(Zack)

"Psst!" Nathan whispers in an attempt to catch my attention, and I look over at him.

"I was sneaking out of Maelnor."

"I think I figured out what the filler message was for."

"The one from Ascension?" I ask.

"Yeah," he nods.

"Really?" I ask. "What do you think it is?"

"Have you checked your available Classes?"

"I never do," I tell him. "Not unless I'm able to take another on."

"It doesn't say," he says. "'Available Classes', Zack. It says 'Select a Class and confirm to accept a new Class'."

He seems like he's being honest, so I quickly pull up the page and… it does. It uses the wording it has whenever there's a new Class available. After taking on a Class, we don't get 'returned' to the Available Classes window, so I never noticed that.

"Wait," I realize. "We have extra Class slots?"

"Yeah," he nods. "I took on Angel. So now I'm a Dark Knight and an Angel. I bet you have two additional slots, since you've Ascended twice."

"Big S?" I project to him.

I was napping.

"You're always napping," I say. "Did you know that when we Ascend, there's a filler message that says to be filled out before the first Ascension Trial?"

He doesn't respond.

"…is that message supposed to inform us we have an additional available Class Slot?"

So… I must have forgotten to fill that out, he says. But yes. Normally, you can only take on another Class once one reaches Level 25. However, every time you Ascend, you also open up another Class Slot. Huh. I guess you never noticed that.

"Nathan noticed it."

I can see that, he says. If I could give Normar a pat on the back for a job well-done, I would.

I pat Nathan on the head, and he gives me a confused look.

"Big S wants to, but can't, so I'm doing it in his place," I say. "Well, he said 'back', but your head was closer."

You're a brat, Big S says. Well, I've got that fixed, now. I was wondering why you hadn't filled out that other slot rather than slogging yourself like that.

"Because I wasn't aware it existed."

Makes sense. I'm going back to my nap.

His presence disappears from my mind, and I pat Nathan on the head again.

"Stop that!" He pulls away, and I grin.

"I need to ask Nik something," I tell him. "Looking at that screen reminded me of something."

I head back into the Dark Temple as Nathan wanders off, and I locate Nik talking with one of the Dark Knights I recognize, but can't remember the name of.

"Nik," I say. "What is an Elementalist with a fire tendency?"

"Why?" He asks.

"It's a requirement for a Class."

"Elementalist," he says. "As you know, is a Class that focuses on elemental spell Skills. A fire tendency means that for your current Tier of Elementalist, you have fire spell Skills that match the requirements for that Tier. So a Tier 1 Elementalist would have a Level 1 Tier 1 fire spell Skill, a Tier 2 Elementalist would have a Level 3 Tier 1 fire spell Skill and a Level 1 Tier 2 fire spell Skill, and so on, up through Tier 5. Are you looking at Flame Knight?"

"Sort of," I answer. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"You're a warrior-based person looking at Classes that requires an Elementalist with a flame tendency," he answers. "It was obvious. What do you need Flame Knight for?"

"I need Flame Knight, Shadow Knight, and Blood Knight," I tell him. "All at Level 41, for a Rank 3 Class called 'Demonic Knight'. Then with that and Demon mastered, I can take on a Rank 4 Class called 'Hell Knight'. Are there shadow spells?"

"Binding Darkness and Shadow Whip are both shadow spell Skills," he tells me. "And they count for Elementalist."

"Cool," I say. "So then that answers that question. I'll need to take on Mystic Knight, too, since that's the other requirement for those three Classes. What about Blood Knight? The fuck is that?"

"Mystic Knight," he tells me. "And Blood Priest, both at Level 41."

"Ah," I say. "Yeah, no one could tell me how to get that one when I was looking into it before."

"Zack," he says. "You don't have any of those base Classes."

"I don't?" I frown. "Nik, I have Demon, remember? That's enough for Hell Knight to show up, and since Demonic Knight is listed for one of its requirements, I can view its requirements. Unfortunately, the others are Rank 2 Classes, so they don't show up. Looks like I know what else to work on, now."

