"I’ll choose [Void Walker]," Lukas said.

Melody and Akira looked at him.

"The name tells me choosing the class would involve movement," he said. "And whatever that means specifically, it suggests mobility is central to the class. That’s one part of my arsenal I haven’t accounted for yet."

He looked at the list one final time. "Every fight I’ve been in, I’ve been a melee fighter who has to close distance or hold ground. When I got [Smite] and [Death Bolt], I got ranged options, but I have nothing to avoid fighting entirely."

"If things work out the way I want, I should get a teleportation skill." He nodded. "Hopefully."

"It’s a reasonable argument," Melody said.

"It’s the best argument available given what we know," Akira agreed.

Lukas selected [Void Walker].

The class change quest generated immediately.

[Class Change Quest: Void Walker]

[Objective: Walk barefoot in a straight line for twenty-four hours on the Second Floor.]

[Completion grants the [Void Walker] class.]

The three of them crowded around the message.

Akira stared at him. "Walk barefoot for twenty-four hours? That should be easy right?"

"In a straight line," Lukas added.

"On the Second Floor," Melody said. "That’s hard as fuck. Do you know how many beasts he could encounter during that time?"

"It’s us," Lukas said. "I’m sure we’ll be able to take care of it."

Akira looked like she was reconsidering several things simultaneously but said nothing further.

A few seconds passed.

"When do we get our upgraded skills?" Akira asked suddenly, frowning. "As Adepts, our current skills should be upgraded, and we should get one new skill. That’s how it works with every floor. Shouldn’t something have happened by now?"

They looked at each other.

Melody glanced around the hall, a frown on her face.

"Maybe it’ll happen once we leave the Second Floor," she said. "Maybe it’s some kind of safeguard to make sure we return to the First Floor at least once."

"Maybe," Lukas nodded. "I guess there’s only one way to find out."

They headed to the spatial gate, walking back through it.

It felt weird, but in a single step, the Salaria gate hall materialized around them.

Then the notifications arrived.

Akira made a sound of pure delight. "I got mine."

"Mine too," Melody said, reading something only she could see.

Lukas stared at what had appeared in front of him.

[Reconfiguration confirmed.]

[Thief: Awaiting class change.]

The entry sat greyed out and inactive, waiting for the class change quest to be completed. His eyes went down to the next entry.

[Hexblade: +1 skill]

[Cursed Ground: You can hex a patch of ground that slows, weakens, and drains any enemy that steps on it.]

He blinked. An area of effect skill? He would have to test whether enemy meant anybody that stepped onto the cursed area, or if it could truly differentiate between allies and enemies.

He checked out the next skill.

[Necromancer: +1 skill]

[Bone Wall: You can drag bones from the ground and fuse them into a solid barrier that blocks projectiles, cuts off escape routes, or protects a position.]

Drag bones from the ground? Did that mean there had to be bones already present in the ground or the skill would create them out of nothing?

He’d truly have to test them out.

"What did you get?" Akira asked, leaning towards him.

He told them. [Cursed Ground] and [Bone Wall]. One skill that changed the terrain against enemies, and one that built cover from nothing.

"You got a defensive skill," Akira observed. "I got the opposite."

"What did you get?"

"[Corpse Explosion]." She said, a satisfied grin on her face. "I can target any corpse on the battlefield and detonate it. It’ll send fragments flying in every direction, causing heavy damage across the blast radius."

"That’s very... you," Lukas said.

"It is," she agreed. "Your skills lean towards control and protection, which actually mirrors how you fight. You use [Hex Shield] and [Wing Fortress], so it’s no wonder it thinks you want defense."

"I fight completely offensively, so my new skill leans towards destruction."

"Melody?" Lukas asked. "How about you?"

"I got [Soul Leech]," she said. "With physical touch, I can drain my target’s mana. It also induces fatigue, weakens their output, and temporarily transfers the stolen mana to my own reserves."

"That means with this skill, you can outlast anyone in a prolonged fight as long as you have a constant battery to leech off," Lukas said.

"Considerably longer, yes."

Lukas grinned at her. "If you need it, you can take mana from me. I have way too much anyway. As long as my constitution can offset the fatigue."

"We’ll see about that." Melody grinned.

Lukas looked around to see that they were blocking the gate again, turning to his wives. "Let’s go."

But they had no idea if they should follow the route they took here.

They decided to follow the Adepts. After all, there might be other routes that they were not aware of.

They followed the stream of departing Adepts into a connected passageway.

At intervals along the walls were fixed panel readers, and each Adept touched their ID to the surface, the barrier blocking the route lifting briefly to let them through before resetting.

They passed through in sequence and followed the passage downwards, following a long staircase that descended below street level before opening into an underground parking garage.

The garage was enormous.

Bright panels covered the ceiling in even rows, flooding the space with white light that left no shadows.

The floor was built out of clean stone marked with painted lanes and designated spaces extending further than Lukas could see from the entrance.

Thousands of vehicles filled the spaces, each one hovering in place.

They were different designs, with some built like sport cars, and others like off-road vehicles. Some looked relatively cheap, and others looked expensive. Very few looked luxurious.

Lukas was staring at one of them, a long, two-seater with a shiny body, when a screen appeared in front of him.

[Mayback Volt]

[Rank: Adept]

[A top-of-the-range Volt car from the Mayback brand.]

Then an engine roared to life somewhere nearby.

Lukas turned towards the sound just in time to see the car spill out of its parking space, heading straight towards them.

"What the..."

Before he could do anything, it sped up, heading straight at them, and showed no sign of stopping.