The World of Tactics

Chapter Sixteen I: Moving On To Promotion

"The formation of the crest is a natural thing and 'human' is the only one known to have such a crest. Those that are listed as 'monsters' will usually contain a soul core in some sort of way or form. As for those that did not have a soul core, 'animals' were such cases. Over the years, human anarchy always strictly followed the case system based upon the crest system.

There are many stages at which a person can promote and become stronger. The early-stage was the formation of a blank crest (Grade 0). Then the direct engravement of the crest's owner in the directive direction of the crest (Grade 1). There are two types of engravement, one was the direct engraving of the crest. Meanwhile, the other was the indirect engravement without the need for any direct interference. With the indirect engravement, however, the crest owner had no control and concluded that the subconsciousness was the directive in driving the direction of the engravement. The two are categorized as the 'Conscious Engravement Effect.'

After the initial engraving of the crest, the crest will begin to expand from thereon. This is called the expansion phase of the crest (Grade 2). The average person will find that this has become much more difficult, but manageable. It was theorized that every person could naturally achieve such a state with proper training, experience, and learning.

From this point, a person would have at least three options during the expansion phase of the crest. Naturally, only one of the options will be selected while all of the others will, naturally, can no longer be selected afterward. Commonly, the average person would have three options. Those that were much more talented would have four options and genius would have five options or more.

[Example: Militia (Grade 1) can change class to Soldier, Knight, Cavalry Knight, Armoured Knight, Archer, etc.

The first default option for class change for the Militia base class was the Soldier class. The remaining others depend on the person meeting the hidden condition. At least two other options must be unlocked first before a person can change class. Otherwise, the said person will be stuck in that class.]

Higher promotion within the crest system is quite rare. Usually, only those that reach the extreme limit could have a slight chance of getting a higher promotion (Grade 3). Usually, such posts are governed by powerful characters that have plenty of experience in life or death battles. Within a kingdom, those that can reach such a height numbered close to fifty or one hundred, depending on the kingdom's size and military power.

As for those that went beyond higher promotion. It only exists in legends and myths. An adult dragon would be able to harness the same amount of power as those that went beyond higher promotion. A sub-dragon like a wyvern is born with a low amount of dragon blood, automatically having a strength comparable to a newly evolved hobgoblin. Once a wyvern reaches adulthood, they are comparable to those that just had a higher promotion." An old thin book record of humans' crest, publically known stages, and comparison.

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John Smith follows the five in front of him quietly during this whole time within his world. The five were Kevin, Plucker, Claudia, Sam, and Miller. The five have talked a lot about some points of interest within the capital and that they should all gather together after the one-year training period is over. Kevin wants to continue training to become even stronger and prefers being a big guy equipped with heavy armor. A heavily armored knight in shiny armor was boasting right in front of Claudia.

Plucker was not willing to back down and boast about himself, even more, to become the greatest knight in the Anuicia Kingdom. Nothing like a slowpoke like Kevin while riding on a beautiful white horse in gleaming white armor. Sam and Miller could only laugh at the two dolts that were fighting for Claudia's favor. Claudia was in tone with Sam and Miller while watching the two's verbal fights. Sam was much different and aspired to just have a lovely wife while servicing the kingdom. As for Miller, Miller did not have any ambition at all and preferred to just have a full stomach.

In his eyes, Kevin looks like the type to be quite level-headed. Plucker was on the reckless side. Claudia was the calming and charming type. Some were quite loyal and kind. Miller was more of the joking type and preferred to stay low-key like him. Out of the five of them, he was the quietest and preferred to keep things to himself. Over the years, his habits did not change and they got used to him being quiet and calm. He prefers to call himself the older brother of these five. Naturally, he felt that he should be more calm and mature while guiding the five. Everyone would have gone their separate ways afterward.

After they reached the intersection with the gate, the six of them separated into three directions. They have to go into their training ground. Kevin and Plucker went with him to the left side. Claudia went straight ahead to the tower made of huge brick stones. That is where mages and mage apprentices go to. Finally, Sam and Miller went to the right side. With this, they went to their proper training ground.

