Fortunately, treants didn’t move until a target was in close range of them. We could take as much time as we wanted.
After a few seconds, Rose opened her eyes again and shouted, “Fire!” and a fireball about the same size as the one I’d unleashed shot out of her staff and slammed into the treant.
The moment the spell hit, the treant started squirming in pain. It slowly tried to claw its way over to us, but before it could go more than a few steps it staggered and fell. There was a sharp crack, and it made no move to get back up.
“Did I...kill it?”
Rose stared at the dead treant in wonder, and I lightly patted her shoulder.
“Nice job, Rose. And congrats on leveling up.”
“Huh?”
That was how Rose gained her first level with almost disappointing ease.
❈❈❈
After killing that first treant, all of Rose’s hesitation vanished. Though she looked like a sheltered girl, she’d spent her days in the mansion longing for adventure.
Thus, I wasn’t too surprised when she immediately mastered the basics of fighting and started throwing out fireballs as fast as I could point treants out.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” She cried, grinning with childlike glee as she turned the nearby grove into a sea of flame.
“Hold up a sec, Rose!” I shouted suddenly.
“Hwuh?” She turned back to me, looking like a puppy who’d been denied her favorite snack.
Look, I’m glad you’re enjoying this and all, but don’t overdo it, I thought, casting Analyze on her.
【Rose】
LV: 4
HP: 68
MP: 65
Strength: 0
Vitality: 15
Intelligence: 46
Mind: 14
Agility: 5
Focus: 8
Yeah, I may have leveled her a bit too much.
Rose had no starting class, or rather she was probably set to the Novice class. In the game there hadn’t been any way to get NPCs to level up, so I wasn’t sure, but I’d assumed they were all given the Novice class by default, which had no skills or growth bonuses associated with it. But since I was leveling Rose up anyway, it would be better for her to swap to an actual class that gave her growth bonuses. Obviously, my goal wasn’t to minmax her like Radd and the others, so there was no need to make her train until her stats were high enough to swap to a higher tier class. Still, there was no reason not to do some easy optimizations.
Especially since Rose’s innate growth rates kind of suck...
I’d wondered if her innate growth rates had been set to something special since she had the blood of a vampire sleeping within her, but at least right now while she was still a normal human, her growth rates were no better than any other non-adventurer.
Some of Rose’s current equipment gave boosts to Intelligence and Mind on level up, but if we subtracted those bonuses her growth rates looked like this:
Strength: +0
Vitality: +2
Intelligence: +3
Mind: +2
Agility: +0
Focus: +1
Total: +8
Looks like her total stat increase per level is one lower than mine, and mine is pure ass. Although...I guess Rex is supposed to be an adventurer, while Rose is just a civilian. It would be pretty shitty if his growth rates couldn’t even match up to a character not even meant to go into battle.
Honestly, it felt good to finally have better growth rates than someone, but now wasn’t the time to relish in my superiority. I was dying to figure out the answer to the question: “Can someone who’s not an adventurer even change classes?”
Fortunately, the requirements to pick up first tier classes were quite low. Fighter required you to have 20 Strength and 10 Vitality, Mage needed 20 Intelligence and 10 Mind, and all of the other first tier classes similarly required 20 points in their main stat and 10 points in their secondary stat.
Even better, it turned out that Rose already met the requirements to change into the Mage class. In fact, the reason I’d given her equipment that boosted her Intelligence and Mind growth rates was to get her to the point that she could change into the class as quickly as possible, but I’d let her level a bit too much.
Rose gave me an anxious look, worried her time role-playing as an adventurer was already over.
“Don’t worry, the fun is just beginning. Haven’t you ever wondered what changing classes feels like?”
Rose’s eyes lit up and she started nodding emphatically.
❈❈❈
Our trip back into the city was surprisingly uneventful. Rose moved as gracefully as ever, but it was clear she was excited because she was walking twice as fast as usual.
We reached the temple soon enough, and I directed Rose to touch the Mage statue.
“Ah... I did it, I think. I changed classes.”
Rose had indeed managed to change her class to Mage. It was surprising how smoothly everything was going.
Or at least it was, until I suggested we go ahead and call it for the day.
❈❈❈
“Fire!” Rose shouted, destroying yet another treant.
Despite my suggestion we return to our places of rest—the true protagonist didn’t seem to be triggering any events that would advance the world age, so I didn’t think there was any real reason to rush the leveling process—Rose hadn’t been ready to stop just yet. In the end, we’d gone back out to kill some more monsters.
“Next up is...that one,” I said, pointing to another tree.
“Got it! Fire!”
Rose’s movements were much more streamlined than they had been at the start. Thanks to the few levels she’d gained, her Fire spell was stronger too, and it burned the treants to ash before they could move a single step.
“Thank you so much, Rex!” Rose said, turning back to me with a smile.
“Err...”
Without waiting for me to form a full reply, she bowed and added, “You’ve made my greatest dream come true. I always thought I would be trapped in that mansion my whole life, but here I am doing battle with monsters that seemed so terrifying just yesterday.”
“Rose...”
I grimaced. Rose’s story was doomed to end in tragedy no matter what, at least in the game.
“I realize I’m not strong enough to become an adventurer on my own, of course. But it made me so happy to learn there were things even I could do. Thank you so much for staying by my side and granting me the courage to go out into the world.”
Rose looked up at me, her eyes brimming with joy.
Unable to meet her gaze, I averted my eyes and said, “I just did it on a whim.”
“Even so—”
“Anyway, it looks like you leveled up again. Let’s see just how much changing classes boosted your...growth rates?!”
The moment I cast Analyze I realized what had changed. “It can’t be...” I muttered, shocked.
“Rex?” Rose asked.
I didn’t answer. I’d only used Analyze as a way to try and change the subject, but doing so had revealed a shocking truth.
Did she change into some class other than Mage? No, that’s not possible—I saw her touch the right statue, and I saw her light up! She has to be a Mage right now!
Since Rose’s innate growth rates came out to a total of +8 and the Mage class gave a bonus of another +6, she should have gained 14 stat points after her last level up. And yet, Rose’s status window showed that her total stat points gained were far higher than that!
Strength: +1
Vitality: +3
Intelligence: +6
Mind: +4
Agility: +2
Focus: +4
Total: +20
“How did you get this strong?!”
This means...even Rose has better growth rates than me!!!