The Ruby Magician

Wyn decided not to tell the others about his discussion with Lucy. Not right away, at least. They were far too excited about entering the fifth floor for Wyn to bring their mood down with his awful situation. He wasn’t exactly keeping his debt a secret from them, of course, but knowing Lucy was part of The Assembly, that she would be his contact, and that they were already hurting his family was big news. He didn’t care as much for his father, but he did worry about his sister’s safety.

Wyn told himself he’d bring it up after they each learned of their class options and discussed them tomorrow. They had decided to go into the floor, marvel at its wonder, find out what their class upgrade options were, then go back and take the night to think on them before talking it out the next day. Based on Daniel’s advice, they didn’t have to decide what upgrade to pick right away, only before they were able to advance to the next tier and floor.

Most Climbers had an idea of what classes would be available to them based on their growth, at least according to Daniel. Mentors and books had projected and standard class paths. Cedric also mentioned that other classes are often thrown into the selection based on Climber’s performances leading up to the upgrade offers that may not fit in the expected class paths. Those were enticing, he said, but usually not taken in favor of a well-known and used class that Climbers and guilds could fit into groups.

Ruby Magicians were another situation entirely.

Daniel called back to his first lessons about growth and the Ruby Magician being too broad of a class. Growth influenced the classes as well as skills that could be offered. Fighters who had strength or stamina growth could be offered a Barbarian class, while Magicians with magic power growth could be offered a Shaman class, and Sorcerers with mana capacity growth could be offered a Witch class. Unfortunately for Ruby Magicians like Wyn, whose growth was any, it was borderline random.

Daniel said that Wyn could expect a Wizard and Fighter upgrade option, but for class options beyond that he wasn’t entirely sure. Since his class was a mix of those two options, he could specialize a little, but Daniel told him he’d always be an entire class tier behind, which was why the class was so looked down on.

It didn’t matter to Wyn at the end of the day, though. He’d look at his options and decide with his teammates the best class that fit him and their group.

The group had their final dinner with Cal before walking back to Alistair. It was a bittersweet time. Cal had grown on everyone in their short time together, and Wyn had been thinking of future plans with him in their group. Now that he was gone, they had another hole where a strong melee Climber was needed. It would be a difficult position to fill.

Now, standing in the portal room, the somber part of everyone seemed to be gone. They were ready to see the fifth floor and advance. Wyn had the same feelings, but was still conflicted.

That internal conflict didn’t stop him from being happy for his friends. And, honestly, still happy for himself and what he went through. Climbing the first tier in a month and surviving the encounters with Lionel were both no small feats.

“Are we ready?” Wyn asked.

Tasha smiled and nodded her head. John simply put his arm around the Diamond Mage and made a funny face, making her laugh and the others, too.

Wyn stepped forward and felt the pull of the portal. When he emerged through the other side, stomach intact and headache free, he once again marveled at what he saw.

A massively open space large enough to rival the training hall was directly in front of him. Lights from glowing moss and lit torches spread about the room allowed him to see everything clearly but gave a sense of calmness and peace in a more dimmer light. It was a far different feeling than the previous floors, though the stone walls were a familiar shade of grey and there was still a distinct temple feel the the area.

All around the room were pockets of Climbers all socializing in various situations. There had to be nearly a hundred of them spread around, though the room still didn’t feel cramped. There were areas of small pools of water like spring baths, huts and tents, and several small campfires that added to the relaxed ambience. It looked more like a themed festival set inside an abandoned temple than a floor in a magical and deadly tower. Most still carried their gear, too, and it made Wyn feel better about bringing his spear despite the others going in without their weapons. He just didn’t feel right entering the tower without it, even if their only goal was to go into a floor without monsters or challenges.

“Jovin!” John said. He walked to the closest group of Climbers and clapped a short but stocky man on the shoulders. “It’s good to see you finally made it past the first tier! I knew you had it in you!”

The man pulled John into a friendly greeting and the Fighter was quickly swept away into a group that seemed to know him. The six or seven Climbers all shared congratulations before John pulled Tasha and Wyn over.

“Everyone, these are the other rookies in my group,” John said. “This is Tasha and Wyn. The two others are veterans, so they won’t be advancing their classes with us.”

Each person in the group introduced themselves with their name and class. Almost all of them were Fighters, which helped explain how John knew them, except for two who were other Magicians. Tasha introduced herself without issue, but after Wyn said he was a Ruby Magician there were mixed reactions. Most of the group replied with awkward looks of pity or apologies, but two of them had the politeness to at least offer smiles and ignore his class.

