Gingerly, Vee reached into the ghost’s body and tried to shimmy the ectoplasm frame a bit further apart. As he pulled, the construct groaned and shuddered a little bit, and Vee slowed his efforts. He’d spent the last twenty minutes on this attempt, and he didn’t want to…

Snap!

…break it.

“Gawain’s balls!”

Vee watched the two halves of the minion fall to the floor and sighed. He [Banished] the minion so that it could return to the ethereal, and sat down on the floor to ponder his options. Trying to modify a ghost from the dungeon was definitely going to be more trouble than it was worth, which left him no choice but to try and make the sponge by himself.

Drawing out his [Ghost Baton], Vee knelt down on the ground and drew a large circle on the ground.

“[Vivify Minion: Base],” Vee said, covering his hands in green light as he scribbled inside the circle, drafting his minion’s basic rules of existence. Thankfully, since it was a simple and straightforward ghost, there wasn’t much required for this step. He anchored the working with eight instances of Bu, gave it the capacity to follow orders with Gu, added two instances of An so that it could move all four of its planned arms, and stuck out his tongue as he squiggled out an approximation of the Un symbol. He didn’t expect the sponge to need to move its head, but he thought it might end up having legs, so he wanted to give himself something to work with if it ended up being necessary.

Unlike when he’d turned the mannequins into shopkeepers, he couldn’t go straight to using [Vivify Minions: Orders]. Since the sponge had no body to speak of yet, making one was his next task. The [Ghost Maestro] wanted to do things properly, so he decided to use refined ectoplasm for his base instead of simply collecting ectoplasm from the air as he had been doing previously.

He refined five green cubes and set four of them on the table. There were all sorts of basic structures that one could employ for making a new ghost or spirit, but Vee was only marginally familiar with one: a nexus in the center connected to four smaller anchor points. It’d have to do.

Pressing and pulling the cube he’d chosen to start with, Vee molded the ectoplasm into a sphere – that was a bit lopsided, to be honest – and set it in the center of his circle. With his baton, the [Ghost Mastro] connected the sigils to the nexus, watching them all glow in turn as they were linked to the spirit yet to be.

He rolled out a few rods of blue ectoplasm, and snapped the other four anchors to his nexus before binding all of them to one another and looking at the resulting frame. It was a bit of a pinched squarish thing, but it was fine. All the symbols in his circle were still lit, and that was what really mattered. After all, once the ghost was covered in sheets of ectoplasm and had arms and everything, people wouldn’t notice that its body was a little askew.

Now that he had his frame built, it was time to consider the proper application of ectoplasmic layers. Vee decided to start with red ectoplasm, as it was comparatively abundant in the lab and was slightly easier to stretch now that he had the trick of it.

Dropping the sheet of ectoplasm onto his ghost’s frame, Vee carefully made sure that it was in the proper position, and then added a second layer. He repeated this four more times until the sponge had six layers in all, and then made his first pair of ectoplasmic arms and hands. He twisted the energy into ropes before knotting them together. Once those steps were done, Vee attached them to large sheets of hardened ectoplasm which would serve as the ghost’s primary method of defending itself against adventurer attacks. Forming a ball socket out of more blue ectoplasm, Vee attached the arms to the new minion’s body and gave them an experimental shake, smiling when they moved as he expected them to.

When he paused for a moment, Vee was quickly consumed by a ravenous hunger. For all that it was going well, his work was definitely catching up with him.

“I think I’ve got a bit more in me,” he said to himself as he started work on another set of socket joints. These were for the ghost’s second pair of arms, and Vee attached them to the frame in the same way that he’d attached the first. They locked into place and the [Ghost Maestro] grinned. The sponge was coming together! It really needed a better name, though.

[Congratulations, you are now a Ghost Maestro Level 28!]

[Class Threshold Level Reached!]

[Orchestra size expanded! Fourth section unlocked!]

[Your ability to shape ectoplasm is now more powerful!]

[Your ability to refine ectoplasm is now more powerful!]

[You have earned a Mantle! You can now gain benefits from your orchestra members!]

[Light Section Bonus: Might +1]

[Medium Section Bonus: Faith +1]

[Heavy Section Bonus: Wit +2]

[Additional Section Bonus Available!]

Lifting his hands to his face, Vee saw that they were trembling slightly. Though he wanted to press on and see what else he could do now thanks to his new levels, he recognized that his body needed rest and regretfully decided to call it a day. Taking one last look at his sigils, Vee made sure that there were no leaks or cracks in his bindings that would cause his hard work to dissipate overnight.

With his stomach’s rumbling almost a section of his orchestra by itself, Vee left his lab and returned to the office.

As Alforde drew close to the spirit, his surroundings transformed. Instead of a wide open space, the armorsoul found himself inside a room covered in white and slate blue tiles, with a pair of red lines bisecting the floor and ceiling. The spirit was still standing in front of him with its huge grin and unsettling sword raised, and Alforde pulled Slammy back for a strong, sweeping blow.

His grip was good, and his aim was true, but at the last possible second – no, far less than a second – the spirit became a blur and Alforde missed.

“That was a good strike,” the spirit said, and when Alforde turned around, it was somehow on the other side of the room. “Let me see another one.”

Alforde shook his helmet. “Why? What is it that you want to see?”

The spirit raised its sword once more. “To be a champion is to be known by all. I want to take your measure for myself, Little Champion. Again.”

