Immediately upon awakening Linus’ self control abandoned him and he had to check the new classes available, though he mentally promised he would consult his companions before choosing.

Conman A class focused on deception for personal gain. Relies on cunning and persuasion over brute force. Accept | Decline Thief A class focused on stealth and stealing. Takes what they need, even if it already has an owner. Accept | Decline Rogue A class focused on stealth, short blades and agility skills. Prefers to get their hits in before the enemy sees them. Accept | Decline Arcane Rogue A class focused on stealth, short blades and agility skills that incorporates the arcane. A rogue with magic tricks up their sleeves. Accept | Decline

Immediately he knew which one he was going to choose, it wasn’t even a choice, especially when battling bandits on the way to the frontier. It took every ounce of his willpower to wait until Archie and Luke had woken up and they started to eat a depressing breakfast of jerky to tell them about his choices before selecting.

“I know I was a bit hasty with my last class selection so I wanted to get our input before making any changes or decisions.”

“Is it a new class or an upgrade?” Archie inquired.

“Evolution of my [Amateur Rogue] class. My options are [Conman], [Thief], [Rogue] and [Arcane Rogue]. I’m leaning towards [Arcane Rogue] currently. What do you guys think?”

“It sounds like the first two aren’t combat focused while the last two are. Any cons that you can think of with the arcane version?” Luke joined in.

“Agree the first two are out, since they don’t sound likely to improve my odds of survival. As for the arcane version, only thought is if I max out the arcane skill and progress to the next tier without also maxing out [Sneaking] or [Sneak Attack] it could really diverge into something much more mage related.”

“Sounds reasonable to me.” Archie nodded in agreement with Luke.

“Alright, then I’m taking [Arcane Rogue].” He mentally reached out and accepted it. Several new notifications popped up.

Stealth Advance Sneaking to Stealth. Warning may result in reduced skill levels. Accept | Decline Arcane Rogue Please Select New Skill or Alternate Skill(s) for incorporation New Skill Ensorcell Blade | Shadow Steps Alternate Skills Available - Pick up to two Mana Manipulation (Plant Mage) - selection may damage current class Arcane Lore (N/A) - skill may adjust to new class Mana Blade (N/A) - skill may adjust to new class Blades (N/A) - skill may adjust to new class

Linus was ecstatic, while he’d used two alternate skills for [Apprentice Blood Mage] he’d never had the chance to incorporate existing skills into a class evolution. He had been hoping to achieve it with [Increase Potency] for his alchemy class but it looked like [Amateur Rogue] got there first. Plus he was being offered an improvement to the class’ base skill. He immediately accepted the upgrade to [Stealth] then thought about the other skills.

[Ensorcell Blade] sounded interesting and likely to increase his damage, while [Shadow Steps] would increase his mobility and stealth. If it wasn’t for the upgrade of [Sneaking] it would be much more tempting. [Mana Manipulation] was once more staying where it was and he couldn’t see how [Arcane Lore] would help his combat focused class. [Blades] seemed like a must have, it had already saved him a few times even at its lower levels and [Mana Blade] had too despite originally being intended for alchemy prep work.

He debated for a few more minutes before deciding to play it safe and stick to skills he was already familiar with, selecting both [Blades] and [Mana Blades] for incorporation.

Mana Blade and Blades have combined to Mana Blades. Warning may result in reduced skill levels Mana Blades (Active/Passive) (2/20) Able to summon mana blades. Proficiency with blades, number and form of summoned blades increases with level.

Oof, while the combined skills looked fantastic the drop from level 5 in both to only 2 stung a bit. Still it looked like with this skill he’d never find himself unarmed and hopefully the blades were a bit more durable than his original [Mana Blade]. A quick test found the number of blades limited to two and their shape was still similar to the original scalpel style, though with some effort he was able to make it thicker throughout and increase the length of the blade.

“Skill evolution?”

