Grand Game 385: A Matter of Class (Patreon)

“It could work,” Adriel muttered, her head bowed while she considered my plan.

“It should be well within the limits of the boon,” I agreed. After all, bringing Ceruvax here was not very different from teleporting me to him, and Draven had already confirmed he could send me to any dungeon.

The spirit looked up at me again. “But are you sure you want to do this? Except for what you learned during one brief conversation, you know nothing of the Wolf envoy.”

I didn’t answer immediately, giving the question serious consideration. What Adriel said was true. I didn’t know Ceruvax. But he had survived the new Powers’ hunt for centuries and was a powerful player in his own right.

Most importantly, though, Ceruvax was a Wolf. And that meant something. If I fell I knew I could trust him to protect the Packs and find another scion. “Perhaps,” I conceded at last. “But that conversation was enlightening, and he did steer me in the right direction.”

“I’ll give you that.” Adriel shrugged. “For all his faults, Ceruvax was always a wily one.”

Her words piqued my interest. “You knew him?”

“We’ve met,” she admitted. “On House business. But I never knew him well, and it’s been centuries since we last spoke.” She held my gaze. “You should prepare for the possibility that he might not be all there. Being hunted for as long as he has been can do strange things to one’s mind.”

“It’s a risk, I agree.” I sighed. “But he is a Wolf, and by all evidence, an exceptionally loyal one. I can’t just abandon him.”

A smile stole onto Adriel’s face. “Already thinking like a Prime, are you?”

“I must,” I said grimly. “Too much rests on my choices to do otherwise.”

Her grin faded. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s the right decision.” She glanced to the right, in the direction of Draven. In the far-off distance, the guardian was muttering to himself, presumably still busy reconnecting himself to the guardian network. “What about him? Have you considered his reaction?”

I winced. The centaur would no doubt be displeased by my refusal to do as he asked. Yet, as important as the guardians were, redressing their plight came second. “I have. But like you said, it’s been centuries. The guardians have waited this long, they can wait a while longer still.”

She nodded, not disagreeing. “I can see your mind is settled. I will not try to dissuade you further. But Michael?” She paused, waiting for me to look at her. “Be careful, you don’t let responsibility crush you.”

“I won’t,” I affirmed, then dismissed the matter from further consideration. “Now, we have another matter to discuss.”

“Your Class evolution,” she guessed.

“Yes,” I said, eyes shining. “Tell me everything.”

✵ ✵ ✵

“Are you sure you want to talk about that now?” Adriel asked. “This is a matter Ceruvax is better equipped to advise you on.”

I waved aside her suggestion. “I may be willing to trust House Wolf to him, but that doesn’t mean I will follow the envoy’s advice in all things. I know you, and I trust you. Tell me what you know, please.”

The spirit inclined her head. “Very well, if you’re sure.” She paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “What do you know about higher evolutions?”

I shrugged. “Nothing, except what you’ve already told me.”

She nodded. “Then, I’ll start at the beginning. Ascendent Classes are—”

“Ascendant Classes?” I cut in.

Adriel’s lips turned down fractionally. “Sorry, that was stupid of me. I forgot you might not be familiar with the term.” She closed her eyes, thinking. “How to explain this,” she muttered to herself.

I waited patiently.

“Powers are players,” she continued a moment later. “But they are not only players. They are more, and what distinguishes one from the other are the ascendant Classes. The best Class an ordinary player—and this includes envoys and elites—can hope for is a master Class. Powers, though, can acquire ascendant Classes which are wholly different.” She paused. “Is this making sense?”

I nodded. “It is. I assume it’s the powerful initiate Mark that gives Powers access to these Classes?”

“Correct,” she confirmed.

“So, what are they?”

“Before we get to that, there is something else I should tell you.” She hesitated. “I don’t want to scare you unduly, but we should talk about envoys. Do you know what they are?”

I frowned, not sure why she was bringing this up. “They are players who are trusted by a Power to act on their behalf.”

“Good. What else? Do you know why their Powers trust them?”

“Hmm, I suppose, it’s because they are also Sworn and bound to their Powers through a Pact.”

Adriel leaned closer. “Yes, and do you know why they’ve chosen to bind themselves so?”

“Uhm… because they cannot evolve further?”

“That could be a reason,” Adriel allowed, “but is only true in a small fraction of the cases.”

I blinked, this was news to me.

Seeing my confusion, Adriel added, “Most players choose to become envoys even though they are capable of evolving into Powers.”

My frown deepened. “Why would they do that?”

“In order to survive,” Adriel said bluntly. “Any player with an evolved Class earns their power Mark at level two-hundred and fifty.” She held my gaze. “That’s when they become prey. To save themselves, most potential powerful initiates give their allegiance to a Power before reaching the rank twenty-five milestone, becoming Sworn or, if they are fortunate, envoys. Only this will stop an evolved player from acquiring the Mark.”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. Sworn and envoys could not become Powers; that was what Adriel was telling me. From what I knew of the Game, it made sense.

Why would any Power trust someone who could eventually become a rival with their secrets otherwise? The messages I’d received from the Adjudicator earlier regarding my own evolution also seemed to confirm this.