John obviously wanted to stay and socialize but Wyn wasn’t in the right state of mind. He wanted to see his class options and leave since the responsibility of his massive amount of debt still hung over his head. Lucy put him in a terrible mood that was bringing down an experience that should be incredibly positive. Tasha eased into their conversation like she’d known the group her whole life, which didn’t surprise Wyn in the slightest.

“Wyn, can I borrow you for a second?” Marcy asked. She came up and grabbed Wyn’s arms from behind. “Sorry everyone but I need to pull him away.”

The others said their goodbyes as Wyn left. “What is it?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Marcy said. “I could just tell you didn’t want to be there.”

Wyn smiled. “Was that your Extrasensory?”

Marcy winked. “No, just my natural intuition.”

They both walked over to Cedric who was sitting on one of two stone benches beside a small glowing pond. Wyn thought it was the strangest thing seeing little glowing fish swimming around to light up the water, but it was incredibly serene. He certainly didn’t complain at the moment of peace.

“Thanks for that,” Wyn said, taking a seat on the other bench. “I’m not exactly in the right mood to be socializing, unfortunately.”

“That’s alright,” Marcy said. She sat beside Cedric and slumped, fully relaxing. “You’ll have plenty of chances to take advantage of the rest floor in the future. Just… be in the moment for now. It really is something, isn’t it?”

Wyn looked all around the floor and had to agree with her. This tower really was a magical place.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Wyn finally asked what was on his mind. “So how does this work, exactly? Getting my class upgrade, I mean.”

“It’s as easy as this floor is,” Cedric said. He pointed to the far side of the room. “Every season looks different but it’s all basically the same. There are private rooms where you’ll be guided on your options. All you have to do is walk up to the room and present your mark, then the space will open.”

Wyn nodded. If it was that simple then there was no time like the present. He thought about grabbing Tasha and John but didn’t want to bother them. They seemed to enjoy catching up with other Climbers, and honestly Wyn wanted them to. A part of him did as well, but he decided to make it for another time.

As Wyn walked towards the other room he felt an arm catch him on the shoulder. Another person stepped beside him on the other side.

“Were you going to go on without us?” John asked.

“I didn’t want to interrupt either of you,” Wyn said. “But I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be a wet blanket.”

“Ignore him,” Tasha said. “I had to pull him away after he left us in the first place.”

John shrugged. “I can’t help myself. But if we need another member to fill out our group, I need to start working the room now. Literally.”

Wyn didn’t argue with him on that. If that was what John was really doing, then he’d happily let him network all day.

“We can worry about that after,” Tasha said.

The three walked across the floor until they came to a man with a clipboard. Behind him were six large stone doors evenly spaced out on the wall, enough for a full group to all go in at the same time but still privately. Interestingly the man wore the symbol of the guild on his lapel. How a guild member was able to be in the fifth floor was beyond Wyn. Maybe they had special privileges or were strong enough to actually climb the tower, but he didn’t know for sure. And honestly, he didn’t care.

“Are you three here to advance?” The man asked.

“I guess it’s pretty obvious,” John said.

The man smiled. “Please enter one of the six doors behind me. Inside you’ll find a large basin of water and a pedestal with a blank piece of parchment. Place your class parchment sheet on the pedestal and the blank sheet will provide information about your class options. The basin will allow you to see your various abilities in a rudimentary form if you are having trouble visualizing or understanding the descriptions. If you don’t want to decide now, simply return back the way you go in. Don’t forget to take the sheet of class options with you to review. If you decide a path, just walk forward into the next floor.”

Wyn pulled out his parchments. It was strange how connected and how magical the pieces of paper were, but he definitely needed to utilize them better to be a more efficient Climber.

“Alright you two,” John said. “I’ll see you on the other side.” He smiled his charming smile and stepped forward to the closest door on the left. He pulled his shirt open revealing his chest, and the mark of the Fighter surrounded by John’s personal runes appeared above the door. The stone slab door began to slowly rise, then slowly closed once John was fully inside.

“Good luck,” Tasha said. She took a deep breath then stepped to the door beside John’s, repeating the process of showing her mark and entering the room.

Wyn followed his teammates and stepped to one of the open doors on the right. When he flashed his mark from his left forearm the symbol appeared above the door. Murmurs could be heard through the crowd behind him, a reaction far different than John or Tasha. Neither of them elicited any type of response from the rest of the Climbers. Of course it was due to him being a rare class, and an unpopular one at that.

He didn’t care. There wasn’t any point. Moving forward and improving was the only thing currently on his mind.

The inside of his private room was fairly basic but exactly as the guild official said. It was the same style of stone walls with some lit torches in each corner while a large stone pedestal sat beside a large basin of water, both chest high.

