Seeing Calvin go through the process resulted in a mix of hesitation to go along with their previous excitement to go through class evolutions.

The process seemed exceedingly painful for Calvin, however, the results had been undeniably impressive. A little short-term pain and discomfort for a huge boost in capabilities.

It didn’t seem like there was a limitation to how many could evolve in the circle at once. The group still went in one after another, gathering notes on their potential options as each of them went through the process.

Amy stepped out of the circle about to tell Calvin what she’d chosen.

“Hold up Amy. I want to test out my new appraise skill.” Calvin said with a slightly curious tone.

He wasn’t quite sure how this was supposed to work, or really how any of these skills were supposed to work, so this seemed like a fantastic opportunity to get his feet wet.

It really was much easier than he’d thought it would be. While looking over at Amy, he simply willed Appraise into being.

Instantly he was able to see her Level, Race, Class, and Grade. Nothing beyond that though.

He was at some level hoping to be able to see her stats and skills, but frankly, that would just be OP. It made sense that he wasn’t able to gather that much information about another person simply through a level 5 skill. He wondered if this would have a different effect on monsters.

“I won’t spoil the surprise.” he grinned at her.

Marshall stood by, staring at Amy as if she was already minutes late for the grand reveal.

“Glitch Blade….of all the crazy options I got, this one felt right. Also, I figured I would lean into this crazy new world we’re in. Couldn’t have Calvin end up with the only super-nerd class.”

Amy gave the group a rundown on her new skills and damned if Amy wasn’t a certified badass now. She specialized in nanite-infused close combat, which initially had Calvin a little worried. Being up close and personal sounded like a quick recipe for seeing her get hurt.

It’s her choice and all. It’s not my job to be her protector. he relented in his own mind.

However, further details seemed to ease Calvin’s worries. Her close combat nature was fortified with a decent amount of stealth and evasion. Sure, her killing blows would all come at whisper range, but if she was doing it right, they should never know she was coming.

Marshall couldn’t wait anymore. Everyone was getting cool shit and he wanted to join the party too. Just a few minutes later, he stepped out of the circle a freshly minted combat medic.

“This is like all of my childhood dreams coming true.” he said with a big ol’ grin stamped on his face.

“I had some pretty sweet options, including a swashbuckler class, doesn’t that sound fun? As a combat medic, I get to keep you all topped off in the health department and it looks like I’ll get to show off my sick marksmanship skills after all.” Marshall continued.

He gave them a quick rundown of his new capabilities and simple ranged weapons proficiency was among them. It made sense. He’d been pretty adept with the javelins in their past few encounters and from what the group could gather, the options given seemed to take into account their actions up to this point.

Ian was up next. He’d been pacing nervously, waiting for Marshall to finish up. It seemed like he was anxious for the process, but also anxious to get started. As soon as Marshall finished showing off, he stepped in and began the process.

A nervous, fidgety rookie stepped in, but what stepped out was something entirely different. Ian eyed the group with a sly grin, held out his hand and brought forth a wave of crackling energy that raced down his arm and crackled at the end of his fingertips. Lifting his other hand, which was currently balled up in a fist, he turned it over and opened it to reveal a small roiling flame dancing along his palm. “Meet your new and improved Nanomancer.”

“Ok….” Amy said. “You win the super-nerd name award. Gotta admit though, you gave me the chills a bit. What all can you do?.”

“Right now, I can create some elemental energy. I should be able to throw those…uh….spells? I can also make something called a rift gate, which should swallow up any projectiles headed my way, but it sounds like I can’t have it up very long at the moment. I can also sense concentrations of nanite energy, and…I’m going to need to spend some time getting used to that. Everything around us is about to give me a migraine. All in all, I feel amazing. I’m ready to commence some serious alien beatdowns.”

Marshall, with a huge smile, gave Ian an approving nod and thumbs up. “Damn straight.”

Seth stood up and walked apprehensively towards the circle. He was certainly excited to see what he would become, but it all felt so surreal, and permanent. He was analytical by nature and worried that he might make the wrong choice. What if he did? Would that spell his doom? He didn’t have a lot of options at this point. He needed power. His group needed him. He shook off his worry and stepped into the circle.

Seth’s evolution took quite some time. The group sat expectantly waiting and could see Seth deliberating with a palpable effort. Ian played around with his magic tricks, zapping the dastardly stones and evil sticks littered at his feet. Several minutes passed by before Seth nodded to himself and began the transformation. Stepping out of the circle, he had a thoughtful yet nervous expression.

“Artificer.” he said succinctly. “I thought really hard about this. There were some really great options in there. I initially thought about taking the Pulseweaver class. I’ve always been a pretty good shot. But the artificer class will let me make things for the group, and right now, we’re sorely lacking in…well….everything.” Seth spaced out for a second and then said “Here, check this out.”

A screen popped up in front of him, visible to everyone.