“Yup, [Blades] and [Mana Blade] combined for [Mana Blades]. Both active and passive skill, keeps the effects of [Blades] proficiency and will increase the number and type of blades I can summon as it levels.” Linus replied to Archie before handing each of them a blade. “Looks like they also stay summoned when out of my hand.” At that thought Linus reached mentally reached out to the one in Luke’s hand, confirming there was still a connection before cutting. The blade slowly dissipated into pale blue motes that drifted out of Luke’s hand.

“Nifty” said Luke. “Looks like you can prevent them being used against you as well. Any more surprises for the day or are we ready to get moving on our plan?”

“Ready whenever you are.”

“I am as well.”

“Great, then let’s head out. Remember stealth skills active at all times unless I say otherwise and follow my lead. If all goes according to plan hopefully we’ll have all our gear back and be on our way to the outpost by this time tomorrow.”

Luke led them out of their campsite and back towards the bandits. As soon as Linus engaged [Stealth] he felt the difference. Despite losing two levels when it evolved it cost less energy to activate and seemed to impact all the senses without needing to be directed, it would be interesting to observe its effect and efficiency once they encountered some bandits. They crept through the woods, not encountering a single patrol until they came to the edge of the camp. Luke gestured them back and they retreated until they were far enough to speak without being overheard.

“It looks like they are all sticking close to their base which might make it harder than we’d hoped. For now we’ll keep to the plan, similar approach as previous but keep aware of your surroundings and be ready to disengage if needed. This close to their camp reinforcements stumbling upon us or hearing their fellow bandits is a real concern.”

“Of course, before we start let me give Archie additional throwing blades that are disposable.” Linus took a moment to concentrate then handed off two blades that were similar if elongated compared to what Archie was currently working with. “This way if you don’t have time to retrieve them we aren’t down a ranged attack.” Archie nodded his thanks.

“I really wish one of you had any skills with a bow, it’d make this so much easier.”

With that they moved back towards the camp to intercept the patrol they had retreated from. It was only a group of four and were easily picked off, two by Luke and his arrows, a third by Linus’ [Sneak Attack] and the final by Archie with a thrown mana blade. They stopped just long enough for Luke to retrieve his arrows and any the bandits were carrying while Linus summoned another throwing blade for Archie then they were off once more looping around the camp. The bodies of the bandits were left above ground this time to unnerve and agitate the remaining bandits. All part of good guerrilla warfare according to Luke.

Soon they came across another patrol, this time of five and it didn’t go nearly as well. Once more Luke started it off with an arrow to drop their lead woman. However instead of the remaining four rushing at him and Archie two hung back and reached for their bows on their backs. Linus managed to pick off one of them but the second got a shot off at Archie, hitting him in the chest and taking him out of the fight. Leaving Luke to deal with two and Linus the last archer who cast away his bow and unsheathed his sword as Linus approached.

Instead of a clean [Sneak Attack] Linus was forced to actually fight and his recent reduction in skill level was felt. The only thing saving him was they both had shortswords so there was no advantage via reach and once Archie went down he summoned a mana blade to his off hand, giving him an extra weapon to block and attack with. They continued to trade attacks with each scoring superficial cuts on the other one. Linus was waiting for Luke to take the guy out with an arrow before he realized the bandit kept shifting to keep Linus in the way. Concerned that his accumulating injuries may soon be enough to trigger [Recovery Coma] he tossed the mana blade underhand at the bandit’s face. Taking the momentary distraction to cast [Heal] on himself then lunge forward and stab the man. The man recovered in time to partially block the stab, turning from a fatal injury to the heart to a glancing blow along the ribs. Abandoning his sword now that he was inside the bandit’s guard Linus summoned two mana blades and started stabbing with reckless abandon, only pulling away when he felt a sword digging into his own side. Once more he cast [Heal] on himself as he watched the bandit bleed out.

“Get over here now.” Whisper shouted Luke from their original position. “Archie needs healing immediately.”

Not bothering to recover his sword Linus hurried over to his fallen manservant, leaning down next to him as he pulled the arrow out, pouring some wound treatment powder directly into the wound then casting [Heal] multiple times until the wound was completely closed and he didn’t feel the skill having anymore effect. Exhausted he slumped down onto the ground next to Archie.