Chapter 525 - Interlude - Iona - Classing up (Patreon)

Iona knelt in the chapel, her head bowed in prayer, her hands clasped around the shaft of her axe.

Selene and Lunaris, I pray for your guidance and grace. Light the way forward, and help me through the trial I am about to undertake.

A raspberry blew in Iona’s ear. Selene wasn’t amused by Iona’s prayer.

You know exactly what you’re doing! Have faith in yourself! Selene said.

You know yourself as well as we do, and nobody knows your own heart and offerings better. Lunaris added. We can’t give you good advice here.

Yeah, you’ve got this! Selene chimed in.

Iona’s heart was serene, and she continued praying, explaining herself a bit.

Believing I have all the answers and not seeking counsel is pure arrogance. Down that path leads me in a direction I don’t want to go.

Well, check us off the list! Selene answered back. You’ve talked with us, we believe in you, there’s no need to worry. She said.

You should worry. Lunaris’s words sped Iona’s heartbeat right up. Selene’s been up to mischief with your [Paladin] offerings. Don’t read too much into them, she just wants a laugh.

Hey! Selene protested. Don’t tell her that! I wanted to see her reaction without it!

For all you know, she’d actually take it! Lunaris argued back.

Iona smiled, at peace with herself once again, as the two goddesses argued in the back of her mind. Her future was secure, her way clear. The goddesses had indirectly reassured her of one of her deepest unspoken fears.

She would still be a [Paladin] when she woke up from her classing up. It was a small fear, a silly one, but one she harbored anyway.

We should tell her. Selene said.

Well, after you’ve directly messaged Iona that, of course we have to tell her now! Lunaris sounded annoyed. Which was fair.

Iona lifted an eyebrow, her stomach clenching in fear. The goddesses had been nothing but open and kind with her, seemingly keeping no secrets. What more could they possibly add? What was a secret?

The air above the altar shimmered, and the two goddesses partially descended into Pallos, creating a pair of small avatars, the size of a doll, of themselves on the altar. Iona’s heart started to race.

This wasn’t a casual ‘hi hello’. Whatever this was, it was serious.

Selene in yellow and Lunaris in blue held hands together, starting to Speak. The words were for Iona’s ears only, their divine might preventing anyone else from getting the message. They spoke at the same time, their words and voices overlapping in perfect harmony.

“Iona, our blessed, our chosen. We believe in you. We have faith in you. You have strong potential to go the distance, and one day in the future, when your strength has finished maturing and you are at your peak, we will make a request of you.”

Iona’s heart felt like it was going to evict itself from her chest it was beating so hard.

“What is it?” She whispered.

“We have asked many to try over the millenia, and clearly none have succeeded. Know that failure won’t diminish you in the slightest in our eyes. Know that simply trying will elevate you to the highest position of esteem. We don’t expect you to try today, this year, or even this century. Wait until the end of your long life, and try then.”

It sounded like a suicide mission. At the end of her life? Iona had no problem going out in a blaze of elderly glory, versus slowly declining into dementia and more and more problems. Sure, Elaine would do her best, but Iona didn’t want to be an old dottering lady who couldn’t even feed herself. It felt wrong to her.

They paused a moment, letting the tension rise. With one last blast of light and noise, they laid down a sacred quest for their [Paladin].

“Free the moons.”

Without any fanfare, the two of them vanished, divine sparks slowly falling to the altar.

Iona continued praying and meditating over the quest the entire evening, not shifting even when her joints started to protest. The goddess’s divine mandate continued to echo through her mind.

Free the moons.

There were so many ways it could be interpreted, but the most obvious one was also the hardest one.

Slay Lun’Kat.

Slay a dragon.

The fact that the goddesses had declined to even mention her name wasn’t lost on Iona. The first thought her imagination jumped to was Lun’Kat simply flying over and eliminating the potential threat before she had time to grow and level.

That was merely the first thought. It wasn’t lost on Iona that she hadn’t been ordered to slay the dragon - simply free the moons. There were other ways that could be accomplished. Her first thought was an equally powerful Radiance classer dispersing the illusion - although the distances involved were intimidating. Persuading Lun’Kat to stop it? Iona had faith in her silver tongue, but she doubted it was that good. With time, maybe, but if Lun’Kat was open to persuasion, it was likely someone would’ve succeeded by now.

Other plots, other plans danced their way through the Valkyrie’s head throughout the night as she continued praying. She’d need to talk with Elaine about all of this.

When dawn came she stood up, stretching her joints out, then briskly turned on her heels.

Iona was a little surprised to see her wife snoozing in the back of the chapel on one of the benches. Elaine could be sneaky when she wanted to be, and not everyone had overpowered perception skills like she did. Iona smiled and unclasped her cloak, trying to wrap Elaine in it.

She stirred, her eyes snapping open.

“It’s time?” She asked. Iona clicked her tongue - she’d hoped Elaine would keep sleeping. Rest was important for everyone, and if she wasn’t safe here, where was she safe? There was no point in arguing it.

“It’s time.” The Valkyrie confirmed. She debated not telling Elaine, but no. It was too important.

She took a deep breath in.

“Elaine, I’ve got something important to tell you. Something the goddesses just told me. Are you ready?”

Elaine shuddered, and patted the seat next to her. Iona took it.

“Glad I’m already sitting down for this.” She joked. “Alright, hit me with the bad news.”

Iona explained everything. The Goddesses’s mission. Lun’Kat. Her thoughts about it not mattering right now, but at the end of a long life.

Elaine got very quiet as Iona finished, and the Valkyrie recognized the look. Elaine was thinking hard, working through everything Iona said, and all the implications she could figure out. It was one of the things Iona loved so dearly about Elaine, although she found it adorable how Elaine could utterly miss some things that were so obvious and clear to her.

