteen various [Myrmeke Queens] that Nighmora now controls. Each is powerful and strong enough to fight most Gejan into a standstill. They are powerhouses in their own right, and all of them are here in the city.

“Hah. If we want to talk versatility, I think the commander has us beat.”

Nighmora slowly nods. “Indeed. He understands politics, crafting, war, and several other subjects that he has been tutoring me in. Thanks to his teachings, my level has risen. I am currently very close to the second tier class. I do wonder what it will evolve to.

“Knowing you, probably something amazing.” Alba frowns, her ears flickering as a thought passes by.

“By the way, do you know where the Commander went? Is it to get another queen? It looks like he didn't take that many Gejan with him.”

Nighmora’s long tail flicks through the air, “He took his army with him and one of my Queens. All he told me is that he has a plan.”

_________________________________________________________________

“Jessica, war is a terrible thing. People die in droves, killing one another all for the sake of a single party,” Quasi shakes his head, ”Lives are lost and it all truly comes at the expense of those in the midst of engagement. For most, winning means survival and little else. I have lived a long time, a very long time. Like, super long. Do you understand, Jessica?”

“…You've mentioned this several times, Quasi.”

“I have, haven't I? Sorry, it's just that this brings back memories. Ones I’d rather not remember”

“Uh huh.”

“I’ve led armies before, and in most cases, I was victorious. Most cases, that is…”

Jessica frowns, “What happened?”

Quasi sighs.

“Look at what's happening below.”

Jessica does, having been staring at the battle the entire time. 20,000 undead insectoid monsters are battling and winning against a living force almost twice its number.

“Chain of command, troop diversity, environment, morale, supplies, and thousands of other factors influence the effectiveness of an army.” Quasi explains as he points at the two armies fighting above the sands. Jessica gazes at how different and utterly dominating Quasi’s tactics are. Where the enemy is attempting to swarm and win due to superior numbers, Quasi is holding out and slowly moving his main army backwards while hundreds of smaller pockets of his undead punish with constant hit and run tactics from the sides, slowly whittling the enemy down while backtracking and taking few losses.

“But, with all of my planning, all of my preparation… I failed. I thought I covered every factor. I thought nothing could possibly go wrong. I thought I prepared for any and every unforeseen event.”

Jessica frowns as a tear begins to stream down the [Necromancer’s] face.

“What happened?” she asks.

“A storm.”

A tingling dread crawls down Jessica's back. Storms can be dangerous and horrendous in a war. She has seen such disasters as [Soldiers] fought through rain and mud to kill each other. Horses would trip and break their legs, causing them to be trampled by others behind them. If the rain and storm is horrible enough, then fallen soldiers would drown in the exhausting downpour. Such battles cause the most dreadful of injuries, many of which she has little ability to heal before as wounds or disease will quickly take their life. Now though, she has more levels and better skills. Regardless, she understands his pain.

“I’m sorry. I’ve heard that storms can be bad, but would it not affect the enemy too? Did they have some way to deal with the weather?”

A [Weather Mage] or even [Druid] could help alleviate a storm, or at least for a battle. If not such casters, then maybe a spell scroll, though those are costly on their own and rarely ever used except for the extremely rich.

“Ha. If only. The weather is a nasty mistress and she cares little for fairness,” he sighs.

“How did it-”

“Lightning. A strike of lightning. That's all it took.” Quasi interrupts as he falls to his knees. Tears now falling on the monstrously large [Size Myrmer Queen] undead he and Jessica are riding.

“The lightning...”

“It... it...”

The [Necromancer] creates a fist and lightly smacks the carapace of the queen.

“...wrecked my internet connection and Franky beat me in Starcraft 2.”

_______________________________________________________________

The [Grand Swarm Queen] shudders within its lair as she begins to call her swarm back. A force has approached her and her immediate guard of forty thousand is currently engaging them. The rest of her swarm, a number exceeding a million, is quickly making its way to her location.

“Is that her?”

“It looks like her.”

“Well, she has a lot of those feelers, so it's probably her.”

The [Grand Swarm Queen] quickly moves and turns towards the sound. Her eyes settle on Five Gejan as they meandered into her lair.

With a quick thought, she begins to order her forty thousand to her side, only to find that her Myrmeke had been chasing the enemy army for a distance. It will take some time for them to come to her aid.

“Well, the commander said to just kill her. So no holding back,” Thorous exclaims as she unsheathes her blades. Darrow and Aldonis mimic her while Lilly’s tail extends menacingly.

“Aim for its head,” shouts Orlan as he is the first to accelerate forward.

__________________________________________________

“They started running.” Jessica voices as she points towards the now retreating force.

“All according to plan,” Quasi says as he wipes his face. “These queens aren't very smart. Very easily manipulated.”

Jessica frowns. The feeling she gets off of Quasi is far more cocky than usual. Usually, he only acts this way when he has a total victory.

“So, now we just hope that they kill the queen and get away before this army reaches and overwhelms them? That was the plan, right?”

Quasi raises an eyebrow and gives Jessica his trademark smile, “Not this army Jessica. I was talking about the million strong monsters spread out.”

She looks towards the retreating enemy force.

“How are yo-”

She stops as she notices Quasi raising what looks like a baton in his hand. He walks forward, facing the enemy army in its retreat.

“[Resurgent Melody].”

Jessica looks around, puzzled as music begins to play around her with no direction. To her, it seems as though the music is just coming from everywhere. Her ears quickly perk up as she also notices that the music has several instruments playing all at once.

Quasi begins to flick his arms, the glowing purple baton seems to do nothing until he flicks it upwards.

*BOOM*

An explosion goes off at the enemy retreating force. The music begins to get louder, stronger. More powerful. He flicks his baton upwards.

*BOOM*

Louder and faster the music continues, Quasi’s movements matching the music... or the music matching his movements.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

Monsters rise into the air as undead hidden under the sands begin to explode in an explosion of purple fire. Sand reaches the skies as limbs are destroyed and glass quickly forms.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

Minutes pass by before the music begins to slow to a stop. The explosions stop as well, leaving several craters in the ground and practically all of the enemy army in splinters. An enemy army now being chased down to the very last.

__________________________________________________________