I blinked at the notification a couple of times and quickly asked the System to show me my options.
[User Cassandra currently only has two options for a subclass.]
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Traveler - Fledgling
Body + Mind
Energy Memory +
There are many ways to go through life. Some decide to take root in one place. Others, like you, decide to go out into the world and explore as many places as they can. A class that benefits you as long as you are moving from one place to the next.
The longer you stay in one place, the less effective this class will be.
Available Skills:
Marathon Not A Race - Fledgling - Passive
Your body is well suited for long exertions, for long physical exertion. After the initial burst of movement that will let you grow tired, continuous motion will be less impactful on your stamina.
I Know A Spot - Fledgling - Passive
Reserved Cost: 1 Energy
By traveling to different places, you are able to get to know different areas of the world and gain benefits from it. As long as you travel to a new region of the world without the intention of returning to your previous location, you will get benefits depending on the region in question.
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I stared at those two skills for a moment, not really sure if I liked them. Sure, I was traveling a lot right now, but I didn't really want to have my entire subclass revolving around that. Especially since I very much intended to one day, find a nice place and start to grow some roots there.
Maybe I would be lucky and wouldn't have to worry about Eaters anymore. Or maybe it was just a place that was safe enough from those creatures. But one way or another, traveling forever was never my intention. The class also sounded as if it would only give me any sort of power if I was on the move. If, for any reason, I had to stay for a long period in one place, I would end up having just those skills that were not doing anything.
Turning to the next one, I froze. Not because it was particularly powerful, which it could be, but because it was a subclass that never crossed my mind. Even if it was extremely obvious.
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Cook - Fledgling
Ever since civilization first discovered fire, people have been cooking their meals. And ever since people gained access to knives, even that stopped becoming a necessity. Every culture across the world places special importance on food. It's not just nutrition and not just fuel for someone to continue living. But it's also something that can heal the soul, form bonds, and create a community.
You are able to extract more out of the meals you prepare, and all the dishes made by you have their own added secret spice.
Available Skills:
Energy Extraction - Fledgling - Active
Energy Cost: 1 Energy
By optimizing the way you handle ingredients, you can make sure that every dish has its Energy optimized. Allowing people to recover and gain more Energy with every bite you create. When consuming a dish created by you.
Food For The System - Fledgling - Active
Energy Cost: 1 Energy
Ingredients have special properties. It is a well-known fact that every single dish can benefit the body in a specific way. You are able to extract those effects so that they are able to work together with the System.
Gives you the ability to create dishes that will bestow temporary buffs to those who consume them.
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Quick question. 'Is it really going to let me do what I think it's going to let me do? Make sure that the food I make gives us more Energy, meaning helps people level up faster? And two, so I'm going to be able to give temporary buffs, like {As I Flow So Does The Current} does to me?'
[The answer to both questions is yes. With the power of {Energy Extraction}, user will be able to create dishes that give more Energy than otherwise they would. With {Food For the System} User will be able to create dishes that give minor special effects, temporary special effects, to consumers. Those effects can vary, but System can already give a few examples.]
[1 - Temporary increases in one or more attributes.]
[2 - Temporary increase in the resistance against a specific element such as fire, lightning, or poison.]
[3 - Temporary increase in the resistance against temperature, for instance, allowing one's body to become better suited for the cold.]
[4 - The ability to spend longer times underwater. The ability to breathe underwater would be outside the parameters of a skill at this level. However, it is possible to create a dish that will assist one's body in breaking down CO2 in order to stop someone from feeling its toxic effects without causing the usual suffocation brought by breathing underwater.]
Hold on a second. 'The last one seems very different from the other three. I mean, a simple buff sounds like the most normal option. Giving people resistances also seems somewhat understandable. All you have to do is tell the particles, 'Hey, this is how you handle fire' or something. Maybe I can even let people do fire damage with their attacks or something in the future.'
[Imbuing {Firestarter} into a dish in order to allow other people to attack using fire seems to be within the realm of possibility. However, it would not be possible with this version of this skill. User would either need a different skill to allow user to do so, or an upgraded version of the {Food For The System} skill to make it possible.]
I shook my head. 'Okay, that's not really what I'm getting at right now. I'm asking Why can you change something so fundamental as the toxicity of CO2 with such a basic level of the skill?'
[Changing the toxicity of CO2 is not as complicated as user is making it out to be. System is able to command particles to attack and destroy specific molecules, as long as System has user's permission. Currently, if user is under the influence of CO2 poisoning, System could utilize {Body Regeneration} as a way to handle the effects on user's body. Breaking down molecules like that is not a complicated process for System particles. However, it is extremely cost-ineffective unless to save user's life. The cost effectiveness of such an action would not be enough to justify using it in any situation that user is able and capable of breathing. Especially since breaking down CO2 wouldn't be enough to stop user from drowning in a situation where user cannot get more oxygen. That being said, System is currently assisting with the movement of oxygen on user's bloodstream, making user capable of functioning with less deep breaths in order to perform at the same output level.]
