I've been waiting a while for the class to finish uploading and it isn't done yet, but there's a teensy-tiny detail I forgot. And it might be important.

Summoned Spirit

Passive

Loyalty to summoner is always maxed out.

Can create equipment (no stat increases) if relevant training skill is present.

Can't use magic or magic-related skills.

Can't use skills that create more beings.

Lose 50 HP per second while not bound to a summoner.

For purpose of exp mechanics count as part of the summoner.

While not actively summoned recover 5% HP, MP and SP per hour.

Neither I nor Lucia have currently the [Summon Spirit] skill. So who knows what happened to our spirits...

In the best case, they only got unsummoned and are now just patiently waiting in our headspace. The problem is... I don't feel any of their presence...

Please don't tell me they are now gone forever. Let me be optimistic for once, and they are just walking around outside as if nothing happened...

Though to soothe my nerves I should quickly add a class with the required skill.

Summon Spirit Rank 1

500 MP upkeep per class of summoned creature

Create a spirit ally.

The spirit can have any race and up to 3 base classes the user knows.

Each of its classes and races has a level of (1% CHA + 2x skill rank).

Compared to a normal creature HP, MP and SP are reduced by 30%.

Spirits can generate special equipment if needed, these items grant no stats.

Once a spirit is summoned its race and classes can no longer be changed, only further classes added, limits permitting.

Spirits can't die, instead when they reach 0 HP they have to rest in their owner for a week, during this time the upkeep can't be canceled.

The owner can create a total of (2 + skill level /10) different spirits.

Let me quickly punch it into the class search options.

Huh, there are a few new options, did I miss an expansion pack? Strange...

Anyway, I had Summoner before, do I simply take it again?

Summoner Growth Rates

23 HP, 40 MP, 17 SP, 4 STR, 4 DEX, 5 VIT, 7 MAG, 8 FTH, 8 WIL, 8 CHA Summon Spirit Rank 1

Mana Boost

Passive

Increase max MP by 5% and (5 x skill level).

Also, increase MP regeneration effects by 5%. Elite Summoning

Passive

You can add 1 additional base job class to your summoned spirits, or 2 classes at skill level 25.

If a spirit has already at least 3 base classes, one of the additional classes can be an elite class.

As with base classes, requirements for elite classes don't have to be met.

Nothing here is a waste. I'd like more MP and CHA since they are the most important stats to strengthen the spirits. But really, a single level for them doesn't mean much. In fact, the only level that really matters is 15 to unlock the final set of skills. The highest I've seen is a 9 growth in a main stat, so 8 CHA isn't bad. If some miracle occurred and I could bring it to the alleged cap of level 100, I would lose a single level on my summoned spirits. So really, it doesn't matter much.

I hope taking five more minutes to look through the alternatives doesn't hurt them any more than my negligence has already, if at all. So what other classes could I choose instead?

Invoker Growth Rates

25 HP, 33 MP, 22 SP, 4 STR, 5 DEX, 4 VIT, 8 MAG, 7 FTH, 7 WIL, 9 CHA Summon Spirit Rank 1

Dagger Training

Passive

Can use daggers without attack penalty.

Increase effective STR by (skill level) for equipped daggers. Invocation

Concentration

Temporarily fuse with one of your actively summoned spirits.

The spirit's classes and race are added to your own at a fourth of their regular levels (capped at this skill's level, minimum level 1).

For HP, MP and SP only the max is increased, the current value is not affected.

During the fusion, you count as a (summoned) spirit and can't use magic.

In that state, you can't call forth more spirits but those that are already active stay active.

Death in fused form is also death for the caster.

After the fusion ends, the used spirit has to rest for 2h and you can't concentrate for 10mins.

I guess this is where Basluth took [Invocation] from for the Essence Binder hack. Well, [Dagger Training] is useless to me, and considering the glitch core in my soul, I'd rather not risk fusing with a spirit. Sure, I count as a spirit while that is active and that may result in an exploit that allows us to break the number of classes our familiars can take but... my gut tells me that if I did that the spirit could be glitch corrupted as well, I don't think that is worth it. Maybe if we still had one spirit left to create which we could basically throw away for that benefit, but it may just as well backfire on me directly... yeah, no, I'll sadly have to pass on that.

But thinking about it, this class might be something for Iris since she already has daggers and the stats line up with what she has already, but it just isn't for me.

What else...

Caller Growth Rates

24 HP, 32 MP, 19 SP, 4 STR, 5 DEX, 5 VIT, 7 MAG, 7 FTH, 8 WIL, 9 CHA Summon Spirit Rank 1

Extra Summon

You can create 2 more spirits. Summon Expertise

Passive

You can add 1 additional base job class to your summoned spirits.