When the three of them finally reached the training ground, the evening ray of light was hanging above them. There was not a lot of trainee training and most just focused on training. A few weeks before this, the first few batches that had changed class were already granted a graduation passing badge. As the month edges closer to the end of the year, many trainees are put under more and more pressure. This is why there were fewer and fewer trainees on the training ground. After all, under such pressure, some trainees have changed their class from a militia into a stronger class.

As for Kevin and Plucker, due to his insistence on making sure that the two maxed out their levels first. The two would have already changed their class when their level had just reached fifteen. He also had another purpose in delaying his class change. Because of this, it would ensure that his talent is seemingly lacking. As a result of his lacking talent, he took too long to change his class. This is the general acceptance and judgment of those that we're able to change their class firsthand. It was crude, but he was not about to say anything, since he benefited from this crude judgment.

For now, he followed Kevin and Plucker into one of the training rooms. Usually, the three of them would go to the public training ground with wide-open spaces. But for this, he decided that it was better to keep things under wraps because his crest is not a common triangle like others. Otherwise, he would not take the trouble of getting a smaller private training room. For now, he watches as Kevin was the first to try and change class.

Hovering above Kevin's right hand was a triangle crest that looked upside down. One angle pointed down to Kevin's hand while the other two pointed to the west and east sides. Towards one of the pathways, he saw that Kevin mentally charged mana towards the angle that faces the east side of the triangle and it was obvious what class Kevin was going to take. It was the armored knight's class.

He felt the mana from the surrounding air slowly converge toward Kevin. Then the mana quickly condenses into lines of shining white light and rushes forward to Kevin. It only took a few moments until Kevin was surrounded by the shining lights. Quickly, he opens Kevin's status screen and he can see some improvements in some of the stats. The most obvious thing was how many health points Kevin received just from changing class to the armored knight. Kevin's status screen reads:

[Name: Kevin][Class: Armored Knight (Grade 2)][Level: 20/40][Rank: 2][HP: 25/25] +4

[STR: 7(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +2

[MAG: 0(10) / [][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[SKL: 7(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[SPD: 4(20) / [1][2][3][4][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[LCK: 3(30) / [1][2][3][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[DEF: 11(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] [10] [11] [][][][][][][][][] ] +2

[RES: 2(10) / [1][2][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[Hidden: [CON: 10][MOV: 5][SKILL: [Defense Up]][EXP: 0/100][WEA: Lance D]

[Growth Rate][HP: 41][STR: 24][MAG: 6][SKL: 24][SPD: 38][LCK: 16][DEF: 48][RES: 9]

He could only marvel at how powerful the changes were just because of one class change. In total, he roughly did an estimate and it hovers around a nine to ten points increase in stats. To him, it was equal to five levels. It was no wonder most people would change class right at the start of level fifteen when they got the chance. It was only his opinion, but it was somewhat of a waste to change classes at level fifteen. However, he realized that only people who did not have his perspective and ability would not know that there is still room for growth.

Overall, his thoughts on Kevin were that Kevin chose the right class because Kevin's defense reached eleven points. That is a colossal amount of defense. He bet that Kevin could easily kite an early evolved hobgoblin without any trouble. When he finally stopped looking at Kevin's status screen, he finally felt the condensation of mana.

All over Kevin, he saw layers and layers of heavy armor appearing from the void. With a few clicks and clunks, Kevin was finally fully geared in metallic armor that was condensed from mana. The armor looks heavy and tough to penetrate. With another thought from Kevin, the metallic armor fades away. Looks like Kevin had absorbed the condensed mana back. Nothing could be said about Kevin's tan face that smirked at Plucker.

