Only after traveling for another two hours did Neia find traces of any more monsters nearby. Neia bends down and inspects the nearby forest floor for a few moments, swiveling her head back and forth, slowly scanning for the direction the monster, or monsters, were moving in to reveal itself. Neia’s long platinum hair slowly moves back and forth, giving it the appearance of a snake slithering. Slowly, she smiles and looks towards Lee and Ruven. Her glowing green eyes have a hint of excitement hidden within, “It looks like we are in luck. We have another Owlbear. This time we will hopefully have the element of surprise.” Neia finishes talking while she stares at Lee, with a single eyebrow raised.

Lee, with his brown buzzcut, five o’clock shadow, and new eyebrows, raises a single eyebrow as well, tilting his head to the side slightly, with a small smile. “You really had to go ahead and say that last part? How long am I going to have to live with the identification being held above my head? You all live a long time, it better not be for my whole life.”

Ruven gave a quiet huff of air. "You're going to remember this for the rest of your life, because the moment you forget and you're alone, you'll die." He glanced at Lee, looking semi-serious. "We can joke about it for now, but you need to learn the common sense of the world." Ruven tilted his head forward as a signal for Neia to continue and waved Lee ahead.

Lee, now more focused on his surroundings, follows Neia through the forest. He is trying his best to not step on the purple, orange, and red dry fallen leaves, as well as the small twigs and branches from the Amethyst Willows surrounding them. The dim light coming from the small gaps in the canopies above create a fantastical dusk-like environment for most of the day, perfect for cover and use for his stealth skill.

Neia stops a few minutes later, slinking towards the ground and her eyes growing a more determined look in them. Without turning her focus away from what she’s seen, she waves Lee and Ruven forward. Lee creeps forth next to Neia and also see’s their target, another Owlbear.

Ruven glides along the ground silently, and reaches Lee and Neia with an almost unnatural amount of grace. His eyes lock onto the Owlbear and he tracks its lumbering movement for a moment before side-eyeing Neia and nodding once. Without waiting for a reply, he slides up into the nearby trees and nearly disappears without a trace.

The Owlbear during this time, is moving its way through the forest, away from their location. Its massive girth doesn’t seem to matter, as the Owlbear progresses forward without any stops or delays caused from the trees and foliage around it. This Owlbear is similar to the last one, with its large owl eyes, sharp pointed beak, and dull purple fur and feathers. This one is different, as it is larger, the last Owlbear stood at roughly eight feet tall, this one stands easily ten to eleven feet tall on all fours.

Out of Lee’s peripheral vision, he spots Neia’s sprinting stride forward, one of her hands raised, about to unleash a spell. Cold freezing air pools from her outstretched hand, and a large spikey ball of Glacial ice appears, just before it’s launched towards the unaware Owlbear. In less than two seconds the ball of spiked ice embedded itself into the right haunch of the owlbear, shocking it and causing it sudden pain. The Owlbear stops abruptly and raises itself onto its two hind legs, looking over its shoulder to look at where it was damaged. As soon as the Owlbear lays its large owl eyes the spiked ball of ice, it explodes.

In the past, when Lee saw Neia use this exact same spell, he was impressed with the destructive capabilities of it. Now, Lee was fairly scared of its capabilities. When Neia used this spiky ice ball spell against the goblins in the past, it landed in the ground and released its spiked ice shrapnel around itself, just like that of a grenade from Earth. This time, the ice ball was embedded into her enemy as it exploded. In an instant, the Owlbears right hip blasted apart, the icy shrapnel bursting forth and shredding anything they came into contact with, creating a shower of frozen blood and gore. Bits of bone, chunks of frozen bloody meat, and frosted fur, blasted away from the Owlbear. Frozen blood hail rained down upon the now falling over Owlbear, having lost its right hind leg. No blood leaked from its now gaping hip, it was completely frozen around the detonation zone.

Before the Owlbear could even fall on the ground, three arrows zipped through the air, penetrating deeply into the Owlbears left side, near its ribs.

The Owlbear, now screeching and roaring in agony finally hits the ground, launching the dried leaves out and around from the air displacement caused by its massive bulk.

Lee takes this chance to launch a spell of his own, his Icicle Spear. Diving out from behind the tree he was behind, Lee throws his hand up and summons his icey projectile, imbuing it with an extra fifty mana and launching it forwards without any delay. The Icicle Spear spins clockwise rapidly as it sails through the air and falling leaves around the Owlbear. The spear of ice pierces into the upper left of the Owlbears back, right below the shoulder blade, about a foot deep, causing the Owlbear to launch a torrent of blood from his screeching beak. Only a few moments later, the Owlbear slumps down unceremoniously, body no longer moving and quiet.

