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6-16. Blinding Beholder

  *Ding* You have unlocked the Blinding Beholder class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

  Effects:

  - Blinding Beholder: Gain 32 stat points for each level in this class.

  - Luminary Beholding: See the world around you through the star's light.

  - Luminary Source: Maximum Mana, Health and Stamina increased by 200%

  - Luminary Form: Increased Visibility and Experience gained while in starlight.

  - Luminary Might: Luminary aligned effects are boosted by 290%.

  Available Skills:

  - Luminary Affinity: Increased Luminary affinity.

  - Luminary Manipulation: Manipulate the light of the stars with your mana.

  - Luminary Cloak: Shield yourself in obscuring starlight.

  - Stargazing: Witness a distant view cast in starlight.

  - Starry Night: Form a small area that is difficult to see into.

  - Luminary's Aegis: Coat yourself in dense starlight.

  - Luminary Flare: Blast outwardly with forceful starlight.

  - Assault of the Beholder: Rend apart that which you see.

  - Beholden Bestowed: Imbue your allies' eyes with mana.

  - A Nice View: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

  The first thing Zoe noticed was how different things seemed. Brighter, for the most part. She could see in the shadows just fine with her vampyric skills, just the tiniest bit of light enough to let her see like it was a bright sunny day. Yet still, things seemed brighter. Clearer. The sun's light shone down like an omniscient beam, and everything it touched echoed through her mind's eye. Every branch, every leaf, every blade of grass.

  Though it was even less useful at seeing the invisible beasts in front of them than her Arcane Beholder class was. The light passed right through them, the stone stairs they walked on clear to her but the beasts that trod on them didn't leave the faintest lingering shadow to see.

  "Huh." Zoe stared at the system message in front of her, jaw threatening to fall away from her tight control.

  "Is it good?" Jeff pressed. "Enough to help with the dungeon?"

  "Hmm," Zoe pondered. She'd never even heard of the Luminary element before. Blinding Beholder was just going to be light, she imagined. Unseen Beholder darkness, maybe shadows. But this was something completely out of left field for her. She had no comparison to draw from, no means of understanding how powerful the skills she'd gained would be.

  She started by pulling up her stat sheet. Just scratching past eighty thousand health with the boost from Blinding Beholder combined with the several hundred points she'd pushed into Vitality from Arcane Beholder. Along with a much more comfortable 160 thousand mana — and three levels that carried over. A whopping ten levels from a single guard.

  With a level forty six cap and her rule of the bottom ten percent for her beholder classes, her next cap requirement would be ninety seven or lower. She rounded it off to anything under 100, just to make it easier on herself. That was just another five, maybe six of the patrolling guards if the experience didn't slow down too much.

  "It tripled my health and mana, so if nothing else that's good. Have either of you two heard of the luminary element?" Zoe asked.

  They both shook their heads.

  "Well that's apparently what I've got. It's going to require some testing, so we could either spend the rest of the day doing that or with my higher mana it will be much easier for me to keep us safe up there so we could just try to rush me to my next one now, and then test both at the same time." Zoe suggested. "If we could do two or three at a time I think I could get my next one by tomorrow if I'm not too unlucky."

  "You don't have any offensive abilities?" Tom asked. "If you had something you could use that extra mana on it would make it much easier. Or at least something you could help block the arrows with."

  Zoe shrugged. "Not really, honestly. My main offensive option are enchantments, but I don't have an enchanting class right now so they're a bit slow. And anything I have that's directly useful is far too costly to use against creatures that high level. It would take probably ten, twenty million to take one of them out?" She chuckled. "That would be several minutes of me channelling mana into my skill, directing it towards something I can't see. Even longer if I also had to try dodging the arrows while I did it. And that's being generous, it might be even more mana. I do have some good defensive skills, but nothing that would help defend you two more than Jeff can do."

  Tom shook his head in something resembling disgust. "You talk about millions of mana like that's normal."

