A blue box popped up in Ed’s vision as his hand brushed the surface of the Tower.

[Classes]

[Temple]

[Market]

Ed contemplated briefly upon Temple and Market, which weren’t currently available. Derek had conjectured that the Temple might be a way of communing with the Spirit Realm, while Market would allow Villages to perhaps trade things with each other, as the Spirit Tower seemed to be a beacon of sorts. None of the Villages he’d visited so far had been able to access them.

For now, Ed only had one option.

He selected Classes and was inundated with one of the largest blue boxes he had seen before.

Basic Classes - The inhabitants of this village have fulfilled two roles.

[Hunter]

Slight enhancement to Body Traits: Eagle Eyes Skills: Unerring Aim

[Craftsman]

Slight enhancement to Body. Traits: Endurance Skills: Giant’s Strength

Lord’s Classes - As the Lord of a Village, you have earned a unique place in the System. Choose carefully, as it will influence your fate.

[Warrior-seer]

More important than moving quickly or slowly, is moving at the right time. Sacrifice your physical vision for a true one to walk the path of a Warrior-seer.

[Shaman]

You have begun to accumulate a multitude of blood essence. Power comes at a steep cost, and blood makes a potent sacrifice. Learn its secrets and walk the path of the shaman.

Ed hesitated while considering the classes available only to him.

Shamans… That was the same class that the goblins seemed to favor, right? He could only assume it would take him down a violent and bloody path.

He was attracted to the Warrior-seer class, which seemed to resonate with his own martial philosophy.

It would’ve been nice to have a more concrete explanation for the Lord’s classes like the Basic ones, but the System seemed enigmatic on this part. He would have to go with his guts.

Under different circumstances, he might have chosen the Warrior-seer. He’d actually wanted to become a Buddhist monk, once upon a time.

But then he’d realized that becoming a monk and retreating to the mountains wasn’t an answer to the problems life threw at you. He’d wanted to become a monk because he wanted to escape from the world’s problems. His problems.

The philosophy he’d studied and formed during that time still helped him, but sometimes you had to get down and dirty. Sometimes you had to spill some blood.

As for the warning about a Lord’s class influencing his fate… Wukong had chosen him because he wanted to pave his own path, hadn’t he?

Ed felt a hot defiance flood his body. He wouldn’t lose. Not to himself, not to the goblins, and not to a thing like fate.

So be it.

---

The villagers watched in anticipation as their leader stood before the Spirit Tower. A minute passed. Then two. Soon, it’d been five minutes since Ed had walked up to the Tower to lay his hand upon its crystal surface.

Then, a mist of red energy began to spread from his body and engulfed him.

They’d seen this before, they thought. Except they hadn’t.

The red energy began to churn, faster and faster as it began to turn darker. A deeper red. Then the color of blood.

Soon, it looked as though their leader had been engulfed by numerous serpents made of blood, and they could feel a thrum of energy in the air.

Thump.

They could suddenly hear their own heart beats.

Thump.

Their heartbeats seemed to thunder in their own ears.

Thump.

Blood rushed to their eyes and turned it red.

Just as they were about to think they were going crazy, the torrent of blood seemed to become absorbed back into Ed’s body, and their own hearts and rushing blood calmed down as well.

---

Ed had his eyes closed and was breathing deeply.

You have chosen the class: Shaman.

Due to your status as Lord and affinity for Blood, you have awakened the following Trait and Skill.

Potent Blood

Your blood holds a potent power.

Sacrifice

As a shaman with an affinity for blood, sacrificial rituals come naturally to you.

He could barely focus on the blue box, concentrating all his attention on breathing normally. He had to get to his tent.

Ranga and Noel nudged closer as Harundal approached hesitantly.

“I’m fine. Just need… some rest.” Ed said, his voice quivering almost unnoticeably.

“The rest of you, feel free to choose whatever classes are available to you and you feel most comfortable with. I have a feeling that it’ll work out better than to cram someone into classes they are not fit for.”

“I’ve chosen the shaman class, and will need a moment to stabilize the… changes. I’ll be in my tent, just need a couple minutes.”

As Ed walked into his tent and closed the flaps after himself, Noel shrugged and turned back to the Spirit Tower.

That had been pretty awesome, actually.

A little worrying at first, but she trusted Ed to know what he was doing.

They all did. Conversation broke out amongst the villagers as they discussed what classes they thought would be available. Noel walked up to the Spirit Tower and laid her own hand upon its smooth surface, followed by Ranga, then Joe, then the other villagers.

No one had any special episodes like Ed had, not even Ranga and Noel, and the throng of villagers began to slowly decrease one by one as they walked up to the Spirit Tower, placed their hands upon it, and then walked off.