This increases to 2 at skill level 20 and 3 at 25.

This looks as basic as it could be. Presumptively maxed CHA growth, and just passive skills for more spirits and spirit classes, nothing fancy at all. I guess I could take this later. For now, our MP is just too low, but more spirits and classes for them would certainly help once we can afford them. I'll need [Summon Expertise] eventually if we want to strengthen our familiars, but currently, level 20 is a bit hard to reach; level 15 would just get us up to the number of classes Lydia already has.

Anyway, next on the list is...

Spirit Keeper Growth Rates

19 HP, 51 MP, 25 SP, 3 STR, 3 DEX, 4 VIT, 8 MAG, 7 FTH, 6 WIL, 9 CHA Pair o' Dogs

350 MP

Create two shadow hounds as an extension of yourself.

They have your base stats with the exception of HP which is set to 1.

They can use 50 of your SP to perform bite or scratch attacks for 130% STR physical damage.

You can only have one set of hounds at the same time. Summon Spirit Rank 1

Restore Summons

1000 MP, once per day

Instantly revive all of your dead spirits to 25% HP.

The class has decently high MP and CHA, and a second chance for the spirits when we screw up is not too bad either. But for now, a higher number of classes we can give the spirits has priority so we can make our familiars stronger as well.

Honestly, I'd say I'm more of a cat person but [Pair o' Dogs] might still be useful. They might die in one hit but any hit they take is one that doesn't kill me. But sadly, my HP and SP are now the same thanks to [Undead Resilience], so paradoxically using their attacks would be counterproductive with the avoiding damage part.

Maybe it might be worth it after Caller? According to what I know, I can have a total of 15 classes, only 3 of which may be elites, or 5 once we get the Elitist title, so there'll probably be enough room for it. Way later. But by then we're probably already in the set of classes that need dungeon full clears to take, and for that, we already need to be so strong that [Restore Summons] won't make a notable difference anymore, I guess.

What else do we have?

Conjurer Growth Rates

24 HP, 52 MP, 18 SP, 3 STR, 5 DEX, 4 VIT, 7 MAG, 8 FTH, 9 WIL, 6 CHA Summon Spirit Rank 1

Adamant Conjuration

Passive

You can create 1 more spirit.

The formula to calculate the base level of your spirits gets changed to:

(1% max[WIL; CHA] + 0.1% min[WIL;CHA] + 2x skill rank) Advanced Summoning

Passive

You can add 1 additional base job class to your summoned spirits, or 2 classes at skill level 25.

If a spirit has already at least 3 base classes, one of the additional classes can be an elite class.

As with base classes, requirements for elite classes don't have to be met.

[Advanced Summoning] has the same description as [Elite Summoning], so that's not a loss. They should even stack with each other, so this would be a useful class to get either way.

Compared to Summoner, this class lacks [Mana Boost] but has slightly increased base MP. Does that make up for it? Hmm... 5% more would be about 2 MP per level in the rough average of my primary classes, while extras and race classes contribute about nothing. Currently, I should have six of those, so 12 MP plus 5 MP for every Summoner level makes 17 total if I'd rise all levels equally. Compared to 12 more for this class directly, not worth fretting over. I guess they are currently more or less even in that regard. And by the time I have enough classes that [Mana Boost] notably pulls ahead, I'll hopefully have enough MP already, or a different class with [Mana Boost]. Either works.

On the other hand, [Adamant Conjuration] looks quite interesting. I was just past 500 CHA and 550 WIL before the incident. I guess in general, magic classes lean more towards WIL than CHA, so working with the better of both would be a clear benefit. If I get also 10% of CHA added for the level calculation then this should already push the spirits one more level ahead than they were before. This may not help the familiars to reach new classes but for that, it has [Advanced Summoning]. Can't really expect a single base class to have two skills that do the same.

Hmm... currently, I'd favor Conjurer. Basluth said that MP would cease to be an issue once I have a couple of hundred levels total, and I guess by then would [Adamant Conjuration] have added two or three additional levels to the spirits.

And the last possible class would be...

Iron-clad Binder Growth Rates

51 HP, 43 MP, 22 SP, 4 STR, 3 DEX, 6 VIT, 7 MAG, 7 FTH, 6 WIL, 7 CHA Armor Training

Passive

Can equip medium and heavy armor.

Increase effective VIT by (skill level) while equipped with medium or heavy armor. Summon Spirit Rank 1

Spirit Bond

Passive

When one of your spirits receives damage, it takes only half damage and you take the remainder.

When you take damage, you only take half damage and all of your active spirits take the same amount.

