Free Web NovelChapter 14: Against All The Odds [2]
[You have met all the conditions to unlock the ’New Unique Class’]
[You have lost the Class’ Magician’]
[You have gained the New Unique Class... ’Shepherd’]
Mikael blinked and kept staring for some time at the glowing text before him as his brain tried to make sense of them.
"What the hell...."
He read it twice, then thrice to make sure his eyes weren’t betraying him.
Was this for real?
A unique class for.... Mikael....?
For him?
He already knew that Mikael had a unique class.
Back in his previous life as Zen, he had stumbled across a discussion thread about it on the forums.
Even though he wasn’t playing the game himself back then, he would often browse the forums in his free time at work.
Reading through patch notes and seeing if anyone had found any new game mechanics or hidden lore he had missed.
This particular thread was buried deep in the lore subforum--
And from the look of it, it had long since exploded into an all-out warzone.
People had been going at each other over Mikael’s route ever since the DLC dropped--
Months of vicious arguments and tear-downs about Mikael’s route difficulty.
Some players also dared say that Devs had lost their minds, that it was impossible, and that anyone who claimed to clear it was lying.
Then.... Completely out of nowhere.
At some random Q&A no one expected to be important, Obsidian Game Studio casually dropped a bombshell that turned everything on its head--
"Mikael did have a hidden unique class. But it’s locked behind a specific set of conditions that no one has managed to crack yet."
That was all it took....
And the people who had given up on Mikael’s route picked it up again, trying to find it.
He still remembered that thread discussion perfectly.
"Has anyone found his unique class yet?"
"I’ve been trying for three months. But absolutely nothing."
"Devs are trolling us. There’s no unique class. Mikael is just a meme character designed to make us suffer."
"I datamined the files. There’s SOMETHING locked behind conditions I can’t figure out. The flags are insane."
That last post had haunted the forums for months.
Players tried everything... maxing out every stat they could.... dying in a specific location.... talking to every NPC in a particular order.
Some even attempted to sequence-break the game’s early Chapters.
One dedicated player had spent six months doing nothing but testing theories.
He documented every failure in a thread that eventually stretched to more than 300 pages.
Yet.
No player ever found Mikael’s hidden class.
But now Zen... Mikael sat here in the dirt of Mournwood Forest with that same hidden unique class.
’They weren’t lying.....’
Mikael did have a unique class.
He re-read the notification still hovering patiently in his vision.
[You have met all the conditions to unlock the ’New Unique Class’]
All the Conditions?
He traced back the chain of events.
The ritual. The sacrifice of his Essence Core. The contract with Liren.
Her favorability was climbing up and up until it reached its maximum.
’Ah.... so that was it.’
Contracted Spirit’s Max or probably high favourability.
And the missing Essence Core.
Suddenly, a laugh bubbled inside him from genuine amusement.
’Of course, no one was able to find it.’
In the game, raising the spirit’s favourability even beyond 50% was already considered a monumental achievement.
The mechanics were punishingly opaque....
The Spirits in Eclipsed Realms were ancient and unpredictable entities.
They didn’t care about charm or any form of bribery.
Well... In truth.
Neither he nor any of the other players really understood how Spirits’ favourability worked.
The highest favourability he had reached in the game was 44%, and he himself had no idea how he’d managed it.
And even if by some miracle, a player managed to push his contracted spirit’s favourability this high...
Who in their right mind would think about sacrificing their Essence Core?
The Essence Core was everything in the game.
It was the foundation of all magic, all abilities, all progression through the Tiers.
And losing one meant losing access to all the abilities, spells, and all the power you have accumulated till now.
If he talked about this in game terms, it was the same as deleting your character level and starting from zero again.
Actually, it was worse, because they wouldn’t even be able to cast a single spell till they form a core again.
No player would do that voluntarily.
Not unless they were absolutely desperate and had no other options.
’Which I didn’t.’
He had gambled everything because everything was already lost.
At first, he was thinking about sacrificing his Melodic Supremacy Talent...
But then, all of a sudden, an idea struck him-- an idea he also didn’t know how he had that -- to sacrifice his essence core.
First, he was unsure, but ultimately chose to sacrifice his essence core instead of an Elite-grade Talent.
Just to make sure that he gets a chance to contract with a neutral Spirit.
But...
He sighed and shook his head.
No use cursing his sick luck now, as he focused back on his new class -- Shepherd.
’How do I get a more detailed description of this?’
He tried to focus on his class, and suddenly the window flickered and expanded as new lines of text scrolled in front of him.
’Oh... it actually worked.’
— ◈ [ Class: Shepherd (Unique) ] ◈ —
A class granted to one who has formed a profound bond with a Spirit. The Shepherd walks a path few can follow, earning the trust of beings that exist between worlds.
Beckoning Presence (Passive): Spirits are naturally drawn to your presence. Their initial disposition toward you will always be neutral or curious, never hostile unless provoked. The threshold for building favorability with spirits is significantly reduced.
Echoed Bonds (Passive): When a spirit’s favorability toward you reaches a certain threshold, you may temporarily borrow one of their abilities without forming a formal contract. The strength of the borrowed ability scales with the spirit’s power and the depth of your bond. A true contract remains the only way to channel a spirit’s full might.
— ◈ [ Class: Shepherd (Unique) ] ◈ —
’Holy Shit...’
’This thing is broken as hell...’
The ability to borrow powers from spirits without contracting with them?
That was literally a cheat.
How in the world...
He could also form multiple contracts, it seems.
He could already think about the possibilities of summoning multiple spirits and using their abili--
But his giddiness rush didn’t last long for more than five seconds before the logical part of his brain caught up.
’Ahem.... I guess I got too excited over nothing.’
Even if spirits were naturally drawn to his presence due to [Beckoning Presence], that didn’t necessarily mean he’d be able to build the favorability required to borrow a Spirit’s ability.
Liren’s case was different. ƒreewebɳovel.com
A fluke, he would say.
Even with her, Mikael had never once anticipated her favorability would actually reach Max.
It was a total surprise for him.
And as for finding a spirit?
They weren’t scattered around on every random tree or roadside bush, waiting to be discovered.
If finding a spirit were that easy, everyone would have one.
Reality was far less generous.
Odds were, he’d have to search long and hard just to cross paths with a neutral spirit, let alone one compatible enough to contract with.
And from what happened a few minutes ago in the Spirit World.
That Massive Red Eye....
He would like to avoid that place at all costs.
At least for the time being.
His last embers of excitement faded as he lifted himself from the ground.
Now he had to get to that other location.
The one place that would help him restore his core.... at least to a certain degree.
But even if he made it there in one piece, there was no shortcut waiting for him.
He’d have to fill his essence core from absolute zero, clawing back every drop of power original Mikael had once accumulated.
He let out a quiet breath.
Well, he already knew this was going to happen.
’Sorry, Jeanne. I guess I won’t be able to attend Princess Elara’s Birthday Banquet with you.’
With this thought, He started walking, as his gaze landed on his dangling left arm.
’....’
Right.
He should probably get himself treated first.
He resumed his walking, he suddenly froze mid-stride.
And his eyes widened.
******
