While searching for a target to hopefully level him before the dungeon, he tried pushing his senses out further than before. He assumed that with a higher wisdom and more open nodes he would be able to search further, so he pushed and pushed until he started to feel it, releasing a noticeable amount of his magic. Eli didn't want to be shorthanded for a fight so he dialed it back into a place where his magic spending and his regeneration were close enough that he couldn't feel himself losing magic anymore. There wasn't anything close to him so he headed towards the dungeon at a light jog, hoping to encounter another monster.
It only took a minute or 2 before he could feel something on the edge of his senses to the west, maybe a quarter mile away or so. It didn't feel like a monster, it felt more like a treasure animal or a treasure plant, so Eli rushed over to it hoping it would help. However, it was not treasure, or at least the kind he wanted. He stood before a treasure chest that sat on top of a stump, both were covered in vines and looked weathered, like they had been there in the elements for decades. The magic coming from inside it was off though and he knew this was not a treasure but a mimic, a disguised monster who looks like treasure. They are very good at hiding and ambushing, at times, making them indistinguishable from the real thing. Eli knew that this was a 'nope box' in his gut so he decided to just smash the thing and hopefully that would give enough experience.
His bone mace came crashing down with as much force as he could bring to bear, through the mace, the skill, his node, and his magic. He used it all knowing that if it didn't kill it in the first hit, it would not get easier when it got its tentacle tongue out and wrapped around him as well as those sharp teeth dug into him. The chest and stump exploded into bits as the bone mace passed right through where they used to be and when the mace hit the ground his wrist broke again. This break was worse than last time though and he placed his mace under his left arm so he could grab it again when his hand healed. A system window opened and Eli thought he was in for level but it was something way different.
"Why did you attack treasure?..."
Eli looked up at the screen and replied out loud, "I thought it was a mimic, like from the stories."
The system answered back quickly. "What stories?..."
Eli then went on to explain what Mimics were and how anyone not opening a treasure chest with a stick or a weapon was an idiot. These were all lessons learned when he was in foster care since the other kids at one of the houses always played dungeons and dragons on the weekend since they really only needed a couple books and paper to play. After his explanation there was no response, Eli waited for a full minute and was about to start going through the pile of splinters, rocks and dirt for treasure when finally a response popped up.
"Konzak Mimics added to monster catalog"
"Konzak Mimics added to all tutorials"
"The system has rewarded you for your contribution"
"You have received a level up token"
Eli fell to his knees with his hands over his face, he looked up to the sky with narrowed eyes and a frustrated look on his face. "You did that on purpose!" he yelled. The system responded with a series of windows.
"Hahaha"
"Hahaha"
"Hahaha"
He wasn't famous or well known at all outside of his US Army Socom circle, but he was sure of one thing. His unit would make sure that everyone on the planet knew about this and he would never hear the end of it. He decided to face that obstacle when it came and focus on his new item which was floating in the air in front of him.
"Level-up Token"
"Crush token to gain 1 level"
"Must be used within 20 seconds of claiming from system"
After reading the time limit Eli no longer wanted to mess around, so he grabbed it and crushed it right away, giving himself a level.
"Congratulations"
"Magic level increased from 9 to 10"
"You have reached level 10 and now must choose a class"
"Compiling class choices"
A full minute went by with nothing, then the system windows started up again
"List of class choices complete"
"Please choose from list"
A new box came up with a scroll bar on the side and each text line was the name of a class, its rarity, and its progression potential. There were over 100 options, most where some variation of warrior like 'Flame-sword warrior - uncommon - no progression - weapon: Sword - Magic: fire' but all the way at the bottom there were 4 options that stood out. There were 3 rare choices and 1 epic choice and all the ones he passed up were common or uncommon. The three rare ones were as follows.
