And (N)one Shall Remain

Esperanza joined with the Progenies – while Belug-ur’ani and her warriors keep watch over their surroundings just in case – for that silent moment of prayer, to offer her respects to those that she felt she had failed, those who lost their lives under her watch, because of a moment of negligence. Even though the others had assured her that it was not her fault, she couldn’t help but feel guilty about their deaths.

 

From time to time, she was haunted by hypothetical thoughts, “what ifs” that might have changed the situation had she thought of it back at the time. She had been plagued with similar thought after the massacre at Navef too, but this particular loss – and failing – just felt far more personal to her, so she was far more bothered by it.

 

Even as she knelt and prayed – to Oldies, as she doubted the gods of her old world, if they even exist, was around where she was now – she couldn’t help but to fall back at the thinking that she should have kept some guards by the defenseless children at all times during their run. It was overconfidence because no other group of arachnoids had ever tried to head their way once she and the progenies engaged them back then.

 

Of course, none of the other groups had an [Arachnoid King] with them either.

 

After the solemn moment, the progenies rose and shifted their position so they were seated cross-legged around the headstone instead of kneeling. All of them had been close to their final level of the second tier when they engaged the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], and the fight had been enough to bring them all to their third tier, Esperanza included.

 

Now it was only a matter of consolidating their gains, browsing through their class choices, and the hardest part of all, making that choice. All of them had consulted Ani and the older warriors in Agur-Bas about it, but the best advice they could give was to “follow their hearts” and to “choose what felt the most right for them” rather than anything concrete. 

 

As such, Esperanza decided to watch over the others first before looking at her own choices. She saw thoughtful looks on the faces of the progenies, who despite their matured appearance were all still children at heart. Some looked torn and unable to decide, while others looked somewhat surprised, probably having received choices they had not expected.

 

Mel-Ivas was the first one to make her choice, though, a process that barely took a couple minutes, and right away, Esperanza noticed the change. There were no further changed to her physique, as the young girl remained looking how she was before the class change, but there was a discernible increase in the quality of her being, somehow, one that was noticeable if one looked closer.

 

When Esperanza checked with [Soul Sight], she noticed that there were more purple threads wrapped around the soul of Mel-Ivas, with some of them even interlacing with each other, forming patterns over it.

 

“You’ve made your choice already, Big sis Mel?” asked Dai’Vasy, who being the group’s mage was closest to Mel-Ivas these days. 

 

“Uh-huh,” said Mel-Ivas in affirmation as she nodded, a broad smile on her face. “I got three normal choices, and two choices related to the Progenies of Yore. I picked [Progeny of Yore: The Bringer of Mercy] in the end. It’s more of a combat medic class, as far as I can tell, while the other seemed to be like my current class but just better.”

 

“Don’t take it too far with the combat part though, we still need you to patch us up after a fight. Can’t do that if you’re too busy patching yourself up,” commented Tiesya somewhat in jest from the side. “That said, it would take a load off our shoulders if you can defend yourself as well, so that’s a good thing.”

 

“You haven’t made your pick yet, big sister Tiesya?” replied Mel-Ivas. She was one of the youngest of the older children who were forcibly matured back then, so she still considered the others as her big brothers and sisters. Only Ilavakide and Dai’Vasy were younger than her, for obvious reasons, while Legisvula was of the same age as she was.

 

“It’s… a bit harder for me to make the call. I got three choices to pick from, one seems focused on offense and evasion, another fully devoted to defense, and the third’s somewhat in between,” admitted Tiesya with a shake of her head. “All of them felt right to me, so I haven’t been able to decide which one to pick out of the three.”

 

“Same here,” said Val-Kas’j as he raised a hand in solidarity. “I got roughly a similar spread of choices as well, and none of them feel more correct than the others, so I’m not sure which one I should be choosing, at least not at the moment.”

 

“I’ll be ahead of you then, big bro,” commented Legivula with a chuckle. Esperanza noticed that the young boy had already made his choice, the same improvement in quality like what she noticed happening to Mel-Ivas repeating itself on his being. “I went for [Progeny of Yore: Finder of Lost Paths] for my choice. You can leave the scouting in the future to me.”

 

“Would have thought that you’d take a more… what did the Messenger call it again? Assassiny thing?” noted Ilavakide as she scratched her head trying to remember the term Esperanza once mentioned in their talks. “Still, congratulations either way.”

 

“Thanks, Ila,” replied Legisvula with a nod. “This just felt more right to me, I guess.”

 

“Guess I shouldn’t dally then,” said Dai’Vasy as everyone noticed the change that happened to her. Now that it was the third time, the others also instantly noticed the signs of one of them undergoing the class change. “I also had three to choose from like big bro and sis, but one always stood out more to me for some reason, so I went for it.”

