The scholar was under the impression that the five of them had been assigned the Starter Quests for Novice or Intermediate Classes like the rest. They saw no reason to enlighten him, so after receiving all the necessary information, the members of the Morningstar Clan could only shrug and head over to the next tent.
If they were to translate the information about the 1st floor's classes into main plane terms, Roma and Zaine had Legendary Talent, Draco had Divine Talent, and Eva as well as Hikari had Origin Talent.
This alone should be enough to greatly upset the balance of the world, but it was clear that the AI - or the Tower in this case - had suppressed the shocking effect such a revelation should have in order to get them to complete the task at hand.
The likely Princesses had merely displayed her shock before letting the matter go, instead of forcefully keeping Draco and co behind - as they had no classes - forcing them to serve the crown using rewards and threats.
After all, according to the background given to them, they were supposed to be mere villagers, so the crown wouldn't need to think too much about it. They also had the Divine Mandate with them, so what at all could Draco and co do if they were unhappy anyway?
Draco and co reached the Quartermaster's Tent and stood before the counter at the side. The fellow was an aged brown-skinned man with a missing eye and quite a few battle scars.
He had a fierce expression and a strict disposition, so he eyed the five of them without reacting to whatever beauty or s.e.xiness they had. He regarded them as nothing but common people one could easily meet while walking down the street, so the quartermaster simply banged his counter and demanded.
"Report your name, destination, and recommended class!"
Draco began. "Draco Morningstar, Schweinehöhle, Swordmaster."
Eva continued. "Eva Morningstar, Ancient Battlefield, Light Sage."
Roma added hers. "Roma Morningstar, The Scourge, Witch."
Zaine folded her arms. "Zaine Morningstar, Sea of Thought, Psylord."
Hikari was last to speak. "Hikari Morningstar, No Destination, Holy Saintess."
Just like the scholar, the quartermaster had mistaken them for common trash, at most pleasing to the eye, so the grizzled veteran needed a short while before he recovered. He then went to the back and spent about five minutes rummaging around before he came back with a slew of items.
"Here, for you lot." He spoke coldly as he tossed them their needed items and equipment.
Draco received two normal longswords and a set of medium armor that was quite plain. Eva received a set of mage robes that had the symbol of a sparkle of light embroidered over her right b.r.e.a.s.t, as well as a spell tome with the same symbol on its cover.
Roma received a baggy green robe with a crooked hat, as well as a green and purple wand. Zaine got a strange gem that was a bright blue color, shaped like a diamond.
Hikari got a set of cleric robes that were fancier than the mage versions, as well as a white staff with a murky white orb at the top.
The group instantly equipped the new attires. Everyone had a change in wardrobe except Zaine who was still wearing the dress that Verita had made for her. While it wasn't bad, it did make the s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s purse her lips for being left out.
Draco then checked out the details for his new stuff.
Rank: Average
Durability: 100/100
Damage: 10
Enchantments: None｣
｢Steel Armor – Medium Armor
Rank: Average
Durability: 700/700
Defense: 8
Resistance: 2
He then took a look at Eva who also shared the details of her items with the entire group.
｢Light Tome – Tome
Rank: Average
Durability: 35/135
Potency: 10
Enchantments: None｣
｢Light Magician's Robes – Armor
Rank: Average
Durability: 60/60
Resistance: 10
Enchantments: None｣
Roma was next.
｢Magic Wand – Wand
Rank: Average
Durability: 10/10
Potency: 12
Enchantments: None｣
｢Witch Robes – Armor
Durability: 60/60
Defense: 1
Resistance: 12
Enchantments: None｣
The group then focused on Zaine, who shared hers with a smirk.
｢Focus Crystal – Ornamental
Rank: Average
Durability: 1,000/1,000
Potency: 19
Speechless, the group then checked out Hikari who shared hers while scratching her head.