You are now a Novice Elemenatlist +2 Intellect +1 Wisdom You are now a Mystic Squire +1 Strength +2 Intellect

Oh, right. I haven't changed my Primary Class yet, either, so I swap Demon out for Dark Paladin as well. It's not like it actually changes anything other than what's displayed on my Status, but it's the principle of the matter.

There we go, all done. Now I can work on Novice Elementalist and Mystic Squire. As long as I learn the appropriate Skills for Elementalist, once it and Mystic Squire are up to Tier 5 Level 1, I'll have three new Classes available.

And since these are Rank 1 Classes right now, I'll be Leveling them a lot faster than I'll be Leveling Dark Paladin. That means more stats, and more likelihood for my survival against the Dragon. I still need to learn the Barrier trick from the Fallen Adventurers, though. Or at least, practice it.

I kind of forgot I learned Barrier, which is weird, because it's one of my newer Skills. I remember my older ones just fine. Hell, I trained Barrier until it was Level 10. Finding myself running my fingers through my hair, I stop and shake my head.

"Everything alright, Zack?" Nik asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "I'm just forgetting stuff, it seems."

"You need to take a rest," he tells me. "An actual rest."

"I can't," I shake my head. "I need to prepare for the battle. We still need to figure out who the brothers are. Big S refuses to give any hints, and that's frustrating me and stressing me out. Anyway, I'm going to head to Big Breeze's temple. I want to see if maybe the memory issues has to do with the scarring on my inner crystal. I know he said I should be fine for awhile, even more so with each subsequent Ascension, but one can never be too certain. See you, Nik."

I close my eyes and warp myself into Big Breeze's temple, sensing no one but him around. With that verified, I open my eyes and look at the avatar of the ancient force.

"Can you-"

"Chaos told me while you were saying it," he says. "Tunic off, and remember, don't look inward, it only makes you feel even more disturbed."

Nodding, I pull off my tunic and hold it at my side, closing my eyes as Big Breeze starts poking and prodding me. It takes a lot of effort to not squirm as I feel his probes against my inner Crystal and as he tickles me in an attempt to get me to squirm. When he finishes his check, he returns to his altar, and I pull my tunic back on.

"So?" I ask, and he runs his fingers through his hair.

"You're fine," he tells me. "Your inner crystal still has the scar, as I'm sure you've noticed when you meditate upon it to merge it better, but it's healed a bit more. It's not affecting your memory Zack."

"I don't normally forget stuff like that," I tell him. "What's wrong?"

"Stress," he says. "That's what's wrong with you, Zack. You're stressing yourself out too much. You need to take a few days to calm down and relax. Get a nice massage, as Nik suggested. The beastborn aren't the only masseuses around, you know."

"I can't-"

"Take a couple of days off of training," he tells me. "That doesn't mean you need to stop other preparations, though. But seriously, Zack. I know you just took on two new Classes, which you'll have some swift Leveling in, especially compared to Dark Paladin, but no training for two days. You are pushing both your body and mind extremely hard, Zack. It's affecting your mental state. Next, you'll start hallucinating. Paranoia will set in. Then-"

"I got it," I sigh. "I'll probably just-"

"Get more stressed," he says. "Because you aren't training in preparation. That's why I said to do other stuff. You've been helping Blaine make potions, Jackson's taught you some smithing, you've sat in on several war meetings. I'm sure you can find something to do to help. Like, say, help Blaine and the other alchemists prepare potions as a stockpile for the war. I know you ordered those potions brought in from deeper in."

"Yeah," I answer. "And we're already having a lot of potions brought in for the battle. We have several entire warehouses just full of crates of potions, ready to be distributed to everyone who'll be participating in the battle."

For free, because the battle is that important. Taxes were raised elsewhere to pay for the resources and manpower necessary to create the tens of thousands of high-quality potions. They're beyond my current level of creation, too.

"But I won't really be helpful with that," I tell him. "I'm still just an amateur. Hell, I didn't even take on the Subclass because it wasn't really necessary. Unless I spent all my time from now until the battle making potions, I won't really be able to contribute."

"And yet potions you make now," he says. "Can be sold to Adventurers who are training right now. That's helping, in a way."

"Right," I sigh. "I can do that, I guess. Thanks, Big Breeze."

"Get some sleep, too," he tells me. "None of this 'I'm staying up half the night for war prep and training' stuff you've been doing."

