Aiden woke up with a heavy weight on his chest. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes he lifted his head slightly to look down, saw Vicky laying on top of him and snoring lightly. He smiled fondly and lay his head back down on the comfortable pillow exhaling deeply. It had been a night to remember that’s for sure. Checking the time he saw it was already 9 am. They didn’t have anywhere to be however and he wasn't hungry yet, so he just relaxed and enjoyed the peace.

He used this time to look at the choices for his second class. There were quite a few and he wasn’t even really sure how he wanted to proceed. He could get a mage class and be an all rounder or he could get another melee class and be a pure fighter. He wondered if there was perhaps something in the middle and read through all the choices one by one.

Fighter - (Common)

Soldier - (Common)

Warrior - (Common)

Rogue - (Common)

Archer - (Common)

Hunter - (Common)

Scout - (Common)

Brawler - (Common)

Apprentice Mage - (Common)

Cleric - (Uncommon)

Druid - (Uncommon)

Assassin - (Uncommon)

Berserker - (Uncommon)

Ranger - (Uncommon)

Swordsman - (Uncommon)

Guardian - (Uncommon)

Striker - (Uncommon)

Woodsman - (Uncommon)

Beast Tamer - (Uncommon)

Frost Mage - (Uncommon)

Noble - (Rare)

Battlemancer - (Rare)

Ice Tempest - (Rare)

There were quite a few new one’s since last time. Aiden read through all of them but focused mostly on the Rare classes having seen the benefit. He hoped for something even better, like an Epic class if there was such a thing but the ones he got weren’t bad either. He found the Noble class interesting as it came with a title that granted +5% to all stats but what caught his attention the most was Ice Tempest.

He really liked the description of it, especially how it focused on enhancing blade combat and he thought it would synergize well with his other class. It would keep the focus on melee combat with magic as support. Not wasting any time he selected the class.

Ice Tempest: Description: The Ice Tempest is a Swordsman Mage with exceptional affinity and control over Ice Magic, they can use it to enhance their blade’s and to control the battlefield. Tempest’s use their Ice to carve a path forward and leave their enemies behind in pieces. They are exceptionally skilled in their art and have few equals among other’s of their craft.

(+3 free / +1 Vit / +1 Skill / +1 Int / +2 Wis points per lvl)

Class Selection permanent Bonus: +2 Vit / +1 End / +1 Str / +1 Agi / +1 Dex / +2 Skill / +2 Int / +2 Wis

-25% damage from Ice attuned attacks

+25% damage increase to Ice attuned attacks

Skill gained at first level: Tempest Blade Lvl 1 - Encase your sword in Ice Mana dealing increased damage with each strike. Duration 15 seconds. +15 Ice damage per strike +1 damage for every 10 points in Int (Cost 50 Mana)

“Congratulations! Your Second Class is now Ice Tempest! / +2 Vit / +1 End / +1 Str / +1 Agi / +1 Dex / +2 Skill / +2 Int / +2 Wis added”

“Note: All further essence gained will be divided equally among both classes.”

“Note: As you have an Ice affinity you have the option of assimilating the spell 'Frost Wave' from a piece of your equipment. Warning! Should you accept, the equipment containing the spell will be lost. In the future this is possible by inspecting a piece of equipment and selecting ‘assimilate’. Further such prompts will not be shown.”

‘Well that’s interesting’ Aiden mused and decided to go for it. The ring was cheap enough that it wasn’t a great loss. Also the spells bound to rings are supposed to be not as good, so he was hoping it would become better if he ‘assimilated’ it. Once he chose accept the ring disintegrated and blue motes of Mana floated into him followed by knowledge of the spell.

Status:

Aiden Winters: Age 22

Race Human: Rank(f)

War Ranger: lvl - 25 - Mana essence: 1457/30000

Ice Tempest: lvl - 1 - Mana essence: 0/2000

Woodworking: lvl - 17

Health: 910/910

Stamina: 600/600

Mana: 360/360

Defense: 60(152)

Mana Defense: 36

Vitality - 84(91)

Endurance - 60

Strength - 66(71)

Agility - 75(88)

Dexterity - 46

Skill - 52(63)

Intelligence - 42

Wisdom - 36

(+6 free /+3 Vit/+1 End/+1 Str/+1 Agi/+1 Skill/+1 Int/+2 Wis per lvl)

(+1 skill from Woodworking Per level)

Skills:

Battle Aura Lvl 2 - (20%)

Effect: Boosts all stats by 2 for 1 minute.

Cost 35 Mana and 25 stamina.

Tempest Blade Lvl 1 - (0%)

Effect: Encases your blade in Ice Mana dealing increased damage with each strike. Duration 15 seconds. +15 Ice damage per strike +1 damage for every 10 points in Int.

Cost 50 Mana

Spells:

Frost Wave lvl 1 - (0%)

Effect: Unleashes a wave of Frost in a 60 degree cone in the direction you point your hand. Range 10 feet.

Effect: Deal 45-50 Ice damage and slows targets for 3 seconds within the cone of effect. (Cost 50 Mana)

All in all he was happy with the choice of the class and the assmilation of 'Frost Wave'. The spell's cooldown was removed and he could now raise its level further increasing its effectivness.