｢Cleric's Staff – Stave
Rank: Average
Durability: 45/45
Damage: 4
Potency: 8
Enchantments: +2% Healing Efficiency｣
｢Cleric Robes – Armor
Rank: Average
Durability: 15/15
Resistance: 15
Enchantments: None｣
After checking out each other's stuff, the group were amazed… by just how average it was. They had long since grown used to having access to Legendary items and above like they were crap, so to have to settle for what was the bottom tier in this world was quite amusing.
To Draco and Eva, it was like starting out in Boundless in the previous timeline, so they were not bothered. Roma, Zaine, and Hikari too didn't mind, as they knew that things would get better as their power rose.
The quartermaster then tossed them a map. "Use this to find your destinations and set off. You have one week to complete your Starter Quests or they will automatically fail! Get going!"
Draco and co knew better than to waste their time arguing with what all of them regarded as an NPC, so they simply checked the map. After identifying where their various destinations were, they began moving out.
Hikari transformed into her White Dragon form when they were a few miles away from the village and carried the group on her back to their destinations. Her transformation was tolerated since her true form was that of a White Dragon, yet it would be too strange to have her participate in such a manner, as she was blocked from using her skills.
The Tower of Babylon was not short-sighted in this regard and there were no cheap shortcuts this time around, not that the group were looking for any.
After all, this was quite the novel feeling. They decided to head to the locations of Roma's and Zaine's Starter Quests first since they had to kill the least number of monsters comparatively.
Eventually, they arrived at the Scourge. It was a land of death and decay, with withered trees and blighted earth stretching out for miles. Up in the air, the group could see many Netherdrakes flying low above the ground, their sleek dark-green bodies looking almost like they were coated in a thin film.
They had no visible features nor any scales, just dark-green drake-shaped entities with glowing green eyes. Hikari took the group down somewhere safe and transformed back.
"Alright, Roma do your thing. Feel free to get down and dirty with them as Hikari will heal you in order to reach her target. We'll back you up if you need help at any time." Draco said with one of his swords slung over his shoulder.
Roma nodded and raised her wand. Immediately, she began chanting, drawing in ambient mana into the tip of her wand. Roma was using her natural Mystic Arts instead of the default Mystic Spell that came with the wand.
That one had a short cooldown and no chanting, but its power was too weak. Roma preferred to use her own techniques in this case.
Draco decided to check out the power of these Netherdrakes while Roma was in the midst of her work.
｢Name: Netherdrakes – Basic Monster
Level: 3
HP: 155/155｣
They weren't much on paper, but for another person, they would be tough targets. If Roma had to rely on her wands in-built spell, she would likely deal only 12 damage with each hit, assuming they had no immunities or magical defenses.
It would mean she would have to hit each one over a dozen times, and that was assuming that the basic abilities that came with class equipment on this floor were like auto-attacks on the main plane which had a default 1-sec cooldown.
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Roma would have to kill 10 Netherdrakes while kiting them, requiring great skill and technique in order to avoid dying, before handling the Viper, which should either be an elite or boss monster depending on how things worked on this floor.
However, this was all assuming Roma was average and not a monster. As she finished chanting her Mystic Spell, a wave of green light erupted from her as the center. The shockwave traversed through the entire radius of 10 meters around them, blasting 7 Netherdrakes away.
When Draco checked their HP once more, he found that they had less than 30 points left. When Roma saw this, instead of being happy she frowned deeply. After all, this should have been a Rank 3 Mystic Spell she had learned passively when she had Ranked Up.
She had thought that even if her stats greatly weakened her power, the fact that she could use mana to power the spell would negate most of her weakness and allow her to possess Pseudo-Rank 3 power in here.
However, she - at best - had Mid-Rank 1 power with that, leaving her exasperated. It had taken her 5 seconds to chant that, which only yielded about 2x the damage compared to having used the default Mystic Spell instead.