"But-"

"No," he says. "That's an order, Zack. Chaos and Seal are in agreement on this. Even Wisdom pushes for it. You are putting too much stress on yourself, you are attempting to shoulder too much."

"If I don't drive away the Dragon-"

"We have faith in you," he tells me. "And as Seal told you, the brother who could take the tide in favor of Alexander is his enemy. For good. I cannot foresee a reason he would join with Alexander after everything that has happened to him."

"You know who he is?" I ask. "Who?"

"I can only suspect," he tells me. "Seal refuses to even hint, but… after realizing that the brothers were in the Boundary, I began to suspect who they were, as impossible as it is for them to be the brothers."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll find out," he tells me. "If they turn out to be the actual brothers. That much is a guarantee. I'm sending you back to the Dark Temple, Zack. Get some rest, and for the next two days, no training, and actual sleep."

"You are Intellect," I say. "You should know better than any-"

"I am fully aware of that," he says. "But that does not mean you cannot try, Zack. Goodbye, and rest."

I find myself back in the room I found Nik in, only he's alone this time, looking over a paper.

"Where'd the other one go?" I ask.

"Back to bed," he tells me. "Which I'm about to do as well. Did he find out what was wrong?"

"He says I need to rest for a couple of days," I answer. "Actually rest. I don't know if I can handle that, though."

"You can try," he says. "Do you need anything else, before you get some sleep?"

"No," I answer. "Wait. Maybe. What do you think of my team's progress?"

He sighs.

"You shouldn't stress yourself over that, Zack," he says. "At the rate they're going, they will destroy the Goblin Chieftain before the deadline, as you would word it. They may not be as fast as you, but they are quick to Level. I am sure that by the time they go to face it, even if that's in two weeks from now, you could double the difficulty, and they would defeat it with ease. Braden is rather close to being able to take on Druid as well, from what I know. I don't believe the other three have a viable combination for a Rank 2 Class, though."

"That probably won't bother them too much," I say. "Since Druid will take a little longer to Level, even if it increases more Stats with each Level."

"Brandon," he says. "Theorizes that Braden may be a natural Druid. That means he may have an easier time Leveling Druid than you would expect. That it would come to him more naturally than the others."

"Then Luca might get a bit jealous," I say. "And Max might train a bit more seriously to 'catch up'. As for Gavin… he may try to take on Paladin again when he's able to take on a third Class."

"Are you going to try to run interference on that again?"

"Yes," I answer. "Gavin might have a degree of discipline that's respectable-"

"Amusing, coming from you."

"But he has the wrong mindset," I say. "He feels heavy jealousy and is easily annoyed. A Paladin must learn to take such feelings, push them down, and focus on what's important when it comes to a fight. He will subconsciously hinder his own growth."

Part of the reason Paladin and Dark Knight aren't Rank 2 or higher is because they aren't just Leveled by Skill applications. Mindset is a huge part of it, too. Paladins must remain calm and focused, even when their anger rises. They must act for the better of the team rather than the individual. Failure to do that hinders their growth. For a Dark Knight, they must be willing to sacrifice themselves, to take injuries or even death, to protect others, to slay the beast, to do what is necessary. Failure to do that will hinder growth.

"I'll try to steer him into Elementalist or another knight-based Class," I tell Nik. "If he goes Elementalist, then he'll be able to take on one of the Rank 2 Elemental Knights. He'll probably go the earth route, so it would be a Stone Knight. That should help him with his discipline."

"…who suggested this to you?"

"I mean, I only now knew about the tendencies," I say. "So I didn't know that a Stone Knight actually existed. I came up with it on my own."

"Someone suggested you try to stall him," he says. "I can see it in your eyes, Zack."

"I was going to, anyway," I mutter.

"Zack…"

"Travis, Peter, and Nathan."

Three of the most powerful Paladins in the Boundary, all of whom want to keep Gavin from going Paladin until he learns to control his negative emotions and won't allow them to affect him in battle.

"Alright," he says. "Now go get some rest."

"Yeah, yeah," I roll my eyes.

I really was going to stall Gavin on that. I can see him as a Paladin, but thought that he needs more discipline, first.