NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 - Generous Gains
Plainly, there is a lot to do. Many screens to overview, decisions to make, et cetera, et cetera. Truthfully I am already dreading it. But it must be done, and so I steel myself before dealing with the first thing.
Confirming Juliette’s Level up. She is the first of my monsters, I feel she deserves this.
Status
Name: Juliette
Class: Animated Actor
Level: 5
Creature Type: Animated Mannequin
Skills:
Active:
Passive:
Tragic Passing - Level 1
Appearance of Life - Level 1
A new Passive Skill has appeared. Unlike active ones that need to be triggered intentionally, these are always on, though a lot of them can be controlled to behave in certain ways.
I don't know exactly what this one does, but it seems to help Juliette to better appear as a living being instead of an animated object, if she so desires. I fail to see the Impact, her initial active skill is much more powerful than this, but she seems pleased with it, and I suppose it would help being able to slip into certain roles more… fully.
I ask Juliette if she would like to try out the skill, and I watch in awe as her wooden frame grows even softer than it has already become, the texture more closely reflecting skin than wood. Her movements become smoother as well, and there is a constant movement of her torso that seems to imitate breathing.
All in all, the change is impressive considering she is still a featureless wooden statue for the most part.
Having confirmed the change, I leave her to play around with her new ability and move on to the next topic.
That being the classes for my other two mannequins. And, while I'm at it, I feel like I should name them as well. They certainly have been around long enough.
Right, let’s do that first.
Starting with my knightly fellow. I think about it a bit and a couple of interesting names pop in my head, so I run them by him. He ends up rejecting most of them.
After a long, and by that I mean looooooong, back and forth, we narrow it down to three candidates.
His top choices are Galahad, Quixote and Siegfried. Somehow. I would roll my eyes if I had them. While I leave him to ruminate his absolute favorite out of those three, I move on to name our final companion for the time being. That being said, I am planning on changing that status after dealing with this.
Right, names, names, names. After brainstorming up another couple, we quickly settle on something. Unlike my second mannequin, my third one knows what it wants. I proudly bequeath unto him his new name, Sebastian.
Checking back on my Knight it seems he will take a little while longer… or probably a long while, to be fair, so let’s handle your class first, Sebastian.
Class Selection, let's go!
Monster Class Selections (Animated Mannequin):
Animated Brawler
Animated Servant
Attentive Follower
Animated Actor
Animated Attendant
Ah. Well. A bit of a shorter list than Juliette had, originally. The base options are there, as well as Animated Actor, which Juliette already has.
Additionally, my monster unlocked the Attentive Follower and Animated Attendant classes. I'm somewhat dubious of those options, but I present them to Sebastian regardless.
If I am being honest, I would love it if he picked Animated Servant or Animated Attendant, as I am curious how much utility those classes would offer. But I am definitely not going to force my monsters down a path that does not suit them, so he should decide for himself.
After some careful rumination, Sebastian conveys his choice to me. Solemnly, we lock it in together, and watch as a new screen appears before us.
Class Selection Successful!
Class “Animated Attendant” acquired!
New Passive Skill unlocked!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Status
Name: Sebastian
Class: Animated Attendant
Level: 3
Creature Type: Animated Mannequin
Skills:
Active:
Passive:
-
Handy Helper - Level 1
Right, that skill is… rather something. Apparently it makes the holder better at, well, chores? Just, generally more helpful to have around, fixing things, cleaning things, finding things and so on.
Sebastian seems pleased with it, though his emotions are more subdued than Juliette’s.
I leave him to it, and move back on to my indecisive knight.
Still unable to make a decision, I decide to postpone naming here and start with the class selection, maybe that will be the decisive factor for or against a name.
Monster Class Selections (Animated Mannequin):
Animated Brawler
Animated Servant
Animated Actor
Animated Bulwark
Animated Guard
Oh lord. Same amount of choices as Sebastian, but this one is completely lacking any non-”Animated” classes.
I convey the choices and feel the sadness at no true “knight” class being available. After a surprisingly, but not altogether unexpectedly short amount of time, the decision is reached. There are really only two options here, after all, and Animated Guard seems way too mundane for my indecisive monster.
Class Selection Successful!
Class “Animated Bulwark” acquired!
New Passive Skill unlocked!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Status
Name: -
Class: Animated Bulwark
Level: 3
Creature Type: Animated Mannequin
Skills:
Active:
Passive:
-
Iron Skin - Level 1
Yep, that passive seems pretty straightforward… It makes my monster's exterior harder. That's it. Not to discredit it, it seems like an amazingly useful skill for a defender.
At least my monster seems pleased with it.
All thoughts about a name forgotten, the mannequin starts running around the room and testing out the hardness of their wood against various objects.
… Fine then, it’s not like we are in a rush. I’ll return to the naming topic at a later time.
In the meantime, I have other things to do. Specifically, Summoning some new monsters!