 

“So what class did you get, Di?” asked Mel-Ivas.

 

“[Progeny of Yore: Mistress of Arcane Winter],” said the younger girl. “My other choices had less… what was that word again… spec… specialization, I think? They were more broadly defined, but this one… I felt that it was just what I should be.”

 

“Always good to follow your heart,” mentioned Iryl with a smile.

 

“I think Di’s choice helped me make my decision too,” noted Nalihimatu, who had his brows furrowed in concentration all the while before that. “I’ve chosen [Progeny of Yore: Stalwart Eternal Protector], so you all can leave the defending to me. I got a new skill that would allow me to cover everyone else, for that matter.”

 

“I got [Progeny of Yore: Shooter of the Magic Arrow]. Only got two choices, but it was hard to decide whether I would focus fully on just archery or take this path of combining magic with it,” admitted Ilavakide a moment after that. “That last fight we had made me think it’d not be a bad idea to get more options in the future, though. That thing was so tough my arrows could barely even pierce its shell.”

 

“Funny you mention that,” noted Resitia, who had been silent until then. Once again, the feeling of a class change and elevation to the third tier came amongst them, directly from her. “I thought the same as you did, so I picked [Progeny of Yore: Unstoppable Soul Lancer] for mine. I also got skills that incorporate aspects of the Soul to my attacks now, to a further point than before.”

 

Val-Kas’j and Tiesya exchanged thoughtful glances with each other. The two of them were the oldest of the progenies, and had acted pretty much as the big brother and big sister for the others to somewhat rely on when Esperanza was not available. They were the only two left who hadn’t made their choice and both of them seemed to have come to an understanding at that moment as they both made their choice practically simultaneously.

 

“So, what did you get, Val?” asked Tiesya. They were nearly the same age and had been friends prior to the exodus, so they were more relaxed between themselves.

 

“[Progeny of Yore: Warrior of the Equillibrium],” replied Val-Kas’j with a nod and a smile. “It’s the more balanced option I got out of my three. I didn’t feel like any of the others would suit me better, after hearing what all the others have already picked,” he added. “What about you, Tis? Which one did you end up picking out of yours?”

 

“[Progeny of Yore: Dancing Blades of Carnage],” said Tiesya with a smile. “It’s my more offensive option, though since the skills I got from my second tier was mostly defensive, it ended up relatively more evened out overall, I guess. One of my defensive skills also evolved, so there’s that too. It’s a choice I’m happy with, I would say.”

 

“Iryl, what about you? Have you made your choice yet?” asked Resitia, who had been close with Iryl from the time when they were still children in the village of Navef. That was probably partly because they were some of the few pureblooded humans that were left in the village, as most were of mixed heritage by then. “Did you get something good?”

 

“[Avenger of the Lost],” replied Iryl somewhat quietly. “It’s got an unusual skill that lets me return whatever others had done to me back unto them, so that’s one way I could do something now, I guess. Otherwise the class seems to be heavy on the defense rather than offense, at least as far as I could tell from what I saw so far.”

 

“Your second class was [Young Spearwielder] wasn’t it?” Resitia queried once more. “You still got some skills that help with offense from there, no?”

 

“Yeah, one of them also evolved. I just hope I can be less useless now, with this new class and the new skills to come…”

 

“You will be, Iry, Nobody is useless amongst us. Nobody.”

 

Esperanza couldn’t help but smile while she watched the progenies chat amongst themselves, even as she mentally took note of their new classes and what they could likely do with them. A couple of the choices had been somewhat unexpected, but not all of them. Mel-Ivas choosing a more combat medic route and Val-Kas’j staying a balanced warrior was expected.

 

She had not expected Nalihimatu to pick a fully defensive class as he seemed to be somewhat frustrated at only being able to defend without being able to attack effectively, similarly, Tiesya had looked comfortable in her defensive position back then, so her choosing a fully offensive class on her third tier was rather unexpected.

 

The same applied to Dai’Vasy’s choice to specialize, as she had shown herself able to use all sorts of elements before, even if she does favor ice more often than not. Esperanza had also thought that Legisvula might have wanted a more active role which a more assassin-like class would have offered, but he made the other choice instead.

 

Ilavakide and Resitia’s choice to diversify their available ways to hurt their targets due to the hard time they had against the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] was another that she had not expected, though in hindsight it was a pretty wise choice overall. Better to have an umbrella before it rained than to not have one when it rained.

 

Now that all the progenies – and Iryl too, of course – had finished with their class change and entered the third tier without any problems, she turned her attention towards her own system interface and quickly browsed the notifications that had been left there since the battle, as she finally took a look at the choices she had for her own third tier advancements.

 

Unlike during her first advancement to the second tier, where there was one class that was visibly better than all the rest, this time the spread was notably more even in quality, with no one class being particularly better than all the others.