Artificer: Specifically attuned to the inner workings of nanites and the fabric they weave. The Artificer is a master at manipulating inanimate objects and bending their functions to the Artificer’s will. The Artificer can create graded objects attuned with nanite energy. While the Artificer is primarily a class centered around creation, their ability to manipulate the nanite fabric grants them supportive capability in combat as well.

“Yo, how’d you do that?” Marshall asked in surprise.

“As soon as I picked this class, I just knew how. I guess my new insights come with some booksmarts too.” Seth said. He instructed the group on how to display their screens like he’d done, and also control their internal system “menus” better.

This was definitely going to come in handy.

There was only one class evolution remaining for the group. It had been the silent question in everyone’s mind since the process started, and now here they were. They had to somehow evolve the dog.
Calvin had wondered how this process was supposed to go. Could Freya even read the prompts? He did notice that when they all received system prompts, Freya had turned her attention to them as well. Calvin guessed a super advanced robo overlord would have figured this part out.

With great trepidation, Calvin called Freya over towards the circle.
“Alright girl. We’re going to walk inside and hopefully you figure this out on your own.” Calvin said reassuringly.

He stepped into the circle with her and she immediately sat down, her attention seemingly on the air in front of her. Calvin looked back at the group and shrugged.

Moments ticked by, with everyone wondering if anything was going to happen when suddenly Calvin fell to his knees holding his head.

SYNERGY LINK COMPLETE. COMMENCE NANITE BOND WITH LUPINE GUARDIAN?

What is a nanite bond? Calvin choked out, the pressure and pain building.

COMMENCE NANITE BOND WITH LUPINE GUARDIAN? CONFIRM.

Seeing that answers would not be forthcoming, Calvin took a stab in the dark, guessing this was related to the synergy component of his Lupine Techlancer class. He was standing in the circle with Freya while he assumed she was undergoing a class evolution, so it only made sense that it was connected to her.

Confirm! He cried out in his mind.

NANITE BOND COMPLETE. SYNERGY WITH LUPINE GUARDIAN CONFIRMED. TRANSFERRING.

A flood of images, sensations, feelings and desires all flooded into Calvin at once. He was desperately trying to keep everything together while waving back the concerned group who was now approaching.

He smelled….food? It was the water bear meat. Damn, it smelled good right now. He could hear the water lapping against the shore almost 100 feet away. There was rustling in the leaves all around him, his senses being overloaded all at once.

TRANSFER COMPLETE. RESTORING BALANCE.

The sensations began to die down. Muting themselves on Calvin’s periphery. He noted they were still there and if he focused, he could bring them back up to the forefront.

And then it clicked. This is what Freya senses. He looked down at his faithful pup who just sat there looking up at him, tail wagging happily.

FREYA HAWKINS
Level: 5
Race: Canine
Class: Lupine Guardian
Grade: F

ATTRIBUTES:
Health Points (HP): 990/990
Mana Points (MP): 320/320
Stamina: 820/820

STATS:
Power: 50
Toughness: 55
Speed: 80
Control: 40

SKILLS OBTAINED
Shielding Fang: Leap in front of an ally within close range, absorbing a portion of incoming damage. If the attack is nanite attuned, reflects a pulse of energy back at the attacker based on the strength of the attunement.

Guardian's Howl: Unleashes a chilling howl that demoralizes enemies, reducing their attack power and movement speed, and temporarily stunning weaker enemies.

Attuned bite: The Guardian's teeth are attuned with nanite energy. This bite will deal additional damage and leave a lasting mark on the target, making them more susceptible to further nanite attuned attacks.

Spirit Link: The Guardian is bonded to their techlancer. Through this bond, they are able to share sensory information and communicate over large distances. The spirit bond evolves as the synergized classes progress in power, gaining more capabilities at each threshold.

Well, I’ll be damned. I can see Freya’s stats. Calvin thought.

With an experimental command, he tried - Hey pup, go to Amy.

Freya obediently bounded out of the circle over to a bewildered Amy. The group had just witnessed Calvin buckling under some unseen pressure and then just stand there staring off into space for several seconds.

“Is everything alright Cal?” Amy asked.

Calvin felt a surge of joy through his spirit link as Freya completed her task. Then, realizing Amy had spoken to him “Oh…yeah, it’s….great. This is so weird.” Calvin drifted off, trying to comprehend his new reality.

Calvin explained the new situation to the group. He and Freya were bonded through their class. He could sense what she sensed and even feel her emotions. The possibilities were already flooding through Calvin’s mind at what this meant for their future combat strategies. He’d gone through Freya’s skills again and it was quite clear that her role was defensive in nature. That was great. Not only would it make Freya tougher in battle, but it would also allow Calvin to step out of the front lines and focus on delivering damage more directly. Up until now, Calvin had been the meat shield, without the meat or the shield part.

They spent the remainder of the day discussing their classes and sharing the skill descriptions with each other. Besides Ian giving the local flora a taste of his powers, none of them had yet to really experiment with their new skills. Today was simply a strategy session. They formulated their theories, discussed potential tactics, and came up with a loose plan for training together. Tomorrow, they would set out and get a feel for their new upgrades.