  "It was." Zoe shrugged. "Will be again, eventually. Benefit of looping, really." She gestured to herself. "Along with its drawback. But anyway, I can't help with offense right now. I could probably take one out but it would take me longer than you, and I couldn't help you while I do it. We can either do what we just did again, but a little easier since I just tripled my mana or we can spend the day testing my new skills to see if any of them will help."

  Zoe paused for a moment, staring at the complete lack of presence the creatures had to her class. "And honestly, I don't think my class will do much offensively. It's all about light, and the creatures are literally invisible. They're not affected by light. Even if it's specifically starlight and probably more powerful than normal light, that doesn't do anything if they're immune to light."

  "Back to it then." Jeff sighed. "This sucks, though."

  Zoe laughed. "It'll be worth it when I help you loop though. This dungeon will be a gold mine. Not too many that are this high level. Plus who knows what level the boss will be at. These are just the peons!"

  The rest of the day flew by as they repeated the process of hopping in to the dungeon and picking off the guards one by one. With Zoe's increased mana, dodging the arrows became much less challenging. Jeff ended up far less drained as a result, Tom found himself almost relaxing as he let off his barrage of arrows on the poor patrols below. Zoe became the sole reason they even needed to take breaks every few kills, the mental strain of dodging so many invisible projectiles while keeping Tom in range of the singular guard that she couldn't even see properly was incredible.

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  By the end of the first day, she'd reached level 100 six times. The experience slowed down significantly, but even into the nineties each of the guards was still giving her at least five levels, often even six. The second day, she'd reached level 100 seven more times though still without reaching her next class.

  And on the third day, early in the morning on her first attempt of the day she noticed her level jump from ninety one to just ninety five. The first time any of the guards had given her four levels. She grinned with excitement, pushing the system to show her if she had classes available after she teleported the group back to camp, though she knew she would.

  *Ding* The following classes are available;

  Zoe immediately pushed the system to give her Corporal Beholder. After seeing what Blinding Beholder offered, Unseen Beholder was incredibly tempting. It might be an element she'd never seen before, but even if she did end up with some more powerful darkness element it was still not likely to affect creatures that were entirely invisible. Darkness and light were irrelevant to this dungeon, and figuring out how she could get around that with elements she didn't understand yet was a problem for another time.

  Corporal Beholder on the other hand would provide her with physical prowess. Health and power she could draw on to maybe absorb the dungeon's assault. Eyes that could see even that which light and darkness couldn't. If nothing else, it would likely give her the strongest ability to not die if she made a mistake and that outweighed almost anything the other class could give her.

  *Ding* You have unlocked the Corporal Beholder class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

  Effects:

  - Corporal Beholder: Gain 40 stat points for each level in this class.

  - Corporal Beholding: Feel the world around you through your enhanced senses.

  - Corporal Source: Maximum Health increased by 375%, Maximum Health Regeneration increased by 125%, Maximum Stamina increased by 250%.

  - Corporal Form: Increased sense and experience gained while stressing your muscles.

  - Corporal Might: Corporal aligned effects are boosted by 360%.

  Available Skills:

  - Corporal Affinity: Increased Corporal affinity.

  - Corporal Renewal: Mend your flesh together with overwhelming force.

  - Stilled Flesh: Become one with the environment, vanishing into the background.

  - Farsight: Focus your vision to a point in the distance.

  - Corporal Quell: Define an area sound can not leave.

  - Corporal Bracing: Brace against even the most powerful impacts.

  - Corporal Barrage: Blast outwardly with force.

  - Assault of the Beholder: Rend apart that which you see.

  - Beholden Bestowed: Imbue your allies' eyes with mana.

  - A Nice View: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

  Zoe collapsed as the system's magic forced itself through her body in ways she'd never experienced before. No, she realized. In ways it had only done once to her — mere minutes after she'd arrived in the world. The pain of her flesh twisting as her muscles grew and tensed, every hair in her nose and ears bending to fit the system's will. Her eyes quaking in their sockets making her feel like she sat on a spinning top.

