There was a minor downside to having the link in full power.  It was very minor, of course, and none of them would ever truly consider it something even worth noting most of the time.  It was impossible to truly keep a secret with the link if anyone ever really wanted to know something about one of the others.  When the link was in its normal suppressed state it was possible to choose not to find out, if wished, but when the link got fully opened, it was impossible to not know all the little secrets.

For Jelin, it meant he now knew how the girls got the 'Mother' evolution, which he had intentionally not wanted to know about.  For the other girls, they were all now in the know about his secret surprise plan.  Of course, they pretty much all agreed that it would have been a wonderful surprise and agreed with the idea but now that everyone except Lady knew about it, he was going to have to change things a little.  The surprise was mostly for Lady anyways, so it at least wasn't completely ruined.

The next few days as Jelin got closer to evolution were filled with mirthful gazes from the girls towards Lady.  Jelin explained it away by saying that they had all gone very deep in the link and the girls found some thoughts he had about her.  It was true but just vague enough to not explain anything while satisfying her curiosity and annoyance for the most part.

As for himself, he could feel that he was getting closer to being able to evolve.  It was only about two days after the business with Claw that he opened his status, as he had been doing at least once a day, and saw something interesting.  His class name was in bold so he gave it a mental touch in curiosity and was handed a list of options.  He noted for the first time that his status always seemed to be in the language of his past life, then put that information to the back of his mind as he looked at the list.

{Mana Thief}

{Psychic Thief}

{Masked Thief}

{Lookout}

{Sneak}

The first two options made sense to him as he had been trying to steal tiny bits of mana and psi from others in his training.  Sneak also made sense from all the work he had done learning to sneak around more while hunting.  He wasn't sure what Lookout was about and Masked Thief made him think he would have to wear a mask or something at first.  Then again, "masked" could also mean disguised, so there was a good chance that it was another of the things he was going for.

The problem he now had to face was what would happen when he chose the new class.  Would it be like evolutions where the options he didn't chose remained and the ones he passed up eventually cam back?  Was there some other way to gain the advantages he wanted?  Without someone who could answer those kinds of questions, he had to assume the worst of it all and make his decision on that basis.

As much as he liked the first two choices and wanted what they had, he had other ways to deal with magical and psychic problems, so he set them aside.  Sneak had the potential to give him what he wanted but it wasn't likely.  He still couldn't figure out what Lookout was about but was pretty sure it had little to nothing to do with disguising his class.  That left only the one option and he hoped it would be good enough.

Unlike with monster evolution, he felt no real change after he chose his class and closed his status.  Maybe there had been some change in his skills but since he still hadn't figured out how to see them other than when he gained a new one, he couldn't be sure.  He did a few tests on the things he thought his class should affect and noticed some small improvements in a few areas but nothing that really wowed him.

There was still a little time until lunch, so he decided to have a chat with the big fox and see if she knew something by chance.  She was older than even most humans, even if she wasn't sure of her exact age since monsters rarely cared enough to keep track of it, and even if she didn't know things that were specific to non-monsters, she might know about status in general.

He sat down and initiated the contact.  After some light greetings he was pleased to find that she did know a few things.  She wasn't absolutely sure about how some of it really worked since there were some things that included how dungeons worked and she never got to know all of that, but she did know the general effects that affects her.

Jelin happily told her that he would tell her as much he could about dungeons first, both as a kind of way to stay as equals and pay for the information and because he thought knowledge should be shared when possible or applicable.  After spending about an hour telling her various things and answering some of her questions they swapped over and she told him what she could.

<From what I know, all living creatures have a status and skills.  The ways to look at them are few, though, and looking at your own is always easier and more complete than trying to see others.  The skills [Analyze] and [Identify] along with any skill that has them inside of it can see statuses.  [Analyze] and [Appraise], I believe, can see skills of your own status.  To see another's skills is much harder, though.

There are two other methods I've learned about that can do something similar.  There are certain sensing type evolutions that can allow one to see statuses and maybe skills as a kind of degraded version of the skills I mentioned.  The other way is by having a connection to a dungeon and observing someone in the dungeon's territory.  It was one of the few advantages of being kept prisoner there.

I have recently been able to finally acquire the appropriate skill, as well, so I can say with certainty that the skill is much better than what the dungeon provided.  Of course, the dungeon allowed it outright, even to the point where those with intelligence can view their own skills, whereas the actual skills that do so require some intense training and work.  It's not worth being enslaved, though.>

<I see.  That's actually incredible helpful.  Thank you.  I think I might know of another way, though I haven't been able to confirm it.  Supposedly the humans only use those with a connection to the gods to look at statuses.>

<Ah.  That could make sense.  It would be similar to a dungeon, then.  Being granted bonuses for having a connection to a being of more or different power.>

<That makes sense.  It seems it's lunchtime now, so I will bid my farewell here.  Again, thank you for the information.>

<It has been enlightening for the both of us.  Many things I never understood about my time in the dungeon now makes more sense.>

Jelin headed to lunch while thinking about the discussion.  It made more sense why Ainselth didn't know that she could view her own status now as well as why he was having trouble looking at his skills.  Being honest with himself, he admitted that he had kind of let his [Inspect] skill fall off.  It might be time to start trying to push it to the limits again.  There were some other skills that he should probably work on as well, if he thought about it.

After letting the girls have a bit of their own chat at lunch he let everyone hear the happy news about his class evolution, which confused Lady some, and then told them that he would like everyone, including the humans, to try and start working towards at least one of the inspection type skills.

He gave some suggestions to each of them about which one they would likely be better at focusing on along with some guesses on how.  Once he finished with all of that, he started to head to the tunnel for the afternoon work while trying to explain to Lady about how he had some dungeon and non-monster abilities while still being a monster.  She didn't seem to fully understand what classes were about since she still hadn't spend mush time with humans apart from when she had lessons with Ainselth.

Jelin worked on the tunnel while trying to use his physical strength, telekinesis, and magic wherever he could.  At the same time he tried to use every skill he could remember having as well.  It slowed down his work speed massively but nobody said anything about it and when they finished for the evening he found that it was worth it.  He could feel that he was finally ready to evolve.

Once everyone had gathered for the evening, he let them all know that he would be evolving immediately after breakfast and received cheers.  The rest of the evening was filled with smiles and the good mood even allowed for him to believe that the game they had been working on was finally in a completed state as far as the rules went.  They could try and think of a name some other time as far as he was concerned.