He was surprised however that he didn't get another world first bonus for getting his second class. Either there wasn't one, or someone had beaten him to it somehow, which was a scary though. What kind of situation would someone have to find themselves in to overtake him at this point with the pretty much non stop fighitng he had done recently. 'Maybe someone found a dungeon and kept running it non stop' Shrugging he ultimately decided it was a good thing that there was at least another human out there getting stronger.

Looking back towards the interface he quickly noticed that his second class gave out just as many stats per level as his first one did. This was great since the essence required to level it was still pretty low right now and he could quickly strengthen himself further.

After the pair got dressed they headed downstairs and met Margaret and her party eating lunch which they joined them for. During the meal a discussion was held on how to pay the people without a mana affinity for their work. It was decided that they would be paid in mana stones and could use them in the market he was planning to build.

Now that there were more mana awakened here and all paying the 30% tax, credits would start coming in much faster so such a thing was possible. A salary of 100 low grade mana stones was decided on for now. It would be enough to buy whatever basic's most people needed or wanted, and they could save for anything more expensive. A meeting was also scheduled for tonight that the others would pass on to everyone that wasn’t here.

The couple split up for the day each wanting to do different things. Once outside Aiden looked around the busy yet still rather empty town and decided he should purchase some more buildings. A stable or similar was apparently necessary to hold the animals when they weren’t grazing so that was the first thing he build for 50,000 credits. It could hold 15 times the amount of animals they currently had and would make placate the citizens that had complained about it.

Next he purchased the market that was discussed earlier, which he found while browsing the menu during their dungeon run. It was a place that allowed anyone to access the system shop, including those without Mana. They could trade in Mana stones and would receive credit with the system, that they could then access in the market. The catch was that the system would tax whoever used the market taking a 10% cut of all Mana stones that were turned in. The existence of such a place and a salary would hopefully make the non Mana awakened happier since it was an issue before.

The cost for the building wasn’t too bad at 150,000 credits. He put it between the residences and the park with the rear of the shop facing the farm. The town coffers still had 427,824 credits available so he though a bit about what else would be useful.

He bought a few more animals for the farm increasing the numbers there and adding more variety, along with feed for them. He also purchased 10 war horses for the Guardians to use whenever they were heading further out. It would be slightly hard to navigate with them in the forest, but the tree’s were far enough apart that it was possible.

While thinking about it he scaled the walls of the town to get a better view and used the terrain alteration option to thin out the trees and foliage in a 1 mile radius around the town, with 1000 meters around the town being converted to just plains with a few scattered trees. All of that cost him another 129,462 credits.

He also added two draw bridges to the town gates, and a 15 foot deep moat that connected with the nearby river for another 157,623 credits. The added security would be helpful and as the river now curved in their direction and into the moat around the cliffs of the town, they wouldn’t need to travel as far to fish or go for a swim. The moat also fed back into the river from another direction so the water would remain clean.

He added two more rows of residences, one on the other side of town and another next to the market building for the slowly increasing population. He didn't want to run out of space for people to stay if he wasn't in town to purchase more. The added residences should last for a while. He was also thinking of adding another building for the expanding Guardians but held off for now since he wanted something nice and that would no doubt be expensive.

Done for now he clicked accept and closed the menu. He stood there and watched the changes taking place. How the river slowly snaked its way from the distance and into the moat, then around and back. When he was watching the changes he saw that the river now cut off path’s to the north and south and after chuckling at his oversight he added two small bridges so people could get across. He made sure they were wide enough to comfortably fit two horse’s side by side.

Satisfied with the changes he moved on with the day. He walked around introducing himself properly and getting to know the people busy working. He wanted to do this while it was still possible. With a population of over 200 that was still slowly growing every day, it would soon become impossible to know everyone in town. Hell it was pretty much impossible now but Aiden wanted to seem approachable to the residents.

He checked up on a few of the original folk's as well. He learned that thankfully the women that were violated didn't seem to be showing any signs of pregnancy as of yet. He hoped that would remain the case. They all seemed to be doing a little better which was nice to see. Most keeping busy taking care of the kids or helping out in the kitchens or the farm.

Aiden spent the rest of the day in the workshop working on furniture for the residents while leveling his woodworking class. He was making small cabinets and chairs and other smaller things such as wooden spoons and bowls. He wasn’t sure if anyone needed or would use them but better have then not have he figured.

While he was working he realized that the town also needed a warehouse of sorts for food storage in the winter and for things like what he was now carving. Taking another look at the Town coffers he winced and realized he would need to wait till tomorrow to build anything of a size that was worth it.

He ate dinner in the Community Hall chatting happily to whomever sat at his table. The meal consisted of freshly caught fish from the river that he redirected earlier in the day. People were commenting on the changes and Aiden listened in, happy that the changes were such a hit. They were especially happy about the market. He wondered what else he could add in the future for similar boosts to moral.

At 7:50 pm he headed back to his mansion and into the meeting room which was slowly filling in with Guardians. He took a seat at the large table and chatted with an excited Cassandra who regaled him with the adventures she had while he was gone. Once everyone was there he cleared his throat a few times. When the chatter died down and everyone was focused on him he started the meeting.