All of the villagers who underwent the class change was hit by a wave of exhaustion as their bodies seemed to begin to shift ever so slightly, muscles and bone rearranging themselves, visions sharpening, and thoughts a little bit clearer.

The village became deathly quiet as all of the villagers who had undergone the class change rested in their own abode, with some guards who would choose their classes later.

-----

As soon as he entered the privacy of his tent, Ed fell into a fetal position on the floor of his tent, jaws clenched tight in an effort to keep himself from vocalizing his pain.

His blood flooded through him in raging torrents that originated from his heart.

And it hurt. Oh god, it hurt.

He could feel strands of manna infusing his blood. Some felt familiar, but others were strange and radiated heat and felt dry like the desert. The manna almost felt like a living thing, one that was hungry.

Ed stifled a groan of pain as the strands of manna collided with each other, gradually becoming more similar to each other and melding.

It was the same process he’d seen all of the other creatures of Earth undergo the last few days.

Ed coughed, and tasted blood.

Warm, viscous, and a tinge of iron.

He had to focus on breathing. Pain was fleeting. Temporary and only in the mind.

Inhale.

Recognize the pain.

Exhale.

Let it go. Pain existed, but the pain wasn’t him.

Wutang, who had appeared when his master fell as though he had been there all along, paced about nervously in the tent, small paws gripping a red jewel.

Ed was not in any state to notice the small, white monkey.

His body rose and fell as he breathed in… and out… slowly through the pain.

After what seemed like an eternity to Ed, the roiling manna inside of him began to settle as he relaxed from the release of tension and fell into an exhausted sleep.

------------

Ed’s eyes fluttered open as he awoke, surprised to find that the pain was gone.

He felt strong, instead.

Ed sat up slowly, stretching his limbs and muscles. To his surprise, his hair had grown to his shoulders. Possibly an effect of the manna and burning blood that had coursed through him. While it was still black, it now had a sheen of deep-red. Interesting.

Before he could respond, Wutang jumped on his shoulder and dropped a Blood Crystal into his palm and skittered outside.

The red orb looked no different than before, but somehow more mesmerizing after his class transformation. He thought he could feel something swirling in the Blood Crystal.

It didn’t feel like manna. If manna felt like energy, this felt like… truth. An essence. It was something he could feel sometimes when he used the Dagger, but he wasn’t holding it now.

Before he could think, he swallowed it and tasted ecstasy.

It was like he hadn’t been absorbing or digesting everything a Blood Crystal had offered before his class change, and now he could.

In fact, he could almost taste the amalgamation of essence in the Crystal, and some that seemed to reek of… shadows.

He focused on the strands of shadowy essence as they spread through his body, and gathered them to his heart on instinct. As he did so, he could feel the other bits and pieces of essence disperse into thin air, but he paid it no mind. He knew he was doing the right thing for what he wanted.

Skill gained!

Shadow-step.

Step through large shadows to transport yourself short-distances

With Lightfeet and Shadow-step, he would be nigh impossible to catch and incredibly mobile compared to the average Awakened human, though he didn’t know how he would compare to other Blesseds.

Ed smiled to himself. It seemed like he could better control what he gained from these Blood Crystals. The Shadow Cat's Shadow-Step had been a hybrid Trait/Skill, and so he hadn't been sure if he would be able to gain it from consuming the Crystal. But he had. He had no idea what the Trait and Skill he had gained from the Shaman class could do, but it looked like the class itself gave him a closer affinity with these Blood Crystals and improve his secondary avenue of growth while he figured it out.

He checked his status.

Ed Kim - (Blessed by Wukong)

Class - (Shaman)

Body: D

Mind: D

Spirit: D+

Traits

Potent Blood, Lightfeet, Blood-burn

Skills

Sacrifice, Shadow-Step

Daos

True Sight

Not bad. His stats were definitely filling up. Derek had been the strongest Blessed he’d seen so far, with a Body and Mind of D+ grades, and a whopping C grade Spirit.

Perhaps he was catching up. Gods knew he had to, to face the looming threat of the First Tribe.

Of course, the First Tribe likely numbered in the thousands, but with a good distraction…

---

Wutang was hungry. He had waited for his master for hours before he woke up, and now it was time to feast. A good monkey like himself deserved a feast.

He was gnawing on one of his favorite insects, when something made his fur stand on end. Was someone talking about him in a bad way?

He quickly scanned his surroundings, but all he saw was the young trees that had begun to take over the landscape of the ruined city, their gnarled roots breaking through the rubble as though they were made of paper. Nothing.

Huh.

---

Ed grinned and walked outside to find the rest of the villagers.