Today marked the beginning of a new epoch for the Community.

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The ‘Progeny of the Thirteen’ was a new type of… System, or at least, that’s what I had assumed. It probably wouldn’t be that grand, however, its implications were a curiosity. I had nothing specific that I could even think of comparing it to. Granted, we lacked the thirteenth member – likely to be Antonio once he recovered - so it wasn’t an issue we needed to contend with at the moment.

I sought the help of the System in regards to the mysterious ‘Progeny of the Thirteen’, however, only one message appeared.

With nothing to be done about it, I could only speculate. Every single person who had just advanced to High-Human received a new class that referred to the Progeny. Even Kevin’s [Bloodline of the High-Human Paragon] had evolved.

Kevin’s wealth of knowledge regarding Holy Arc Online only did so much for us, as he too couldn’t even recall a reference of a ‘Progeny’ within the Holy Arc forums.

However, Kevin mentioned that it may have been a similar concept to the Demon King’s Monarchs.

Now, The Demon Monarchs were something I was familiar with. The Monarchs were powerful individuals serving directly under the Demon King. They were particularly… Deadly Demon Lord’s. They tended to possess at the very least a legendary evolution, some were even mythic grade. Of course, whether or not that information was reliable was up in the air. If there were any types of monsters that were truly overpowered outside of the Demon King, they were his Monarchs.

Despite my limited knowledge being from Holy Arc Online, I doubted that Astia and his… “Round Table” would have made a ‘simulation’ without including accurate elements regarding the Demon Hierarchy. It would have defeated the purpose of trying to find individuals with the right mindset, capable of contending against the Demon King. At least, that’s what I assumed.

Who was I kidding though? Did I even have the right mindset? I had already made plenty of mistakes. It was only my luck and the reliability of my companions that I had made it as far as I had.

Kevin’s guess was as good as any though. All I knew was that everyone’s classes had spontaneously evolved into extremely powerful Tier 1 variants. The 'Progeny' variations were even better than the Tier 1 High-Human classes - classes that were already nearly overpowered in their own right.

In fact, considering things, Tier 1 classes were meant to be… Fairly weak. Tier 2 was supposed to be when the classes began rising in strength, and specialized classes emerged. Evidently, this didn’t appear to be entirely true. The accomplishments we had made up to this point seemed to render the point moot. I thought that my class was one of a kind. Now though? It seemed like the mysteries of the system only continued to grow. Our knowledge from the game seemed to consistently prove its worth only as a general guide to the mechanics of the System. Who knew how many others had gained access to specialized classes? Perhaps some more powerful than our own?

At this point, if we wished to truly excel in our new reality… We may need to begin to reanalyze our understandings of the System.

⤜⤚⤙⤛

The rest of the night passed in relative peace. Despite the excitement of a large part of the community evolving into High-Humans, everyone was exhausted, and understandably so. A battle had been fought, and their bodies had just undergone some pretty drastic changes.

The only people that didn’t seem like they were about to collapse from exhaustion were the members of the military. Rick seemed to have just as much energy as when he had first arrived in the midst of the battle against the Lich. The man had plenty of questions about what had happened, but to a degree, he respected our privacy. He understood at least that some secrets may take time to share.

I still doubted he would leave without some sort of satisfactory answer. After all, he had just witnessed a ‘Physical’ transformation of a large number of individuals within our Community.

Now, as I sat up in the bed in my room, Rachel sleeping away by my side, I decided that any discussion with Rick would have to come to a head later.

It was time to advance to Tier 2.

Taking one last glance at my stats, I took it all in. ‘This is it,’ I thought. I went ahead and focused on the arrow that was currently blinking near my class title.

Suddenly, my expanse of options opened up to me.

That was it. Sometimes in Holy Arc Online once you select a class, previous class options immediately become unavailable. Eventually, of course, if you perform actions that might equate to a particular path, then it's possible to merge classes. For example, a mage who ends up fighting melee battles may gain the option to select a type of Magic-Warrior class. Or, in the case of my brother Alex, as a Warrior who also specialized and performed acts of healing, he gained access to a variation of the War Doctor class.

The options for classes were immeasurable, and it was already clear they were beginning to diverge, even for me.