Locking his knees, Alforde pointed himself at the spirit and activated [Unstoppable Charge]. He shot forward, but before he’d even made it halfway across the room, the spirit was gone again, and Alforde slammed into the wall. It didn’t really hurt, but the armorsoul felt himself growing frustrated as he picked himself up off the ground and looked around for his opponent.

A gentle laugh filled the room as the spirit reappeared in the center.

“I see. You are not one to hold back. That’s good. To be a champion is to always give your best.”

It vanished again.

“Where’d you go?” Alforde cried, raising Slammy and looking around.

“Naturally, I’m right behind you,” came a voice above Alforde’s left pauldron as the pommel of the spirit’s sword tapped the armorsoul on the back. It was a gentle thing, without any anger or malice behind it, yet the -[HaM#er Af/ic0nado]- found himself flying through the air before landing hard and rolling several feet away.

He hurried to his feet, raising his weapon to block a blow that never came. Instead, the spirit simply nodded at him and lifted his sword once more.

“Again.”

And so, Alforde lost track of time, launching himself at the spirit again and again, but no matter what he tried, he could not land a single strike. The [Warrior Monk] dodged every one of his attacks, and each time it retaliated – lazily, as if bored by the effort required to do so –the armorsoul went flying across the room. When Alforde hit the wall and bounced off for the tenth time, he stopped counting.

Tap.

Eleven.

Tap.

Twelve.

Tap.

Thirteen.

Or at least, he tried to.

While they traded blows, the spirit talked to him, giving him axioms and lessons about what it meant to be a champion. The [D*n$eoN Ch4mp+0n] did what he could to listen, but his helmet was ringing from all the collisions against the wall and so he might not have heard them all properly.

“To be a champion is to emerge from failure stronger than before.” Tap. Crash!

“To be a champion is to adapt to whatever stands in your way.” Tap. Clang!

“To be a champion is to be willing to pay a higher price for success than all others.” Tap. Crash!

“To be a champion is to [Grow]!”

For the first time during their bout, the spirit hit Alforde with the blade of its sword. It didn’t cut or hurt the armorsoul, but the strike sent a chill through the armorsoul’s body.

As he got up and tightened his grip on Slammy, Alforde noticed that there was a thin layer of frost on his gauntlets. The same was true of his boots.

“Again!”

Alforde raised his hammer and felt a tingle across his back. The shadow of an image flickered through his thoughts, though it came and went too fast for him to see it clearly. He slammed the weapon down, and saw that Slammy’s head left a ring of verglas on the tiles it struck.

“Ta, you are getting closer. Again!”

Another tap. Crash!

Alforde felt cold all over now, and his armor was heavier than it normally was. Every plate that he could see was covered in a thin layer of sapphire ice, and when he pushed himself up from the ground, he felt something settle on his back.

He turned his helmet, and saw a shimmering blue cape of frost hanging from his pauldrons. The squeal that came out of the armorsoul’s helmet wasn’t the most champion-like noise he’d ever made, but Alforde didn’t care. A permanent cape!

The spirit appeared in front of him, its grin gone.

“To be a champion is to be larger than life. Ever present and unfathomable, a force of nature that is impossible to match. Once more, please.”

This time though, the spirit only tapped Alforde’s helmet, and the armorsoul was driven to his knees. Using Slammy for support, Alforde pushed up from the ground, but his strength failed him, and he fell forward before he could swing again.

“Excellent. I see now what sort of person you are, Little Champion. You pass.”

Sitting down beside him, the spirit lightly tapped Alforde on the back. The cold inside Alforde’s armor vanished, and was replaced by a thrum of power unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

“Take what’s yours, armorsoul. It’ll help you find your way.”

[Heart of A Champion +3]

[Well, well, well…aren’t you cool now?]

[Congratulations, you are now a Glaciernaut, Level 1!]

[You can now use Tundra Crash!]

[Might +2]

The room faded and Alforde found himself back in the middle of the street outside Crestheart tower. Through the bond he shared with Vee, the armorsoul sensed his friend’s surprise and excitement about his new class, and when he looked up at the tower, he saw the blinds swaying, as if someone who’d been looking out the window had sprinted away from them.

“We will meet again,” the spirit’s scratchy voice said, though Alforde couldn’t see it anywhere. “Be well, Little Champion.”

“Wait,” Alforde cried. “I don’t even know your name!”

The spirit laughed.

“You can call me Sacha.”

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 28 (+1)

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 17

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 5

Might: 11 (+1)

Wit: 29 (+2)

Faith: 20 (+1)

Adventurousness: 6

Ambition: 12

Plotting: 15

Charisma: 10

Devious Mind: 18

Leadership: 15

Guts: 11

Intimidating Presence: 8

Citizenship: 16

Public Relations: 4

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 20

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 12

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 13

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 1 (+1)

Might: 35 (+2)

Wit: 11

Faith: 24

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Endurance: 16

Intimidating Presence: 11

Heart of a Champion: 6 (+3)

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 6

Vigilance: 5

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

--~%@(%[email protected] &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#[email protected]!)~--, #[email protected]& ????

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 39

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 11

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 6

Might: 1

Wit: 30

Faith: 10

Ambition: 25

Greed: 21

Deceptiveness: 28

Manipulativeness: 35

F^#$#$%@#

Loyalty: 43

Patience: 12

[#@$%%^*!#@__--#%]

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 4