“Uh, sure. Whatever you want, Kazu.” Lanek stammered out.

  Wow… That will come in really handy. If the sword is obscured by mist, won’t that make it harder for enemies to track my strikes and evade them?

  “That’s awesome, Kazuma! Thank you!” Lanek praised the cat as he re-materialized into the cellar, looking extremely satisfied.

  Lanek looked around the cellar and chose not to collect more weapons. As it was, he was going to be heavily loaded down already. However, he fully intended to cover the hatch to this area for future use, such as learning how to be a smith or if he needed replacement weapons. It’s a shame that there wasn’t any armor down here. I guess I need to find an actual armorer’s shop.

  With a bit of trepidation, Lanek prepared to open his notifications, expecting to be overwhelmed. Just before opening his status, he decided to try out an idea. “System, can I customize my notifications?” he asked, feeling a bit silly as his companions looked at him strangely.

  “Let’s start with removing all notifications concerning defeated enemies that are more than five levels below me. Also, please don’t notify me when I absorb the soul of an enemy that is too weak to actually benefit me.”

  “Thank you.” Once again, Lanek felt silly talking to the System directly and even more so thanking it. However, he felt it was better to be polite to the all-powerful entity just in case it did have a personality or emotions behind it. With the updates in place, Lanek called up his notifications.

  Lanek couldn’t believe his eyes as he read through the kills. He didn’t think [Ethereal Salvo] was that powerful. Then again, many of those creatures had been fighting each other, so he reasoned that a large portion of those kills must have come from him finishing off already wounded enemies. Still, 182 kills? And that’s not counting monsters that were too weak to give me experience? Damn… Let’s move on to the rest of the notifications.

  His skill level notifications were not anything to get excited over as his chain whip proficiency had only leveled up to 9. Considering how much he had focused on his salvo skill, that made sense. On the other hand, his leveling notifications were enough to make him giddy with excitement.

  New subclass AND class evolution? This is going to be interesting. I wonder why Soulbinder didn’t evolve at 20? Does it have special requirements or does it not evolve at all due to its [Mythical] status?

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  Shaking his head at another mystery, Lanek chose to check to see if he earned new skills. However, no matter how much Lanek tried to bring up his skill window or notifications besides existing skills leveling up, he was always brought back to the notifications about his class evolution and additional subclass. Clearly, the System wouldn’t let him move on to his skills without dealing with his subclasses first. Fine, how about attributes?

  Good lord, that strength stat is looking really sad. I wish the System would give me some way to bring that up.

  He was pleased with his progress, but knew that he was still not as powerful as those stats would lead him to believe. The myrmidons and gaunt casters were both well beyond him at the moment and he could only guess just how high their stats were. On top of that, he had the distinct feeling that there were even stronger things out there than those creatures.

  Lanek started to turn his attention to his new classes when he noticed the lack of rumbling or other sounds from the street above. He turned to Kazuma, who seemingly sensed his intentions and was already leaving the cellar in his mist form. A few long minutes later, Kazuma returned to the cellar.

  “Are they all gone?” Lanek asked, to which the cat shook his head. “Are the myrmidons gone?” The mist cat nodded to his followup question. “Great, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Lanek and his companions returned to the shop floor, covering the trap door behind them. He tried hard not to clank as he moved, but it was difficult with a full pack, sabre, chain whip, mattock, kanabo, two hand axes, and throwing knives strapped on to his body. He even carried the lantern from the cellar, having decided that he could use a light source to read the maps he had acquired. Still, he felt utterly ridiculous being a supposedly stealthy class like a rogue but wandering around like the world’s biggest pack rat.

  Upon emerging onto the street, Lanek swore. He had lost track of time during the battle and being that cellar. The sun was already beginning to set and there was no way to make it out of the city by nightfall. He began working his way to the monastery, hoping that whatever kept it clear of monsters would help him survive the night. Lanek knew he could stay in the cellar of the smithy, but couldn’t bring himself to feel secure there with the breach in the walls being so close and knowing that the ghouls and ghasts lived underground in that area.

  His companions swept out to his flanks, making sure that any potential threats were avoided or eliminated. Lanek arrived at the doors to the monastery and went straight to the tower, closing the door to the staircase behind him. Not hesitating for a moment, he climbed to the fourth floor and entered the stables. It may not be the most comfortable spot to spend the night, but I’m betting that behemoth over there in the pavilion is scaring everything else off. I wonder if they would still keep their distance if they knew it couldn’t hear anything outside of the barrier?

  He picked a stall near the tower door to set his gear and rest, joined by his furry companions. Lanek removed the weapons and tools from his body, keeping only his gauntlets and chain whip on him, just in case. Until he had some training or acquired some more weapon skills, the sabre and hand axes would only be a hindrance to him in a battle.

  Lanek activated the lantern. He still had no clue how it worked aside from the simple knob that controlled the size and intensity of the flame as well as shut the thing off. Before he could reach for his pack or focus on his subclasses, Sanguineus whined at him while Kazuma batted at his foot. He felt both of them pushing a sense of achievement to him, confusing him until a pair of notifications were brought to his attention.

  Holy shit, level 20 already? Oh, that’s right, I keep forgetting that we share experience. They must have received a ton from all of those kills from [Ethereal Salvo].

  “Sure, go for it.” Lanek said to both his companions and the System.

  “Absolutely not. Guys, you are clearly smart enough to make your own choices. I’ll leave the choice up to you.”

  Yes.

  Thanks again. Lanek felt a bit less silly thanking the System mentally rather than out loud. It still felt a bit strange, though.

  A moment later, a faint glow began to emit from each of his companions, a red one for Sanguineus and blue for Kazuma. Thankfully, the glow never grew to the point where it would provide a beacon for the monsters infesting the city to find them.

  Suddenly, Lanek began to feel faint, feeling his mana draining from his body rapidly. The mana rushed through his link to his friends, fueling their transformations. However, Lanek’s body could not keep up with the strain, his health beginning to drop alongside his mana until his vision went dark and he lost consciousness.