I could no longer choose any classes that were outside the purview of the High-Human Paragon class. Perhaps due to my title and previous class selection. The major class paths were typically denoted by fancy names, the High-Human Paragon path certainly being one of them.

However, I had no regrets, the High-Human Paragon route was clearly the stronger of the many selections I could have made. Even now, my options were similarly exemplary, despite being confined to class variations of the High-Human Paragon.

The thing is, classes typically followed a ranging scale of attribute gains. Tier 1 classes tended to be in the single digits. Tier 2 classes would typically have from eleven total attribute points on the low-end, to close to twenty on the high end. While Tier 3 classes would typically be in the twenties of total attribute points gained per level.

The keyword there was 'typically'… The High-Human class variations clearly followed a different set of norms.

As I glanced through the classes open to me, I noted the appearance of the first “unique” classes to become available. Unique classes tended to become available starting at Tier 2. Though, their requirements tended to be a bit more… Difficult to achieve. Tier 3 "rare" classes unlock depending on actions taken while a Tier 2, and whether or not you had already advanced to a "unique" class. Tier 4 and beyond unlocked "legendary" classes.

While the whole system was a bit convoluted at times, I wasn't going to complain if it worked in my favor by granting access to two unique classes. Granted, I could still follow the general approach of the High-Human Paragon path by choosing the [Mature High-Human Paragon] class, and gaining a slight increase in stats. As I compared the options, it seemed that would obviously be the wrong choice. After all, I had two “unique” classes that had become available, and boy were they unique.

The Magus and Commandant variations of the Paragon class were exceptional in their own ways, as both were on a completely different scale than any Tier 2 class reasonably ought to be.

I was curious, and as such I focused on each class, attempting to figure out what had triggered the unlocking of both classes. Fortunately, the System complied with my request.

That made sense actually. During the first few days of the ‘Systems Advent’ I had used the system’s guidance in casting spells, but I had transitioned from that fairly early on.

It wouldn't have surprised me if a lot of people continued to rely on the system for spellcasting, after all the system was extremely easy to use. You would gain a particular set of spells for every tier of the affinity skills. I had used them during the battle at Washington Bridge while we were escaping from Boston.

Ever since that battle though, I had moved away from using the system. When I first cast those spells, I could feel my mana pathways flare up slightly. My curiosity had gotten the better of me, and as such I ended up delving into a path of personal exploration, resulting in my discovery of unstructured spellcasting.

Apparently, the system denoted this as ‘true spellcasting’, as evidenced by the description provided. Frankly, I would agree. 'True spellcasting' was more efficient and more involved. I could even modify my spells to fit the need of any particular situation.

I turned my attention to the Commandant path.

Frankly, I wanted it all. The path of the Magus and the path of the Commandant showed two clear deviations. One involved a greater focus on magic, while the other required a greater focus on melee fighting. Both possessed attributes of a leader, but the Commandant seemed to be more directly purposed to that end.

This was honestly a tough decision, but personally, I knew just how terrifying magic could be. Capitalizing on my knowledge of magic would likely allow me to truly change the course of an entire battlefield, while the path of the Commandant would require me to work through others more.

Granted, soon I wouldn’t have to worry about a shortage of people to work through. So in the end this was a give or take situation.

Ideally, I could choose one path, and then when I began my Tier 3 class selection, I would be able to merge classes. What were the chances of that though?

That was the problem with wanting both, if I never specialized, would I ever be great in anything? I would be a great mage, and a great warrior, however, I wouldn’t achieve the levels I wanted to unless I went all-in on one path or the other. My choice was to either be exceptional in one field or be average in both.

That's when I realized that if I looked at it, in reality, the [Mature High-Human Paragon] was a class that was wholly subpar in both directions. It would count as a low-Tier 2 class if we looked at just the physical attributes, and also a low-Tier 2 class if we looked at just the magic-oriented properties.

The unique versions - the Commandant and Magus - remained with extremely subpar growth in their opposite field as well. However, they looked extremely good for the fields they would specialize in. Then the icing on top was that they also had improvements going on with other aspects of their power, compared with a normal class that completely specialized everything in one direction and failing to account for weaknesses. Even if I went down the path of the Magus, my physical attributes would continue to increase, albeit marginally. Meaning I would still have potential in both fields, just one more than the other, and that my bases would still be covered. As a Magus, I wouldn't be extremely weak in a physical fight. As a Commandant, I would still have access to a host of spells. It was exacerbating to think about, so I moved on.