You can use the MP of your actively summoned spirits as if it was your own, except for upkeep.

While you have no actively summoned spirit within 250 DU, you take 250 damage per second.

Tell me [Spirit Bond] is a deathtrap without saying it's a deathtrap.

Seriously, catch some of my spirits in an AOE attack or have a monster with [Summon Disjunction] hit them and I'm dead. Heck, an anti-magic zone goes from annoying to a death sentence as well. Pass, obviously.

Well, I think Conjurer is the best option for now. Considering Lydia's state of having one class too many none of the classes allow the familiars to take another class before I have it at least at level 20, and I don't even have it at 15, so that's a long way off. In fact, that's so far away I should have another class or two by then, and I could make Caller one of them. But Conjurer would in the meantime make the spirits that little bit stronger which should allow them to generate more exp for us.

We had one Class Core in the inventory but considering the glitch pool, who knows if it is still usable. But that's a problem for future me. Neither Lucia nor I had the required stats to take the next class we wanted before, but depending on how the still downloading class does I might be able to once I get out of here. We'll see.

I quickly add the selected class and it goes into Summoner's old position as if there was never a class missing.

After a moment, I can feel the missing three, no, four spirits again. So without that skill, they really were just gone... I hope it didn't leave any lasting damage on them.

Weird. One of them... feels like Lucia. Why, why do I feel like I'm now bound twice via that accursed title... argh, this is so frustrating, I want answers for once, dammit!

I check my status again and, against all odds, no skill got glitched out. No, whyever would it do something like that?

Sigh

...no, the whole class was messed up. Of course, it would.

Ć̷̜ō̷̪n̷͕̓j̸̹͠ṵ̴̚r̵̻̓ę̷͌ŗ̷̈ Growth Rates

36 HP, 55 MP, 28 SP, 4 STR, 6 DEX, 5 VIT, 7 MAG, 7 FTH, 5 WIL, 3 CHA Summon Spirit Rank 1

Adamant Conjuration

Passive

You can create 1 more spirit.

The formula to calculate the base level of your spirits gets changed to:

(1% max[WIL; CHA] + 0.1% min[WIL;CHA] + 2x skill rank) Ä̸͓́d̵̆͜v̵̘̈́ä̴̰́n̸̰̈́ĉ̴̤e̷͙͠d̶̥͒ ̸̥̐S̸̆ͅu̵̦͝ḿ̸̨m̶̱̉ọ̴̐ń̷͜ḯ̷͖ǹ̴̳g̵͔̀

Passive

The number of base classes you can give your spirits is locked at 81.4% of the number of primary classes you have.

At any time, a maximum of 21.7% of the classes of a given spirit may be elites.

Hey, that's new! Usually, the second skill gets messed up and not the third. Not only did the skill get changed, but also its unlock level. If this doesn't smell of monkey's paw...

Though, I'm not sure whether this is an upgrade or downgrade for the skill. Before I had a cap of four classes on the spirits, three from base plus one from the Summon Master title. With this skill, it would be 4.8, so 4 until the next Class Core, well same, really. Now to increase it we just need a lot of Class Cores and Dungeon Cores, well, and the stats to use them. Without it though, our spirits could've exceeded our number of classes, would just need to take the right classes to obtain the relevant skills.

Similarly, the limit of elite classes is now set to basically one every five classes. Not sure this changes much. By default, they couldn't take any elite classes anyway. The Summoner and unglitched Conjurer classes would've allowed one each, so same as we get now at ten classes. A bit later but not neck-breaking.

On the upside, I can now ignore those classes and instead focus on different classes with skills that have more immediate benefits.

Speaking of skills, I wonder what Lucia gave our new spirit. Hopefully, something with similar area damage like Elly's [Fire Bomb].

Fire Bomb

200 SP, 1 bottle or vial

Turn the bottle or vial into an explosive that lasts for 5 seconds.

When either the time is up or it gets thrown against an enemy or solid surface it explodes for (60% DEX + 60% MAG) physical fire damage in a 5x5 DU area.

...hey, wait a minute! It uses MAG. Didn't Basluth say that spirits can't use skills that use the MAG stat in any way?

So was Basluth wrong about this, outright lied to me or did Elly find a workaround? Gotta find that out later. Something's clearly off there.

I'm getting a bit hungry but in my current state, I can't access my inventory, can't take a blood bag out and drink it. But then, it makes sense since this isn't reality, just my subconscious. So why would I have access to real food... Bah!

What now? Anything else I need to prepare? Hmm, upload at 97%, so I guess I can just relax for a minute. Not that the anticipation, or rather dread, lets me. I have a very bad feeling about what I'll get from that class.