Wyn placed his main parchment sheet on the pedestal. It glowed briefly then returned to normal. There was a piece of parchment on the pedestal beside his personal paper that was identical in appearance and blank. Words began forming on the sheet as though magically written as quickly as someone could speak them.

Congratulations, Ardwyn Thatcher, on your success. You have completed the first tier and rose to Alistair’s challenge. As a reward, your skills will upgrade. Also, please choose from the following five class upgrades one class to advance.

Five upgrade options? Was that normal? Wyn hoped so. Even if not, it was still good to have more options than less. Hopefully at least one of them would look like a good fit. Regardless, he’d bring back the options to discuss with Daniel and the others. Returning to the parchment, words continued to appear.

Skill upgrades:

Lucidity: Allows passive recovery of mana. Your mark will show the current status of mana and is a guide to your expected amount of recovery time from empty to full. When your mark fully glows you are empty and currently recovering. When your mark is dull and grey you are full. Current time to fully recover: 2.5 hours. While recovering mana, spells and skills have a slightly reduced mana cost.

Dyadcast: Allows you to cast a spell twice for only the mana cost of the original spell. Both spells are reduced in power and effectiveness. Speak the skill followed by the spell to engage the ability.

Speed Up: Increases your speed a moderate amount for a short time. Speak the skill or mentally will it to activate. Costs a small amount of mana.

Spellcasting (Ruby): Allows the use of spells. Ruby spells are selected from other classes at the cost of a lowered amount of spells, slightly higher mana consumption, and decreased overall mana capacity. You may select spells from the Sapphire, Garnet, Topaz, Amethyst, Emerald, Diamond, and Aquamarine Magician list only. Your mana pool has increased a small amount.

Tower’s Blessing: A gift from the Avatar of Alistair. Provides two additional spell slots that may be used from any Magician class. One spell slot may be a second tier spell.

Wyn balked at the skill upgrades. Some were lackluster - his Spellcasting and Speed Up skills only improved a little, though he didn’t exactly know what to expect. Lucidity was great, as improved recovery time was helpful and the additional of both skills and spells having a lesser cost while recovering felt like a great boon. He had mixed feelings about Dyadcast as the free second spell activation was nice, but both spells being worse still didn’t feel too strong. Of course his given skill from the Avatar was the best of all, with a second spell slot added and being from the second tier, no less.

It would take some time and discussion to really learn how great or bad these upgrades were. But Wyn refocused to the next section, which highlighted his class options.

Option One: Ruby Warrior

You have the abilities of a Ruby Magician but the heart of a true warrior. Your combat abilities increase while your magical abilities decrease.

Gain 4 additional skills from a list of 6.

Gain 2 spell slots.

*Ruby variation: your skills and spells both increase in strength and duration.

Option Two: Ruby Wizard

You find that magic is more your means of climbing, not quite one to fight with weapons. Your magic abilities increase while your fighting abilities decrease.

Gain 2 additional skills from a list of 5.

Gain 4 spell slots.

Gain the Ruby Magic skill.

Ruby Magic: Your spells increase in strength and have slightly lower mana costs.

Mana pool increases a small amount.

*Ruby variation: your spells cost less mana and increase in duration.

Option Three: Ruby Squire

You’ve proven yourself to be a stalwart defender of your allies. Continue on your journey while providing both skill and spell-backed support of your teammates while vanquishing those that wish them harm.

Gain 3 additional skills from a list of 5.

Gain 2 spell slots.

Gain the Ruby Aura skill.

Ruby Aura: skills may be shared to one ally within 30 feet. This costs a small amount of mana.

*Ruby variation: your skills and spells increase in strength and cost less mana.

Option Four: Ruby Captain

Adaptability is the Ruby Magician’s true power. Leading allies into battle requires confidence in decisions but also the ability to be flexible when needed. The Ruby Captain wields power to use and distribute to their troops based on the situation at hand.

Gain the unique Shout skill that replaces Dyadcast.

Shout: transfer skills to others up to 30 feet. Two others may be affected.

Gain 3 Shoutable skills.

Attack: improves all physicality a moderate amount temporarily.

Defend: improves toughness a small amount and grants minor magical resistance temporarily.

Regroup: improves speed a bit and activates Regen at the first tier for 30 seconds.

Gain 1 additional spell slot.

*Ruby variation: all spells are stronger, and all spells and skills cost less mana.

Option Five: Ruby Strategist

Flexibility is the Ruby Magician’s greatest asset. Some see it as a weakness, but its potential to be useful in all situations is unparalleled. The Ruby Strategist takes advantage of this understanding and addresses the problem at hand as prudence is their true strength.

Gain the unique Chaincast skill that replaces Dyadcast.