The skills were the next variables that mattered.

The Magus granted some immense further control over my mana. While I could already condense mana to a degree, if I possessed the condensed conjuration skill, I would start having a much easier time doing so, freeing my attention to focus on other aspects of spell casting. As a result, my progression on that front would jump leaps and bounds.

The next skill, [Mana sight], was an interesting one. It allowed me to gain an intrinsic understanding of the flow of mana in and around me. That wasn’t, particularly what I was interested in though, even if it would dramatically improve my spellcasting. What I was really looking forward to was the skill that [Mana Sight] would evolve into: [Mana Touch].

Once I gained the [Mana Touch] skill, I would be able to manipulate the flow of ambient mana. Of course, it required a higher skill in mana manipulation before I could actually gain access to the skill. As such, it was a critical skill if I wished to dominate anywhere on the battlefield. Being able to manifest spells far outside of my own immediate vicinity would be a massive boon, and was ultimately a major goal of any aspiring magic-caster.

Then there was the [Paragon’s Threads of the Magus], a Tier 3 skill. The skill was completely new to me, but it appeared to have powerful connotations if one just looked at the name. As expected, the path of the Magus would lead to a massive increase in the power of my mana. That was inherent in the new class. The clincher here is that all High-Humans inherently possessed the ability to control mana.

In that way, I expected pretty much every single member of our community that does end up becoming High-Human’s to also have some degree of control over mana. I anticipated class mergers. By being able to directly amplify the mana efficiency and output of the members of the community, I could be the catalyst that allowed the members of our community to excel in the field of magic. With that fact alone I was beginning to lean towards the path of the Magus.

The path of the Commandant seemed to be directly associated with commanding a battlefield. The Aura alone was a massive boon in improving the efficiency of troops, and the Nexus appeared to be a pure information gathering skill. After all, a commander that lacks information regarding the shifting variables on a battlefield could never truly lead effectively.

Then there was the Avatar of the Commandant skill. This was interesting, and specifically, because it was a Tier 3 skill being unlocked during a Tier 2 class advancement, similar to the [Paragon's Threads of the Magus] skill. This one had rather… Interesting connotations though. Avatar skills came twofold. The safer option were ones that used Mana, and that mages typically used. Granted, they did have insane levels of mana consumption. It was entirely possible that if I wanted my own variation of the Avatar skill, that I could learn to do so myself.

So, that wasn’t much of an issue. In fact, I was extremely tempted to aim for such after seeing the option appear for the Commandant class.

The thing with this particular Avatar skill was that it used Health as well as Stamina to support it. This meant that the skill would be particularly powerful, but also demanding. In Holy Arc Online some Avatar skills led to individuals literally transforming. Whether into an Insectoid Warrior with skin-transforming into hardened chitin, or an avian avatar resulting in sprouted wings, it could vary dramatically.

All Avatar skills that utilized health and stamina to stay activated were extreme physical transformations. The Paragon’s Avatar didn't seem to be any different. I imagined that I would gain an extreme physical buff when I used it. Growing larger and as inferred, more powerful. I could see why it claimed that I would dominate the battlefield. Leading from the front had an appeal to me. However, I was sure the costs of using such a skill would be enormous. I frequently had seen Avatar skills with physical transformations cause a player to receive a paralysis debuff after the skills usage. I expected something no different from this one.

It was a momentary buff, that if used at the wrong time, could potentially cost an entire battle. That was the major side-effect of such physical transformations. It exchanged your lifeforce for temporary raw power.

It was also a result that I could similarly achieve through the use of magic, in due time.

As such, I made my decision. After a fair degree of contemplation, I finally rationalized that I would continue my path of magic. After all, being able to literally wield such a mystical force had its own massive appeal. I'm sure nearly everyone dreamed at one point as a kid of being able to wield magic, and I was certainly no exception.

In Holy Arc Online, magic reigned supreme. I was sure that reality would likely follow that same principle.

The experience cost was unfortunate, but in the end, the benefits outweighed everything. Eventually, if I ever hit the max level allowed by the System, I would be many times stronger than anyone who had taken a quicker path to power.

I made my choice and selected yes. I then blacked out.