The beaten Netherdrakes struggled to rise up, giving Roma the chance to finish them with her basic spell. It was a small greenish arrow that pierced through the body of any target, dealing the 12 damage that the group had expected.
After finishing the first one, Draco noticed that all five of them had received experience. However, this experience was not added to their levels as the system stated that they needed to activate their classes first before they could level up and gain stats.
Feeling that it made sense, Draco did not bother to argue and rather led Roma deeper into the Scourge where they found more Netherdrakes. After slaughtering the lot with ease, they then located the Viper that was residing near one of the area's checkpoints.
The Viper's appearance was similar to the Netherdrake, just that it was sleeker and fully-black in color. Not only that, its eyes gleamed with intelligence and it could speak, even having a shockingly deep voice that added to its ambiance.
"From the murky depthsssss, I comeee."
｢Name: Viper – Elite Monster
Level: 7
HP: 280/280｣
For this battle, Roma could not fight alone. Draco took point as the tank for the team while Hikari healed him continuously as Draco fought carelessly. After all, if he didn't get hurt, how was Hikari to advance her quest?
Eva opened her tome and swished her hand over the pages from the bottom to the stop, like she was making something within the book manifest itself outside. This created a cloud that hovered above the Viper and struck it with 4 light beams at once from all sides.
Since Eva had a 50% boost to Light damage thanks to her talent, this allowed her to deal 15 points of damage with each attack. Zaine had placed the focus crystal around her forehead using a socket that was provided by the quartermaster, and she found that calling any form of psychic energy through it greatly amplified and concentrated her power.
Like the other starter equipment, it had a basic skill within for psychic novices who could not really do much with their mental abilities. This one was called Launch, and it allowed a psychic to select an item and toss it over at bullet speed towards a target.
The larger the chosen item, the more mana the skill consumed. Since Zaine could manipulate things Telekinetically even better than most top psychics in this world, she directly tore off branches from the trees around them, filed them, and tossed them over like javelins.
This was not even taking into account the talent Zaine had received which also negated her mental stamina as well as her mana costs for using Telekinesis. As long as there were things she could lift with her mind, she would be able to lift them without paying a price.
Of course, just like Devil's Guile in the main plane, this had the limitation of not covering Zaine's overall fatigue and strain, just the resource stats.
In a matter of seconds, Roma dealt the final blow to the Viper, and it's crumbled into itself in a blue light, probably off to respawn at the Defiled Fountain of Health in the Scourge mostly likely.
Upon its defeat, Roma's quest got marked as done. Her body started to glow with a beautiful green light, covering her from head to toe. Roma closed her eyes as she digested the awakening of her class.
Once done, she opened her eyes and smiled happily. "Take a look everyone."
｢Name: Roma
Class: Witch
Health: 100 --> 250
Mana: 100 --> 700
Stamina: 100 --> 250
Level: 1
Exp: 0% (15%)
Power: 1 --> 3
Speed: 1 --> 3
Magic: 1 --> 13
Skills: Mystic Arrow (new), Magical Bolt (new).
Talent: Mana Sensitivity.｣
Her level had not increased but her stats had changed greatly. From a single point in everything, she now had 3 points in Power and Speed, with 13 points in Magic. These should be the starting stats of the Witch class, and it deserved its rank as an Intermediate Class.
She also gained two skills, the innate spell in the wand she had used had transferred to her mind as well as a new one called Magical Bolt. It did make sense that after gaining a class, one would learn to use the spell itself, otherwise this world would be very different if skills could only be used through equipment.
Done with Roma's Starter Quest, they mounted Hikari once more and headed over to the Sea of Thought, which was just a special beach area where psychic marine species lived.
There, they quickly found the Telecrabs Zaine was supposed to kill, and they looked like giant hermit crabs with an antenna at the top of their shells. The creatures idly walked on the shore of the beach, as if waiting for some dashing adventurers to come and slaughter them.