“I see,” I murmured, returning to the topic at hand. “And I assume the reason most Powers hunt their younger kind is to deepen their own Marks?”

“Exactly. A Power Mark will only deepen when you kill another Power—and deepening your Power Mark is necessary if you want to evolve your ascendant Class further.”

I sighed, having feared this would be the case. “Alright. I see how that will make me a juicy target for any Power. And once, I evolve, I will also have to—”

I broke off as something else occurred to me. “Wait, wait! Does getting my ascendant Class mean I won’t be able to attack other players anymore?” I asked, eyes widening as I considered the implications.

“Not quite,” Adriel said, covering her mouth to hide her amusement. “Even after your first higher evolution, you will still be in the gray area that exists between players and Powers. You will be a part, yet apart, from both groups, and as such, will be vulnerable to both.”

I nodded slowly. “And when will I complete the transition? When will I truly become a Power?”

“At the second evolution of your Power Mark.” I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, Adriel went on, “Let’s save discussion of what that entails for another time, shall we? Trust me, it's an entire subject all on its own.”

“Alright,” I grumbled reluctantly. “One last question on the matter then: can players attack Powers?”

“They can, but none are so foolish to do that, as doing so lifts any restrictions the Game places on the Power against said player.”

“Got it.” I scratched my head, thinking hard. “I take it that everything you’re telling me was how things were in your time.” Which by my reckoning was well over a millennia ago. Everything Adriel had told me could be centuries out of date. “Do you think the same applies today?”

“I do,” she said. “I can’t imagine that the basic mechanics of the Game have changed much even after the Houses fell. In my day, any powerful initiate was fair game for a rival House’s Powers. In some Houses, the situation was even worse.”

“Oh?” I asked, one eyebrow raised.

“In ancient times, each House was a law unto itself, with its own rules, traditions, and practices. Some Primes forbade infighting and used a strict series of tests to decide which scions could evolve into Powers. At the other extreme, there were the Houses that preached survival of the fittest. Then there were those that were somewhere in the middle. They formalized conflict between scions and let ritual combat decide who advanced further.”

“Interesting,” I mused. “Is that why you wanted Ceruvax to advise me? So, I would get the House Wolf perspective?”

“Partly, but there is more to it as you will soon see.” She paused. “Are you ready to move on to the discussion of ascendant Classes?”

I nodded.

“Good. The first thing you should know is that ascendant Classes don’t mix with ordinary ones. They have their own traits and abilities. The next thing you should know is that there are only three types of ascendant Classes.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Only three?”

“Broadly speaking, yes. There are three paths open to you: that of the champion, governor, or commander.” She held my gaze. “This next bit is important, so listen closely. The champion focuses on his own growth, advancing his blood memories to the exclusion of all else. The governor specializes in sector development, and the commander on the advancement of his followers and Sworn. The progression path of each House is different and unique. Nonetheless, none of them significantly deviate from the basic template of champion, governor, and commander.” She paused. “Every House went to great pains to hide the details of their own Class variants. House Wolf, being who they are, were more successful than most in this regard.”

“Which is why you thought Ceruvax would be better placed to explain all this,” I surmised.

She nodded. “It is also important to realize that once you begin your ascendancy, your strategy is fixed. Swapping to an alternate path later on, while not impossible, is difficult and invariably ill-advised.”

“I can see how that would be the case,” I murmured.

“It is the reason I stopped you from completing your evolution earlier. The decision you make now is as important as the choice you made when you decided to follow the way of the Wolf.”

I nodded, understanding perfectly. Closing my eyes, I replayed Adriel’s words in my mind while I considered the ascendant Classes. But something about the word itself was distracting. Stilling my thoughts, I tried to identify what.

I’ve seen the term before, I realized. What’s more, it had been used in close relation to Death.

“Stayne,” I muttered aloud.

Adriel raised one eyebrow. “What’s that?”

For the first time in what felt like forever, I recalled Erebus’ skeletal henchman, the Awakened Dead leader’s right hand and envoy. When I’d analyzed Stayne all those many months ago, the Game had described him as an ascendant.

“What is an ascendant undead?” I asked aloud.

Adriel looked at me strangely. “That is not an idle question.”

Exhaling, I explained the source of my curiosity.

She frowned. “Hmm, most who become envoys usually do so before they acquire their Power Mark, but not always. There are some, who after defeat by a fellow Power, may choose submission instead of death. That, however, may not be the case with the skeleton player you mentioned. He may have chosen submission after death.”

My brows furrowed. “What makes you say that?”

“You did. You said he also bore a Mark of Death.” Her lips twisted. “That means this Stayne of yours is of Death’s bloodline. For us, death has always been more… malleable. At some point in his existence, he likely chose to become undead.”

“Right,” I muttered, not understanding entirely, but willing to take her word for it.

“Meeting this Stayne would be interesting,” Adriel mused.

I barked a laugh. “No doubt,” I said, trying to imagine what a clash between the skeleton and the lich would be like. It was a meeting, I, too, would like to see, I decided.

Adriel grinned, sharing in my amusement, but only a moment later, her smile faded. “Are you ready to begin your evolution?”

I shook my head. “I have a few more questions.”

“Go on.”

I leaned forward intently. “For starters, tell me more about the champion’s path.”