Sunny glanced sideways at Lyra. She was walking with her hands behind her head, her silver hair shimmering in the moonlight. She didn't have her weapon drawn. She didn't have her beast summoned.
She looked like she was taking a stroll in the park, not walking into a monster-infested dungeon with a guy who was technically a social pariah.
"You're not worried I'll stab you in the back?" Sunny asked, breaking the silence. "I have a reputation, you know."
Lyra scoffed. She didn't even look at him.
"You?" She smirked, tapping the ice-crystal bow strapped to her back. "You're a B-Rank with a beetle and a baby lava doll. I'm an A-Rank. My Frost Falcon is circling above us right now. If you twitch a finger wrong, you'll be an ice sculpture before you hit the ground."
Sunny grinned. Good. Arrogance.
Arrogance made people sloppy. It made them predictable. She thought she was the predator here, engaging in charity work for a weakling.
"Fair enough," Sunny said. "Just don't cry when I get more kills than you."
"In your dreams, short stack."
They reached the cavern entrance. It was a gaping maw in the side of the mountain, smelling of damp earth and sulfur.
"Nova," Sunny whispered. "Clock in."
Flash!
The Molten Sprite appeared. He was glowing brighter than before, eager to burn something.
"Lyra," Sunny pointed into the dark. "The Rock Slimes have high physical defense. My beetle can't scratch them. Your arrows will bounce off."
"I know the theory," Lyra rolled her eyes, nocking a blue arrow. "Heat expands. Cold contracts. Rapid change causes structural failure."
"Physics is a bitch," Sunny agreed. "Nova! Light it up!"
They stepped into the main chamber.
It was crawling with them. Rock Slimes.
They looked like boulders made of grey jelly. They slid across the floor, dissolving rocks and moss with acidic slime.
[Monster: Granite Slime]
[Level: 8]
[Defense: High]
[Weakness: ???]
"There's five of them," Lyra announced calmly. "I'll take the left. You take the right."
"Together, genius," Sunny corrected. "Nova! Eruption on the big one in the center!"
"Grah!"
Nova waddled forward. His chest cracked open like a furnace door.
PTOO!
A glob of concentrated magma shot across the cave. It slapped onto the center Slime.
HISSSSSSS!
The Slime screeched. The magma clung to it, turning its grey, rocky skin a glowing, angry red. The Slime stopped moving, thrashing as the heat cooked it.
"Now!" Sunny yelled.
Lyra didn't hesitate. She released the string.
The arrow was a streak of azure light. It hit the super-heated patch of the Slime.
CRACK-BOOM!
It wasn't a normal impact. It was a thermal explosion. Fragments of frozen-yet-burning rock sprayed everywhere like shrapnel.
[Ding!]
[Critical Hit! Overkill!]
[EXP + 45]
"Holy..." Lyra lowered her bow, her eyes wide. "That actually worked."
Usually, killing a Granite Slime took ten minutes of chipping away at its armor. They just did it in three seconds.
Sunny looked at the scattered loot. "Told you. Easy money."
"Again," Lyra said, a hungry look appearing in her eyes. "Do it again."
....
One Hour Later
The cave was a graveyard of pebbles.
[Loot: Granite Core x42]
[Loot: Slime Jelly x15]
[Credits Estimated: 600+]
"Behind you!" Sunny shouted.
A Deep-Earth Worm had burst from the wall behind Lyra. It was blind, ugly, and had a mouth full of spinning teeth.
Lyra was mid-shot. She couldn't dodge.
"Beetle!" Sunny roared.
The Obsidian Spike-Stag shot out from Sunny's shadow. It didn't attack the worm; it slammed into Lyra, knocking her out of the way.
The Worm bit empty air.
"Nova! Jump!"
Nova leaped onto the Worm's head.
The Worm screamed as the magma child burned its sensory organs.
Lyra rolled to her feet, her face pale. She saw the opportunity. She drew three arrows at once.
"Triple Frost Shot!"
The arrows froze the Worm's body solid.
Sunny ran forward with his Balanced Iron Shiv. He leaped into the air.
"Shatter!"
He slammed the hilt of his weapon into the frozen worm.
The monster fell apart into a pile of ice cubes.
[Ding!]
[Party Kill: Deep-Earth Worm (Level 12)]
[EXP + 150]
[Ding!]
[Pet 'Nova' Level Up!]
[Nova is now Level 4.]
[New Skill Unlocked: [Magma Armor].]
Sunny landed, panting. "You okay?"
Lyra stared at him. She brushed dirt off her Elite uniform.
"I didn't need saving. I had a shield spell."
"Sure you did," Sunny smirked, recalling his pets. "That's why you looked like you saw a ghost."
Lyra hesitated. She looked at the pile of loot Sunny was bagging.
"You're not bad," she admitted, her voice begrudging. "For a B-Rank."
"High praise," Sunny checked Nova's status.