｢Name: Telecrab – Basic Monster
Level: 3
HP: 175/175｣
Draco got into his role and began tanking, while Eva also used her light attacks to assault the monsters. Roma was greatly empowered this time and only attacked infrequently as her damage had increased substantially.
It wouldn't do for her to be the one to kill the crabs, as that was Zaine's task. However, with her family clearing the way, Zaine was easily able to get the last hit on 10 Telecrabs.
They then looked for the Crustacean Mindlord which turned out to be a huge Hermit Crab with a large antenna on its head. When it saw then, it screeched and rushed over menacingly.
｢Name: Crustacean Mindlord – Elite Monster
Level: 7
HP: 320/320｣
The group began battle straight away. Roma directly used her new skill Magic Bolt, which struck the elite monster and made it drag a furrow through the sand. Its sheer force was not a joke, leagues above the Mystic Arrow by comparison.
It shaved over 100 points off the Elite monsters HP alone, startling the entire group. Luckily, it had just enough health left for Zaine to one-tap it and complete her quest.
A blue light covered the s.e.xy s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s from head to toe, and she smiled as she bathed in the power that was being granted her.
｢Name: Zaine
Class: Psylord
Health: 100 --> 150
Mana: 100 --> 650
Stamina: 100 --> 150
Level: 1
Exp: 0% (35%)
Power: 1 --> 2
Speed: 1 --> 5
Magic: 1 --> 12
Skills: Launch (new), Crush (new).
Talent: Mind Mastery.｣
Satisfied with her own growth, the group left for the Schweinehöhle which was where Draco's Starter Quest was located. This one was closer to the village they had come from and took quite a bit of time to get to since the Sea of Thought was far away.
This was even with Hikari's overpowered flight speed as a Dragon too.
The group eventually arrived in a large grassland where a lot of horned rabbits, goblins, and bandits milled around. They also came upon many different fights between adventurers as well as those doing Starter Quests and the native monsters.
Hikari transformed back into her human form and the group mingled into the area quietly. It seemed this grassland was one of the most popular zones, where many came to officiate their quest.
Soon, Draco and co headed deeper, where they found wolves, glowing deer, and the like, but avoided them until they reached the Schweinehöhle which was quite deep. This alone told the group that the monsters were likely a notch above those in the outer zones, so they had to be careful.
When they arrived before the large burrow that formed the Schweinehöhle, the group were alert. However, they were left speechless with what they saw.
In front of the burrow around a hundred Schweinhunds were standing at attention, marching back and forth displaying strict discipline. They wore black military attire with a strange symbol on their c.h.e.s.ts.
They looked like a strange mixture of pigs and dogs, also being strangely bipedal. It gave them a cute look that made the Four Beauties soften. Even their menacing expressions as they marched made them appear less dangerous and more comical-looking.
｢Name: Schweinehund – Basic Monster
Level: 5
HP: 290/290｣
Draco frowned darkly as he gazed at the impudent monsters that dared to charm his women. Harrumph, he would surely teach them a severe lesson for wearing such a controversial symbol!
He wasn't jealous, of course not! How silly to even think it!
Draco then looked over and saw the Schweineführer, who was standing on a podium. He looked like an older Schweinehund, only that he had a very squarish mustache that looked eerily familiar to Draco.
｢Name: Adolf Schweinler – Elite Monster
Level: 10
HP: 450/450｣
Just as Draco was about to engage them, the Scheweineführer gazed at his men with passion and began speaking.
"Mein Gott, Mein Gott, Mein Gottttttt. Kameraden, Sie alle sind extrem gut aussehend heute!"
The Schweinehunde were touched by the praise of their leader and all saluted with tears in their eyes.
"Gesegneter Anführer, Euer Schnurrbart zittert heute vor extremer Majestät!"
Watching this scene, Draco and co were left speechless, as it seemed that there was something very wrong with these monsters but they couldn't understand what was being said.
… yet for some reason they all felt that it might be better this way.