It is Saturday morning. It is now two days since the dungeon failure.

Yesterday, I sent Carl and Anna out to call the rest of our group for a meeting today. There are some things I finally need to get off my chest.

But before that, I want to blow off some steam on the flood monsters.

Before the last spell, I reach enough exp for the third level in Dread Lord.

Just increased stats, nothing else got messed up, so at least adding levels seems to be safe.

Ah, wait, CHA got past the 500-point barrier so the spirits also gained another level, only half a dozen or so more before they become useful.

Anyway, I continue blasting.

Slightly better than before.

Next to me is a lone soldier throwing stuff at the monsters below, "Dang, out of throwables..."

Wait, I can now create certain things for free with my magic. Ice cubes or rocks should work as projectiles.

"Want so-", but before I can offer him some throwables, he jumps off the wall, "-me rocks. HEY, that is no reason to end your life!!"

I can only watch in shock as he falls down the about twenty-meter-tall wall. And then lands on the ground and walks on as if nothing happened...

So much for gravity... But then that matches up with Elly having absolutely no problem carrying me around.

No, wait, [Appraise] reveals he took a whole 1 damage from the stunt. Only another mere two thousand repeats and it becomes a health hazard!

I wonder what happens when you do that often enough, could maybe the planet could level up?

While wondering about that, I finish using my remaining [Blood Burst] skills.

I look down the wall again, should I risk it? The soldier had roughly the same VIT stat as me and no skills that seem relevant. Can't be hidden plot armor either, Lucia with her [Dark Lord] skill is too close-by.

Well, here goes nothing, GERONIMO!

Thunk

That had about as much impact as getting out of bed.

Truth be told, I half expected there to arrive a system update mid-fall that 'fixes' gravity...

While  I start to walk home, I look around but no one behaves as if I did anything out of the ordinary. Does that mean stairs are considered one-way in this world? What a drag...

Well, I guess that makes pit traps useless... Scratch that one from the list.

Maybe the fall damage is subject to defense stats? I have a hard time believing that gravity is strong enough to pull down with roughly the same strength as in my old world, but not enough power to inflict any actual damage. That should've left at least some impact.

...

A bit later, everyone has gathered again for the planned meeting at my house again.

"-and that's the recap from my side. Anyone wants to add something?"

Iris asks me, "No, how are you feeling with those glitches?"

"Mostly fine", I point at the pool of grime sitting in the corner, "If it wasn't for Lydia over there I wouldn't even notice anything being wrong."

The moldy pudding wobbles around, "D'I eb yppah fi I reven dah ot tis hguorht taht parc niaga. Ti saw gnirob."

I frown, "And she's still as unintelligible as ever."

"I have nothing new", says Geoffrey, "So how do we continue now?"

I tell them, "The next few times we visit the dungeon I'll stay a few weeks longer than the rest of you."

"I'll stay with him, too", adds Lucia.

Elly asks, "Can you two just get a room and spare us the mushy scenes?"

"That's exactly what I just said", answers Lucia.

Elly is exasperated, "TMI."

I stop them, "Anyway, I still got enough documents to comb through, so the waiting time for regeneration won't be a complete waste. As for you... you can try to add classes. The glitching gave us Lydia, a spirit with seemingly five classes, and according to one of my titles that means you as my familiars can take classes without Class Cores until you have five classes as well. But seeing how you are connected to me... I've no idea how that could affect you with my current state. As such, if you want to take a class now, please do it only while we're together, one at a time and then let us check if all went well. If it doesn't, we'll postpone further class additions until the 'year' is up. Objections? Other suggestions?"

Iris responds, "What is the worst that could happen if we went ahead with it now?"

Way to jinx it, Iris...

"No idea. In the best case, you just gain the class and its skills like normal. Worst case... you get a different class with non-existent stats and unusable or even detrimental skills."

For all, I know it could also forcibly turn you into a monster... Well, technically I'm one as well, so you'd be in good company at least. Your dear friend Lucia might even appreciate the company.

Chloe cuts in, "If we can take up to five classes then I can take a class as well, so I'd like to volunteer for the first test."

Marca asks her, "Chloe, are you sure? You already have the most classes out of us, if it goes wrong you may never get a second chance."

She hesitates for a moment, "...Yes, I am. As you said, I already have four decent classes. I had already accepted that I may never get a fifth class. If this doesn't work out it isn't really a loss to me, but most of you still need more classes to at least cover your bases. So I'm fine to take the risk on me."