“I got it! I’m level five!” Lee happily exclaims out loud, turning his head toward Neia and Ruven, with a giant smile plastered on his face. “I think I got a special profession too!”

Neia, who was mid sprint before the Owlbear died anticlimactically, slows to a trot and turns around exasperated. She yells in mock anger. “I wouldn’t have sprinted if I knew you’d hit it’s heart! Did you raise your dexterity?” Neia stomps her way back towards Lee dramatically.

Ruven laughs aloud and smiles back at Lee. “Good aim! If you don’t mind me asking, what profession did you get? I’m curious.” Lee looks his way, still with his big smile. “My profession is Otherworldly Academic! From having spent most of my life in a place of learning, as well as traveling to another world.”

Ruven blinks owlishly. “Never heard of anything like that before. Obviously not the otherworldly part, but the academic. Is that just like a scholar?” Ruven asks and he turns his head to look at Neia.

Neia whips her braid around towards her front and replies. “I believe scholars are those who study a specific field. The Consortium of Magical Scholars allows scholars of magic within their ranks. Academics might be more generic, I'm not completely sure.” Finished inspecting her braid, she looks at Lee. “Are you going to pick your class now or later? If you pick it now, you might be able to knock out some class quests on the way back, depending on your choice that is.”

Lee looks up into her glowing green eyes, still with his vibrant smile. “Yeah, I'll choose now, give me a moment.” Lee opens up his status and sees a new section added to it.

Focusing on the icon next to where his class is listed, reveals another section of his status. The list included a lot of classes Lee wouldn’t ever choose. Classes like Warrior and Scout, so he willed those away and focused on the classes he was interested in.

I think this one was basically guaranteed. If none of the others turn out to be what I'm looking for, I can at least have this as a fall back option.

Yeah, no thanks.

Another class up for consideration if the rest are terrible like Acolyte.

Again, no thanks. Lee willed away the Acolyte and Priest from his list. Looking around and seeing Ruven pluck the purple feathers off the dead Owlbear, Lee takes his time and continues his class selection.

What? I mean, I don’t want this class but what group chose me to represent them? The clinic? The Consortium? Shaking his head, Lee reads on.

Seems like a straight upgrade to the Wizard. A good option.

Well now! This is the new best option. This sounds like something that fits perfectly. Also, it’s a Rare class. Smiling, Lee summons a waterskin from his Hidden Cache, and takes a drink. After storing it, he continues once more.

PASS! Lee wills this choice away from his list as well.

PASS! Lee removes it from his list.

Another very good option! This and White Mage are the best so far.

Lee reads this class choice over and over. He stands suddenly and yells out loud toward Ruven and Neia. “I GOT AN EPIC CLASS CHOICE!”

Neia, who has just finished looting the Owlbear, turns her attention over towards Lee. Smiling, she yells out. “You better have one! You’re not even from this world, now that's a requirement if I've ever heard of one.”

Yeah she has a point there. Lee sits back down on the ground, crunching the leaves underneath, and continues on his reading.

It’s great… but I don’t really like the mention of being blessed being a requirement. I think I'd prefer Healer of All over Angelic Healer.

Another great choice. This one seems kind of like Arcane Elementalist.

Lee’s jaw drops to the floor. Someone thinks I'm a hero? Slowly, Lee stands up and starts pacing back and forth. Roughly thirty seconds pass until Ruven speaks from next to him. “You alright?” Lee looks towards Ruven and sees a look he didn't expect upon his face, sadness. “Just because you have the requirements for a class doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.” Hearing this, Lee raises an eyebrow and is confused. It took only a moment for Lee to realize that Ruven thought Lee saw a class choice that was off putting. Yeah, I guess getting the Torturer class wouldn’t do well for your mental health.

Lee hurriedly speaks. “No, it’s not like that. I just got a class that seems too good. It also says it’s unique. Do you know what that means?” Ruven lets out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh gods, I was worried for a second. Seeing specific class choices can change a person.” Ruven pats his chest and smiles once more. “Unique means it’s a class nobody else has. Either because it’s so rare, or that it has been tailored to you. I know Nitis, Neia’s father, had a unique choice when he picked his class.”

Lee smiles and looks towards the approaching Neia. She smiles at him wryly. “Did you get yourself a nice legendary option? I was hoping you would, having created healing magic sounds like something that would qualify.”

Lee slumps down in mock defeat. “I can’t have any secrets around you two. Yes, I have a unique legendary class choice, it’s called Miracle Worker.” Ruven and Neia both ooh and ahh with mock excitement. Lee turns away from their childish behavior and walks off a few feet, saying over his shoulder, “For being so old you guys aren’t acting very mature.” This causes Ruven to burst out laughing. “Go and take your time picking your class.” Ruven waves his hand at Lee, shooing him away.

Looking towards his last class option, Lee thinks about its implications.