[Name: Nova]
[Level: 4]
[Skill: Magma Armor - Coats the user or ally in a layer of hardening lava. Increases Defense +10. Deals burn damage to attackers.]
"A buff?" Sunny's eyes lit up. "He learned a buff skill?"
This changed everything. If Nova could put Magma Armor on the Obsidian Spike-Stag... he would have a flying, armored, flaming tank.
"We're done," Sunny declared. "My inventory is full."
Lyra nodded. She looked tired but satisfied. "600 Credits split two ways. 300 each. Not bad for an hour."
"I take 60%," Sunny said casually.
Lyra's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"I have the tank. I have the fire. You just shoot. Supply and demand, Princess."
Lyra's hand drifted to her bow. "I could just kill you and take it all."
"You could," Sunny agreed, locking eyes with her. "But then you'd lose the only person in this Academy who knows how to make you rich. Do you want 600 Credits once? Or 300 Credits every night?"
Lyra stared at him. She calculated. She lowered her hand.
"You're an asshole, Sunny."
"I'm a businessman."
They walked back to the Academy gates just as the dawn broke.
The guards eyed them suspiciously—a dirty B-Rank boy and a pristine A-Rank girl walking together—but let them pass.
"I'm going to the Exchange Hall," Lyra said, turning left. "I'll wire your share."
"Don't scam me," Sunny warned.
"I'm not you," she shot back, disappearing into the crowd.
Sunny watched her go. "She'll be useful," he muttered.
[Ding!]
[System Notification: Welcome to Starfall Academy.]
[Mandatory Event: Class Selection.]
[Location: Hall of Awakening.]
[Time Remaining: 30 Minutes.]
"Right," Sunny rubbed his temples. "The curriculum."
He walked to the Hall of Awakening. It was a massive domed building filled with first-year students. In the center stood a giant crystal monolith.
Instructor Vex was there, tapping her whip against her leg.
"Line up!" she barked. "Place your hand on the crystal. It will analyze your beast and your mana, then assign you a Tamer Class. You can reject the suggestion, but the crystal is rarely wrong."
Sunny stood in line behind Gorn.
Gorn stepped up. He placed his hand on the crystal.
The crystal glowed a deep, earthy brown.
[Analysis Complete.]
[Suggested Class: Guardian Tamer (Tank).]
"Guardian!" Gorn pumped his fist. "Hell yeah!"
He walked off, grinning.
"Next! Sunny!" Vex called out, her eyes narrowing as she saw him.
Sunny walked up. The other students whispered.
"That's him."
"The guy with the bug."
"I heard he blew up his room."
Sunny ignored them. He placed his hand on the cold surface of the crystal.
"System," he thought. "Don't reveal everything. Hide the Fusion skill."
The crystal hummed. It flickered.
It turned Green (Scout).
Then Red (Assault).
Then Blue (Mage).
It cycled through colors rapidly, confused. The instructors frowned.
"What is his beast?" Vex asked. "Is it the bug or the... unregistered heat source?"
The crystal finally settled on a dull, grey color.
[Analysis Complete.]
[Anomaly Detected. Multiple Beast Signatures.]
[Suggested Class: Generalist Tamer.]
The crowd laughed.
"Generalist? That means 'Master of None'!"
"It's the trash class for people who can't specialize!"
Vex sneered. "A Generalist. Figures. You have no focus, Sunny. Just a collection of random tricks."
But then, a blue screen—only visible to Sunny—popped up over the crystal's text.
[Fusion System proposes a Unique Class.]
[Option 1: Accept Academy Class (Generalist). Rewards: None.]
[Option 2: Unlock Hidden Class (Chimera Lord). Rewards: Fusion Efficiency +20%, Blueprint Slots +2.]
Sunny's heart pounded.
Chimera Lord.
It sounded evil. It sounded powerful. It sounded perfect.
"I..." Sunny started to speak to Vex.
"I accept the designation," Sunny said out loud to Vex. "Generalist."
The students laughed harder.
But in his mind, he pressed [Option 2].
[Ding!]
[Hidden Class Acquired: Chimera Lord.]
[From now on, the System will guide your evolution path.]
Vex marked her clipboard. "Go to the back of the line, Generalist. Your classes start tomorrow with the D-Ranks. Try not to die in History class."
Sunny walked away, his face a mask of disappointment for the crowd to see. But inside? He was laughing.
Let them think he was a Generalist. Let them think he was weak.
While they were learning how to groom their dogs, he would be in his room, fusing nightmares.
He met Gorn outside.
"Generalist, huh?" Gorn patted his back sympathetically. "Don't worry, buddy. I'll protect you."
Sunny looked at his friend. "Thanks, Gorn."
"So," Gorn asked. "What now?"
Sunny looked at his Credits balance. Lyra had just transferred his share.
[Credits: 360]
"Now?" Sunny grinned, his eyes shifting to the massive Exchange Hall where dead monster parts were sold.
"Now we go shopping. I need to buy some corpses."