'Light-hammer paladin - rare - progression potential 3 - hammer or fist - main magic: light'
"This class is grants the skill: Lights purification - light node"
"You would get 1 free stat and 1 wisdom per level"
'Stone-fist berserker - rare - progression potential 2 - fist only - main magic: earth'
"This class grants the skill: stone first - earth node"
"This class grants 1 free stat and 1 reaction per level"
'Bone Knight - rare - progression potential 3 - bone type only - main magic: death'
"This class grants the skill: Summon Bone Armor - death node"
"This class grants 1 free stat and 1 resistance per level"
And the Epic class was something he didn't think a level 10 should have access to for their first choice.
'Chaos War Seeker - Epic - Progression potential max - any weapon - main magic: chaos'
"This class will grant the skill: Chaos Teleport - Chaos node"
"This class will grant 1.5 free stats and 1 wisdom or intellect"
"This class has a max progression potential, the only class upgrades per stage will be a progression of this class if chosen. If not chosen this choice will not be offered again."
It looked like if he chose the epic class he would be stuck with it forever, it did seem to have a higher amount of stats and a teleport sounded very useful. The 'war seeker' part of the class title did not sound very appealing, if he chose this he would have to hope that it did not somehow push him toward a path of only violence and war. He did not like the first one, even though the paladin title did appeal to him since they were usually paragons of law and justice. However, they did tend to be dogmatic and inflexible so he was going to pass.
The second one just didn't feel right. He did not think of himself as a berserker, that seemed more like a loss of control instead of the control he normally had and has struggled for. He also didn't think the fist option was a good fit either ever since he started smashing things with his mace it just felt right.
The bone knight option was great and he probably would have already picked it if not for this feeling in his gut. A feeling that he couldn't shake or stop, like choosing anything but the war seeker would end in his death. It almost felt like a certainty, as if a sword was hanging over his head and if he chose anything but this chaos class he wouldn't be alive by the time the tutorial was over.
He almost chose it right away just to get the feeling to stop but then he paused and scratched his chin in thought again. Was this feeling something that he could trust, was the system able to cause something like this, he thought. How could he trust anything if this was some kind of manipulation or way to force him towards some endgame that he just didn't have enough information to see coming. He shook his head and took a few deep breaths to clear his mind. If he started questioning everything like some paranoid schizophrenic, he was doomed. That would demolish his focus and he would be dead no matter what he chose. He decided to test his gut feeling by hovering his selection over the bone knight, and it hit him again, and hard. He quickly stopped and chose the Chaos War Seeker.
"You have selected the epic class 'Chaos War Seeker'"
"You receive 1 to all stats for selecting your first class"
"You have received the skill 'Chaos Blink'"
"Your next class upgrade will come and level 25 and will require your chaos node to be open"
So, Eli thought, I get more information after a class, plus 1 to each stat is a nice bonus, as he pulled up his stats to take a peek.
"Stats: Strength 6, Reaction 6, Vitality 7, Intellect 4, Wisdom 6, Resistance 7, Will 33"
He closed the screens and tried to just feel his body, how much stronger he was compared to before this 6 point boost, but he couldn't feel much difference. He looked down at himself and he didn't seem to have big muscles, maybe a little more definition but he didn't look like the kind of guy who could crush stones or punch through trees. Maybe since his stats are part of his magic level they used magic for that strength instead of his physical body. He nodded as this made sense to him, now he just needed to find a way to level his body, and apparently he could level his soul as well. He looked at the level part of his status.
"Magic Level 10, Body level 0, Soul level 0"
Instead of trying to figure that out he just switched to his skills tab and looked at his new skill.
"Chaos node - Chaos Blink"
"Spell - Epic - Chaos magic - instant cast - level 1"
"Picture yourself where you want to be and blink"
"This spell has no cooldown, instead it becomes unreliable if used rapidly"
It would seem this new skill came with a lot of caveats but it would grow with him becoming a more impressive tool the stronger he got. He would need to practice before using it in combat but he has spent way too much time hanging around here getting things resolved for the dungeon. It was time to move the last stretch of distance and finally see what this dungeon business was all about, as well as how much he could grow from it.