Lucia addresses her, "Well, in that case, the stage is yours, Chloe. Please, proceed. Though may I ask which class you want to take?"

Chloe tells us, "I'll take the changeling race-specific elite class Deceiver."

Deceiver? It is just a name. Just a name and totally not ominous at all, nope.

Anna asks, "What's the point of that skill?"

Chloe explains, "Simply put, flexibility. I can focus on increasing my spear skill and only need to maintain one weapon. I wouldn't have to get stronger versions of multiple weapons, I can just focus on one but still can change this spear into whatever weapon I need at a moment's notice. Just imagine a fast weapon like a dagger but with the greater power of a lance behind it, then morphing it into a whip or bow when I need range. Of course, I would still need arrows for the latter."

I add, "She would also be able to better practice with users of different weapon types than just spears like you. Depending on the limits of the skill she could possibly also just turn a spear into a much longer spear to catch an enemy off-guard, there are many possibilities to it."

Anna responds, "Uh-huh, okay, that sounds cool!"

Chloe warns us, "Anyway, I'll try to add it now."

She takes out her spear and changes it to a sword, then to a dagger, and swings it around a few times. It is clear that its new shape is 'true'. If it was just an illusion she would've easily hit the wall or table during her experiment. Finally, she changes her weapon back and puts it away.

She concludes, “It seems to have worked without a problem."

I double-check her status, "Yeah, looks like it. Anyone else wants to try?"

Iris answers, "Well, you wanted me to become a healer, and with Elly's help I decided on the Druid class for that. I might as well take this opportunity to add it. In the worst case, I can still try two more times later."

Not what I expected from a druid. No nature magic, no wildshape... Well, it serves our purposes.

Attack magic and healing by level 5, can't really ask for me, "No objection from my side. With [Earth Magic] you can even help with the flood and catch up exp-wise. You should reach level five to unlock [Cure Magic] quickly that way."

Chloe adds, "You should count yourself lucky you can even take magic-using classes. For example, Geoffrey will never have a chance to learn magic. Marca and I might be able to if we settle for one of the weaker mage types. As for Anna, not sure, probably not either."

Anna says, "I don't really care about learning magic. Where I was from magic didn't exist either, I'm just happy that I can move around at all, I'll leave the magic stuff to others."

Marca pats her, "Don't worry, you'll be able to do that plenty."

Iris waits for them to finish, "So can I take the class, or are there objections?"

Lucia tells her, "No, I like this one. At least it lacks constant reminders of the church..."

"I have no objections either, so go for it", I gesture at Chloe and Marca, "And if the others have magic envy we can look for a suitable class for them later. Well, Geoffrey might be a lost cause in terms of magic, but as seen with Elly there are good enough alternatives."

"Understood", Iris affirms, "It seems I have enough exp for level two right from the start."

Our earth mage is weak to earth, ironic. Just watch out for mirrors.

Iris adds, "All works as expected here as well."

Lucia pats her on the back, "Congratulations, Iris. With that, one of your dreams will soon come true."

Iris nods, "Yeah, you're right."

Not a problem here either, "Seems like it is two for two then. Before we continue, Chloe, you said that you're unlikely to ever  be able to take a magic-using class, but wasn't the Magic Initiate an option I showed you a while ago?"

She shakes her head, "I asked Therese about it, and she tried to explain to me why it doesn't work the way you think it does. There was a big problem with the final skill it gains. You'll have to ask her yourself if you want to know in detail."

Of course, I would have to deal with that b... person again, "Fine, I'll go and visit her later. I have to ask her about some discrepancies in her documents anyway. Ignoring that, does anyone else want to try adding a class now?"

Anna responds, "You told me to take the Wild Fang class but I don't have the stats for it yet. So, uh, I'll have to pass for now."

"Sorry, I've no plan for my next class yet", says Geoffrey.

Marca says, "I guess that means, I'm last. Truth be told, I'm torn. I wanted to take Arcane Archer next but you asked us to look out for a class that would help with our food shortage, for that, I think I could take Forager."

I have heard of neither of them before, "Let me check those classes quickly."

She explains, "A regular arrow has +25 STR, so that would only prevent me from worrying about our ammunition situation. Better arrows would still be preferable but that is a long-term issue for me."

I concur, "You already had bow skills through the Ranger class but no ammo, so that makes sense. Well, if it wasn't for a lack of gunpowder you could copy Elly's plan and aim for Bombardier for [Explosive Shot]. Have you planned any other class for later?"