  "Must be a good one," Tom chuckled.

  "She's definitely bigger, at least." Jeff agreed.

  "Just a little painful. Hold on," Zoe replied, struggling to hold back the breakfast she'd eaten from ruining her clothes.

  A few minutes passed before the system's magic left her body, and another few as Zoe got used to all the new sensations she could feel — many of which just from her vastly expanded body. Muscles bursting beneath her skin, her clothes taut against her neck and shoulders as they stretched around her new body.

  But even more from her even further enhanced senses. Unlike other classes she'd taken that gave her new perception abilities, Corporal Beholder gave her nothing new. It just enhanced what she already had so much that everything felt new again.

  The cold ground beneath her muscular, bare arm felt so different. So new. Every speck of dirt, every crystal of frost trying to form in the cold air, every worm that wriggled beneath pricked against her fine hairs and overwhelmed her. Her already enhanced senses grew even deeper, with even more detail. Somehow she could smell Tom breathing, and hear the tiny particles that were lifted off Jeff's dirty brown shirt he hadn't bothered cleaning yet.

  Zoe sat up and opened her eyes, letting in another rush of information. The water that pulsed through the trees and leaves, the dust that carried through the wind. Every drop of blood that flowed through her companions and every breath that raced through their lungs as clear to Zoe as their shoes. The slight breeze that washed across her back carried with it the history of everything it touched. The blades of grass it blew past leaving the faintest of ripples in the impacts she felt, the trees left massive gaps.

  She blinked a few times, looking around the forest, enjoying how new everything looked.

  "This is crazy." Zoe laughed. "Is this what every physical class feels like?"

  Tom shrugged. "Not sure what you're feeling but if that's your first physical class, probably."

  "I've only ever done magic. Had a couple hybrid classes, but nothing that felt like this. You ever heard of the Corporal element?" Zoe asked.

  "I think so. It's a higher form of flesh? You got it as a physical class, though?" Tom's head tilted. "I've only heard of it as a magical class. Thought it was exclusive."

  "Yeah, no manipulation skill. Nothing magical about it at all as far as I can see, beyond the standard two beholder skills." Zoe answered.

  "Huh. Only met a couple people with it but what they described didn't seem like it would work for physical classes." Tom stretched and nodded towards the dungeon. "Back in for your next class, or do you want to test things out first?"

  Zoe bit her lip as she checked her stat sheet. Still only level ninety five, nothing carrying over. The guard they fought should have gotten her to ninety six at least, so the experience penalty was definitely noticeable, and would only get worse as she levelled up too.

  Though, while it would slow down this was also the last one she needed before she suspected her class would merge. And with such a low class cap, at most she'd have to get to two eighty or so. At her unluckiest. Likely somewhere in the low to mid two hundreds. Even if it slowed down a lot, that was still only a week or two and she'd get to see whether or not the classes would merge.

  And even if she wanted to steal all the skills the different classes had to offer — and she did, she could just pick the classes up after the merge one by one and work through everything they had to offer. She still had all of her Seasoned Persistence base classes available to her, even if the actual Seasoned Persistence wasn't available for her to take. It made sense that all of her Beholder classes would also be available.

  "I think we go back in but it's up to you two." Zoe took a peek at her vitals.

  Health: 666,900

  Stamina: 38,325

  Mana: 225,000

  "If I take a day to figure out my skills, we might be able to try taking on the dungeon properly. I got a comfortable boost to my health and some of these skills seem pretty strong. If we take a month or two to get me some more levels I might be able to merge my classes then grab a good enchanting class which would definitely be the safer option but it would take some time. That doesn't matter to me much but I understand if it does to you." Zoe explained.

  Jeff looked at Tom, and Tom nodded.

  "We'll take the safer route. This will be much more fun with the legendary Verdant Watcher on full display, anyway." Jeff grinned.

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