He quietly observes as the two face off. Now, it was Plucker's turn. With Plucker's right hand, another inverse triangle appears again. Hovering within mid-air. Plucker's choice was quite obvious and it was the first angle of the triangle that was to the west side. The same went for Plucker. The mana within the air slowly converges around Plucker. After a few moments, the mana light had already turned Plucker into a shining figure of bright light. There was nothing different between the process of Plucker's class change and Kevin's class change. He was not polite and observed Plucker's status. Plucker's status screen reads:

[Name: Plucker][Class: Armoured Soldier (Grade 2)][Level: 20/40][Rank: 2][HP: 21/21] +2

[STR: 7(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +2

[MAG: 0(10) / [][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[SKL: 9(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +2

[SPD: 6(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[LCK: 2(30) / [1][2][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[DEF: 5(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ] +1

[RES: 1(10) / [1][][][][][][][][][] ] +0

[Hidden: [CON: 8][MOV: 6][SKILL: [Discipline]][EXP: 0/100][WEA: Lance D+]

[Growth Rate][HP: 24][STR: 22][MAG: 2][SKL: 40][SPD: 29][LCK: 3][DEF: 17][RES: 9]

Plucker was quite the soldier. On average, a soldier would not have the same number of skill points as Plucker and he, too, was way behind Plucker's skills. He had not expected Plucker to get a skill because he had observed some of the surrounding soldiers and most of them did not have the skill as Plucker did. While it might have been a slight on his part, he did have some opinion as to why Plucker did get a skill and it might be due to Plucker's high levels. This is just a side thought and there was no concrete evidence. For now, he set that thought aside.

A second after his observation, he saw that Plucker was also able to condense some sort of armor. However, it was not fully decked with a metallic flavor like Kevin. He saw the familiar set of leather armor with some metallic in between. Even so, he could tell that the reason why Plucker was able to condense some metallic armor was due to Plucker's high level. Otherwise, Plucker's current gear looks similar to the four figures that came to mind. With a sigh, he saw Plucker's provoking gaze at the smirking Kevin.

Even so, he saw the result and he too had to change his class to a higher grade. This way, he would be able to increase his combat power. Nothing could change his mind and it was way too long before he was able to see such improvements. It was unbearable to see that the surrounding trainees were able to slowly improve and that he was stuck for the past year. Now, he opens his chest with his left hand and his crest, which looks like a square, finally emerges. While the two were not paying attention to him. He quickly guides his mana and charges toward the angle that contains the armored knight's class.

His action quickly caught the attention of the two, but it was too late for the two to tell if his crest was a square or a triangle. It was because he was currently surrounded by a multitude of shining lights that were roughly one-third more than the two. He closes his eyes to feel the rising vitality within his body. It was such a weird feeling because he did not feel that he had improved in physical might or felt lighter or anything of the sort. He could tell that his vitality had increased by roughly twenty percent, which was an incredible amount.

Another feeling of heaviness and he could feel the touch of coldness laid on top of his body. This was the incredible effect of his class change. He opens his eyes and feels the clinks as he moves around. His gaze landed on his open palm, no, to be exact, his gauntlet. Even with the heavy armor on, he felt no discomfort nor were there any restrictions on his actions. No other physical armor would have such an effect when fully decked in such heavy armor. He could tell that the armor that he is equipped with looks the same as Kevin's just from looking at the gauntlet.

With a thought, he quickly absorbed the heavy armor made out of mana. In return, he could feel the heaviness quickly fade away at a rapid speed. Afterward, something caught his eyes and his gaze became blank. It was as if he was looking into the void. Kevin and Plucker made eye contact at that time. The two had seen plenty of time when he had such blank gazes like this. Most of the time, they would ignore him because he did not realize that he was doing so. However, that was not important.

What was important for him right now was the notification messages that he received before and after looking at his status screen. The notification messages that he received were:

[Ding! Class change!][Militia -> Armoured Knight]

[Health Points increase by 4.]

[Constitution increases by 2.]

[Movement increases by 1.]

[Skill Obtained: Defense Up.]

[Unallocated points increase by 8.]