Chaincast: when alternating spell types, there is a small chance that the spell will activate again for no additional mana at the same strength. Minimum spell casts to activate: 2. Maximum spell casts until duplication: 5.

Gain 1 additional spell slot.

Gain 2 skills from a list of 4.

*Ruby variation: healing spells also recover mana. Defensive spells now defend against both magical and physical attacks if their original description called for only one. Offensive spells have a small chance to inflict a detrimental effect.

List of available skills:

Ruby Warrior:

Focus

Attack Break

Guard Break

Weapon Bond

Guard Up

Strength Up

Ruby Wizard:

Magic Break

Mana Break

Endurance Up

Magic Power

Provoke

Ruby Squire:

Focus

Toughness Up

Strength Up

Dexterity Up

Shield Power

Ruby Strategist:

Wellspring

Guard Up

Weapon Bond

Silence Attack

Wyn stared at the sheet of paper in shock. Even if his class options didn’t offer many spell slot upgrades besides the Wizard, his Tower’s Blessing skill was a huge boon to help that deficit. He felt like the Warrior and Wizard upgrades were standard options, and immediately dismissed them in his mind. They paled in comparison to the other three, especially the last two. Was that part of the Avatar’s interference?

Wyn took a deep breath. There was no sense in wondering about the hows and whys right now. He planned to go and discuss his options with his group, but first he needed a little more insight. The skills available to him were straightforward based on their description. He could also ask about the descriptions from Cedric or Marcy or Daniel. The Squire class was reminiscent of Cal’s oaths and seemed to act similar, while his main concern was the abilities of the last two classes.

Losing Dyadcast as a skill wasn’t a great option, even if Wyn hadn’t fully taken advantage of it yet. If skills grew with classes, then it would likely become stronger in time. But wouldn’t the two skills that replaced it also become stronger? Shout seemed slightly better than the Aura ability affecting two people total but he was restricted on his skill choices. The use of the word transfer for the skill seemed obvious enough, but Wyn wanted to be sure. If the Squire shared it’s aura like Cal, then the Captain would give it away.

Wyn wanted to make sure about the ability so he peered into the basin and wondered how to use it. Would just thinking work? It hadn’t activated so far, and all he’d been thinking about were his options. Maybe saying it was the key.

“Show me the Shout ability,” Wyn said, looking into the basin.

The water rippled slightly with a soft glow of magic. As it stilled, the water showed six shadowy figures facing one direction, all wearing different kinds of gear and holding different weapons. One of the figures started glowing in a magical aura similar to Wyn’s Speed Up skill. Then, they raised their hand to their mouth like they were going to speak. The glowing aura moved to two other figures and completely left the original shadow.

So, that confirmed Wyn’s theory. Not as useful as sharing, but the abilities had incredible potential.

That left the Strategist. Wyn had an idea of what the Chaincast skill did in context, but now he wanted to see it in the basin. It was there to use, after all.

“Show me the Chaincast skill,” Wyn said.

The water in the basin once again rippled with magic. This time the image in the water showed two shadowy figures that he took to be Climbers and five staggered blobs with stubby arms and legs that were likely monsters. One of the shadowy figures raised a hand and coated the other figure in a white aura similar to Tasha’s Cure spell. Immediately after, the figure pointed at one of the monsters and shot out a red ball that made the blob disappear. Suddenly a brief flash of magic appeared under the shadowy figure and another red ball flew from their hand and hit another one of the blobs.

Well, that was obvious enough.

Wyn started to pull his attention away from the basin but the images kept going. This time the shadowy figure released an attacking spell at one of the monster blobs then followed it up with another spell that coated the ally in a white glow. The same brief flash of magic appeared under the shadowy figure and the white glow intensified, doubling in size.

Again, the image’s purpose was obvious. But the ability was definitely true to the Strategist’s name as it could work in a number of beneficial ways.

Another aspect to consider were the skills available to each class upgrade. Again, the Warrior and Wizard options seemed bland. The Squire and Strategist options, though, were interesting. The Strategist especially gave a list of several skills that seemed unique and different. It might be too different, but they were certainly interesting.

Wyn gathered his spear, summary sheet, and new parchment of options and sighed. It felt a bit selfish but he hoped that John and Tasha equally had difficult decisions. The classes were varied but gave several benefits, and he was feeling overwhelmed. He didn’t want to be the only one with a complicated choice.

Turning around and stepping out, he walked out to Tasha and John talking to Marcy and Cedric, all of them waiting. Most of the other Climbers in the large room seemed to be watching them, or at least were showing some interest in the result.

“Good news?” John asked.

Wyn scratched his head. “Depends on what you mean by good news. I definitely am able to upgrade my class, at least.”

The others laughed.

“Then that’s good news for us,” Marcy said.