'You've been doing that?'
I found myself trying to think if I could sense anything different with my breathing.
[Yes. Ever since user first acquired System. One of the functions of the body attribute is to allow user to function better with the same resources. This includes controlling oxygen.]
I guess that made sense. I just never thought about it that way. 'And in the same idea, I should probably be able to make a dish that lets me help people recover faster from injuries, right?'
[That is correct. The buff you give can be something generic, a simple plus X, where X is a numbered value on body, or also something specific as an improved recovery rate from wounds or increased physical strength. It will depend on user's intention when making a dish, in addition to the ingredients related to the meal.]
I see. 'By getting a subclass, I get one extra memory slot, right?' I asked while putting more of the stew I had prepared to the Rodenti who were asking for seconds.
[That is correct. User will gain one extra memory slot when acquiring a subclass. However, the extra slot must be used by a skill related to the subclass. If later on, user wants to remove the subclass-related skill from the memory slot, that is possible. However, without any memory slots related to the subclass, they also cannot gain a new skill through leveling up. It is recommended for user to always have at least one skill related to subclass or related to the main class in order to continue receiving the benefits from both.]
Okay then. 'Do me a favor. Move {Nature's Favor} to the memory bank for now and give me both of those skills. If I need to get rid of any, just remove a skill just remove {Wild Steps}. Then, in the future, every time I say I'm going to take care of dinner, I want you to swap Nature's Favor and {Energy Extraction}. That way I have kind of like a set of skills made for cooking and a set of skills for day-to-day. Can we do that?"
[That is possible, yes.]
'Also, I'm not asking for a quest right now, but keep in mind that I would like the ability to swap out skill sets. Like having one build for cooking and one build for fighting. The entire skill set changing from one to another.'
[System will keep that in mind and will try its best to create such a skill or upgrade skills if possible.]
'Oh yeah, I know that might be an interesting upgrade for {Memory Bank}. Don't know how long that's going to take, but keep it in mind. Again, I don't want to quest for it, just a preference.'
[Acknowledged,] the System replied again as I noticed that the food was starting to run out. I gave the pot to the Rodenti and told them I was going to make more for me and my friends since we didn't have enough just yet. Which wasn't entirely true, as I was positive Riley and Michael had finished eating. Astrid and I, on the other hand, were bottomless beasts that could probably eat three times more and still feel like we were not entirely full.
Using the same ingredients, I focused on my two new skills and the subclass. Which, unlike what happened with the main class, I could work right away. In just a few minutes, I already had another pot of soup ready to be served. And I hadn't done anything different with it. There were the same ingredients with the same way of cooking and the same spices, but the smell was considerably better. I took a spoonful to try it and was surprised by two notifications.
The first stated that if I ate five more spoonfuls, I would be able to recover one point of Energy in 10 minutes. According to the System, that was roughly the same thing that would happen with the original stew, but at least now there was an actual part of the System helping with the metrics. The second notification said that by eating it, I gained a buff. For the next 20 seconds, my stamina would recover 5% faster.
I took another spoonful, and the time changed to 40 seconds. Meaning that while the effects would be the same, the more I ate, the longer the buff lasted.
Satisfied with the results, I walked back to my companions and gave them a taste of this new stew. Riley and Michael didn't want to eat anything, but I insisted until I convinced the two. The moment they took a bite and saw the notifications, they all went wide-eyed and stared back at me. I couldn't hold back my smirk anymore.
"I got my subclass, everyone," I said with a big smile.
Riley reached out to get more stew, but Astrid slapped their hand away since they had refused the extra serving earlier.
"Did you really get a Chef subclass?" Michael asked.
"Not chef. It's just called Cook," I replied while eating my meal.
"Chef might be something more advanced then," the archer looked to the ground.
He was still a bit awkward when talking to me. It was pretty obvious he still wanted to say something, but decided not to do so.
"So, buffs and you can give us the actual amount of Energy we will get?" Riley asked.
I finished chewing before replying, "Not just give the number, but increase it as well. Food I make has more Energy than it would regularly have. Or at least that's what supposed to happen. I think in this case there wasn't much difference. Maybe because of the ingredients. Or the difference is just very small."
"Good. Good. Very good," Rex said as he was eating some more.
"You mean the skills or the taste?" I turned to the Rodenti.
"Both!" he said with a smile.
Now that I also had a subclass, I was feeling much better. Being the first human to get a System, it felt unfair that I wasn't the first one to get a subclass. Now, the universe had realigned itself.
Early the next day, we arrived at the home of the Rodenti that were being trapped by the witch. And unlike the other places where we found them, this village was out in the open. They were using ruins of a small city as their home. And there were almost 100 Rodenti there. A good number of them seemed to be powerful enough to fight. It seemed that, as long as we were able to convince them to help, this could be where Rex found his army.