She dismisses the idea, "No, why would I? There's no guarantee I'll ever get enough classes for any bigger plans."

That was then, this is now, "That should change soon, Marca, so you should actually think about a long-term plan. Now, what is the other class you considered..."

Marca asks, "So, what do you say?"

"In the end, it is your decision, but in my opinion, you should start with the Arcane Archer. Take the Forager later."

She adds the class, "Got it. There, done."

She's satisfied, "Also worked as expected."

Another success, "I guess with three out of three successes you seem to be safe to take classes and the only ones with corruption-related issues are myself, Lucia and our summons."

Lucia rubs it in, "See? You were worried for nothing."

"Yeah, yeah. Still better than turning them into Lydia 2.0", I dismissively point behind me at Lydia.

Our dear little blob is offended, "Taht hcihw si gnihton llahs elur revo taht hcihw sniamer."

"Case in point... Did you want to everyone turn into such a gibbering, slimy mess, Lucia?"

Lucia hesitates, "No, not really. I prefer them the way they are."

Chloe asks, "What else can we do for now?"

"For now, we just proceed as before and outlast the flood. Speaking of simple, has Ephran talked with you, Chloe? When I delivered the dungeon spoils he mentioned that he wanted to talk to you."

She answers, "Uh, no, he hasn't. Why, what did he want?"

"He didn't say", I'm not getting involved there. I made my point clear to Ephran. If he wants to get together with Chloe he has to make the first step himself. I've given him that chance now, everything else is up to him.

Chloe is a bit confused, "Okay? Well, I'll try to contact him later and see what he wants."

"Then that is taken care of. Back to the topic of classes. You can choose and take them on your own terms, the current limit is five classes. If you need help with searching for the right class, Elly is usually available to help with that."

"That I am. Just ask me if you need help!", says Elly cheerfully.

I remind the rest of the group, "I'd prefer it if everyone had at least one skill that allowed us to endure longer in the dungeon. As you know our food supplies are very limited. It could be [Create Food and Water] or something else, I leave that up to everyone individually."

Marca asks, "Admittedly I'm still not entirely comfortable with the whole familiar business but wouldn't it be better to turn more people into familiars? How many can you even have? Is there a limit?"

Lucia answers, "Currently, we're limited to sixteen, so we can make eleven more. Normally, we could only make one person per skill level a familiar to a maximum of twenty but we don't know how exactly that interacts with our marriage. For us, the ultimate cap might be either twenty or forty. Why? Do you have someone that wants to volunteer?"

Marca responds, "No, just curious. I assume that once the flood is over we'll travel around? I think I could rest easier if we had another group or two that was stronger than the current average and could secure this fortress in our absence."

"Yeah, we'll have to do something like that. As long as the demon artifact isn't taken care of nothing we do matters for long. We can invent all the soaps, recreate all the Japanese cuisine, and build all the bath houses we want, if the world goes up in smoke it would have been pointless. But I don't think a single group would make much of a difference, this fortress has held on without that help for years. I'd rather have at least a second group that accompanies us on that travel."

Marca urges, "Then do both. You have eleven left, I assume one of them is reserved for our final party member. We still have several months before this flood is supposedly over, getting your relevant class to ten and thereby the familiar cap to twenty should be easy for you. With that, you can turn two whole groups. We take one group with us on our travels and the other guards the fortress."

Chloe chimes in, "I think the same. Making more familiars is something you should take care of soon."

Something is fishy. Wasn't Chloe against the whole familiar business before? "And do you have someone specific in mind? As you know, once someone becomes a familiar it can't be undone. So we have to think about this carefully."

Chloe nods, "Yeah, I have a suggestion, kinda. We have a lot of soldiers that are seriously injured and therefore out of commission. For many, it isn't even certain if they will ever be able to fight again. But with the superior regeneration we as your familiars get... "

"I see where you are going with this."

Marca adds, "Also you should rather take volunteers that have fewer classes, that way we can compensate for a few more Class Cores overall."

Lucia asks, "What is the point? They would be too weak."

I answer, "Doesn't matter. These are still a dozen soldiers we wouldn't have otherwise. And in the long term, we have to worry less about the baggage of previous poor class choices. I'm more concerned about who would whip them into shape. Though I do have an idea for that."

Lucia puts her foot down, "Fine, but at least make sure they are not complete deadweight. Like, they should at least soon take a class with a skill to generate their own food supplies and some ranged attack options."

"Yeah, that is a given."

After that, we discuss a few more minor things and then end the meeting.