"I choose Option 3." Lilly, the Bog Witch Quest Hall worker declares suddenly, startling everyone.
[Option 3: Random Acts of Kindness] chosen.
[Generating Mission]
[Mission Created] Assist debtee to obtain a suitably upgraded class. The average distance to debtee must not exceed 100 meters over any 24-hour solar cycle.
[Current daily average distance 76 kilometers]
"So, what tier is your current class?" The Quest Hall boss asks, willing to put a lot of money and effort into helping her employee. After all, the employment contracts go through the system, and if she doesn't live up to her obligations, she too will face a penalty. Only her level of punishment will be chosen by an angry former employee and not a forgiving Duke who didn't care about the money.
"The species exclusive version of Flesh Crafter is a Third Advancement class, and a rather powerful one." Cain replies with a shrug of his shoulders.
Lilly looks like she is thinking hard about something, then transforms into a large black cat with leathery wings before flying over to land with her head on Cain's shoulder, draping most of her lower body across the base of his wings.
"I don't want to find out what the penalty for being too far away is. Zero distance is the quickest way to reduce the average." The demonic feline informs him.
The spell is a Bog Witch racial ability. Most of them end up as a newt, alligator or snake, but she got the Nergal, an evil spirit of the swamp, as her [Secondary Form]. Once it is used the first time, that Form is theirs for life. For some that is a good thing, but not every Bog Witch gets the form that they would have preferred to spend a great deal of their life in. Their magic is varied and powerful, so those in need often come looking for them, meaning that the Bog Witches spend a lot of time hiding from annoyances.
"It won't be easy to upgrade you then. Let's go somewhere private to talk, the crowd has enough to fill their gossip for months." The boss decides, leading them all into a secure back room with a set of couches arranged in a square for informal meetings.
"Do you have any options at all for class advancement right now?" The Quest Hall leader asks hopefully. If he does, they just need to find a complementary skill to turn it into a better option.
Cain double-checks his interface before shaking his head. "Nothing at all, not even a lower quality side option."
Both the boss and the Bog Witch on his shoulder sigh, but then the Nergal form of Lilly makes a noise that is somewhere between a purr and a yelp that Cain takes as a sign of inspiration. "What is your specific species? I can tell that you are transformed, but that's as much as I can see with my skills."
The boss looks shocked, she truly believed that the Wrath Demon was Cain's true identity. The fact that it matches with Vala, who she took to be his family member stopped any doubts she initially had, but if Cain really is in a transformation, then things could be very different.
"Can you see through the others as well?" Cain asks curiously.
"The lovely blue Parrot Kin is a Seraphim. Not that I can see through the disguise, but she doesn't turn her aura all the way off, and I recognized it." Lilly explains and Evangeline facepalms.
"Not bad detective work. I'm guessing that you're thinking of finding a race-locked exclusive class like Ancient Flesh Crafter is?" Cain asks and the demonic cat nods.
The boss looks a bit confused, then goes over to a shelf and pulls out a book, flipping through the pages for a moment before looking at Cain again.
"I don't see any sort of Flesh Crafter subclass in our records that is a species exclusive. and I don't see Ancient Flesh Crafter either, is that because you are so old that you inherited a third advancement class when the system was implemented?" She asks, double-checking their records.
"I'm not that old, in fact, I'm an actual transfer, brought here by the system. You know what? It will be easier if I just show you." Cain explains, shifting into the three-meter tall version of his natural Ancient form and dropping the disguise.
The silence in the room is palpable. Nobody is speaking, or moving, in fact, they are barely breathing, just staring at Cain, who uses his facial tentacles to pet the kitten on his shoulder.
"But they're a myth, a story told about the creation of the world, not living breathing transfers." The Quest Hall boss sighs, her eyes slowly turning to bright pink hearts as her Succubus instincts to couple with the most powerful of beings and claim their essence for herself take over.
At her age, that would very rarely be an issue, but the Demons have a lot of stories about the Ancients, and despite their reputed cruelty and lust for domination, the Demons don't see them as inherently evil or unredeemable. Instead, they see them more like a force of nature, unconcerned about the lesser beings and the havoc their actions might cause. The demons themselves are often like that, and many groups claim to have some measure of Ancient heritage.
The younger generations take that as a joke, since it has been so long since the Ancients went extinct that there is no way to prove the claim either way, but still the notion that they are the descendants of the world's natural rulers persists.
"So that is what the Ancients looked like?" The bog witch asks, enjoying the warm tentacle on her fur.
"Yes and no. This is much smaller than my natural form, and even that is not fully grown. But from what I've seen, the species had a wide variety of appearances, though almost all depictions I've seen that they made of themselves were as Eldritch Horrors with tentacles." Cain elaborates, thinking of the carvings inside the Ancient cities.
"This could be harder than anticipated. The Flesh Crafters aren't known to have an advancement path, that's the end of the line, there simply isn't anything better in their field of study. Plus, as an Ancient, we don't have any information on exclusive classes that might actually become available to you that would complement your existing classes. You said you transferred in, right? What did you start out as that led you here?" The succubus asks, working hard to control her instincts.
"I started as a Puppet Master, and stayed with the class for two hundred levels, learning every skill on both sides of the skill tree. Then I advanced to Flesh Crafter after a Quest reward made it possible." Cain explains, giving the short version of the story.
The look on both faces is even more shocked now than when they found out he was part of a mythical species from their legends. If it wasn't for the fact her body weight was fully supported by him, Cain was pretty sure the Bog Witch would have fallen to the floor, paralyzed by shock.
Everyone is silent for almost a minute while they gather their thoughts and then Lilly speaks slowly as if speaking too fast might break whatever illusion she is under.
"So, you are saying that you became an Ancient Flesh Crafter after being a Lord General Puppet Master? Wouldn't that mean that you have actual Mythic Summons and not Epic Summons with a Mythic skill?" She manages to eventually stammer out.
"Yes, and with the additional abilities that I have gained, I can have a dozen of them if I need, plus all the other summons that I can rely on." Cain agrees, expecting another round of shocked responses.
This time he is surprised though, and the Bog Witch flies off his shoulder and out the door, her Nergal body simply phasing through the solid wood as if it was not there at all. She returns only a few seconds later with a book in her paws and drops it into Cain's waiting tentacles.
"Open that and read it. I'm pretty sure you can." She almost shouts at him, while Cain looks at the unadorned leather cover.
It is clearly an Ancient Quality skill book, but it doesn't even have a name on it. Even the ones that he creates with Spell Crafting get a name when someone else touches them.
Cain opens the first page and sees that it isn't a Skill Book at all, but an educational tome like the one he is using to learn Spell Crafting.
[Welcome to the theory of Ascending Created Species, Volume 1] the first line reads in the Ancient language, made readable by the system.
That is amazing, and it is exactly the thing he needed, this book is supposed to contain many of the theories that are referenced in the Spell Crafting book. It isn't a large one though, and Cain quickly but gently flips through the ancient pages, finding that it is no more than an introductory primer that explains a few theories and then refers you to volume 2 for the practical work. It is more like a set of study notes to be referred to while doing other lessons. But for Cain, that is more important than the actual study guide.
[New Quest Available: Ascended Ancient] Grant the wish of one Mortal Being to Become a True Ascended using only Species Exclusive Skills. Reward: Class Advancement Token.