Finally she shook her head, and cracked a forced smile.

“Well, I’ll just have to come with you, won’t I?” The funsized healer couldn’t fully hide the tremor in her voice.

“You don’t have to.” Iona’s heart was breaking a little bit. Her life was one thing, but her lover’s as well?

Elaine nodded, the stubborn set of her jaw showing she wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

“Forever and always.” She said.

“Forever and always.” Iona echoed, then went to the most basic of Elaine strategies: Distracting her with something new.

“Classing up time!”

Elaine jumped up.

“Hang on! I need to finish my prep work!” She shouted. Iona chuckled and walked slowly to their bedroom, giving Elaine a little more time. As Iona arrived, she saw Elaine moving so quickly she’d be a blur to basically all mortals, rapidly throwing down a few dozen more wards around their bed, getting them all hooked up to the villa’s core.

Iona took a few steps, quickly speeding up before doing a beautiful dive over the layers upon layers of overlapping wards, hitting the bed in full armor like a shot out of a trebuchet. Elaine winced as the boards creaked.

“We really need more reinforcement skills.” She muttered before shooting off, putting down another ward.

Iona made herself as comfortable as possible while being in full armor, making sure her shield was over her body and her axe was in her hands. It was overkill, and they all knew it. At the same time, classing up was a time of incredible vulnerability, and it was worth being prepared. Just in case.

“Love you! Can’t wait to see what you get! Look around and tell me the other options offered!” Elaine waved Iona off as she fell into the world of her soul.

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Iona opened her eyes in the grand temple, quickly picking herself up off the floor. Her guide was there, herself as a [Priestess], one of the potential futures Iona had once had.

“Third class. Can you show me the [Paladin] options?” Iona briefly thought of Elaine’s request. “And one more?”

Priestess bowed.

“Follow me.”

They began to walk through a grand hallway, a dozen altars offering various classes tucked into nooks along the walls. Iona murmured a brief prayer to various gods and goddesses who were represented at the altars, politely paying her respects to the divinities in question.

It cost her nothing to do, and was only polite and respectful.

They arrived at a room with three altars, each one dedicated to the Moon Goddesses. [Gravity Color] cloths were on the central and left ones, while blue braziers burned on the center and right altars. The name of the class was etched into the stone of the altar, and upon each one was a small prayer book that offered deeper insights into the class in question. Iona stepped directly up to the central one, the burning lamps and cloth clearly indicating that this was the natural upgrade to her [Paladin] class.

[The Relentless Paladin] spoke of valor, bravery, and never ever giving up. It was how Iona had been trained by Alruna, a fighting style that let her just keep on going and going and going. One of her skills, [Relentless Pursuit], was called out. It was the easy, obvious upgrade, the one Iona came into the class up expecting to take. The stats were nice as well. +140 Strength, +140 Dexterity, +220 Vitality, +140 Speed, +120 Mana, +120 Mana Regeneration, +280 Magic Power, +280 Magic Control per level.

Barring a literal miracle, it was the class Iona was going to take. She took a brief look at her other two offerings, making sure she wasn’t passing up something interesting.

[Nymphomaniac Paladin - Ooze] was obviously the joke that Selene had been working on, and Iona barked a laugh at seeing it. She wasn’t wrong. She spent a little bit of time flipping through the book, appreciating how there was a strong element to drawing involved. A custom-tailored class for everything Iona enjoyed doing.

The other offering was clearly due to Iona’s request to see a little more, and she got the general gist of it to share with Elaine.

[Champion of the Meek] revolved entirely around Iona’s work in the Han Empire, protecting villagers and other innocents against the endless soldiers marching through the lands. Feng featured prominently, her actions given praise in spite of her failure. Nina was also mentioned, but not as the slayer of Feng, but as yet another member of the meek that Iona had protected, raised up, and championed.

It was a strong class for Iona, and reading it filled her heart with pride. She wanted to remember and keep the words for Elaine to write down, so she could read it back again. A little like her drawings.

[Unyielding Zealot] would take Iona’s devotion and fanaticism all the way to 11, making her entire life about the goddesses. They hadn’t mentioned the class to her, and it wasn’t blue.

Iona loved her goddesses, but there was more to life than religion. Elaine, for example, Fenrir and the Valkyries. Drawing and good meat. She didn’t want to lose those parts of herself and her life.

End of the day, her choice was easy and obvious. Iona became [The Relentless Paladin], and after joining Priestess in a short prayer of thanks to the Goddesses, moved directly onto her second class up.

There was a fine line to walk between pious and practical, and Iona had just spent the entire evening in prayer to the goddesses.

“I’d like to see my Valkyrie offerings now.” Iona said. Priestess gestured, and Iona stepped through another room to get to her offerings.

Six altars burned with lights of various colors, from yellow to light purple. Five cloths on the altars were entirely black with stars studded on them, indicating that every offering was Celestial, and the last one was layered red-and-black. Iona initially thought it was Lava, but on closer examination it was a Crucible offering.

[Legendary Realtor] was easily the worst class offered, although it was related to the Valkyries. In short, it was about how the Order Valkyrie was now housed at Iona’s home, and completely changed how she operated from a warrior, to a keeper, administrator, and protector of the home. If she was a [Lady] of Rolland, Vollomond, or just generally in charge of a castle, fort, or other fortification, the class would be perfect.

[The Flexible Knight - Crucible] leaned into how Iona had used a solid mass of mallium for over a decade as her armor, and occasionally her weapon. It was a weak side-step, the only saving grace being the elemental change. Iona was entirely uninterested in changing from Celestial, so the class stayed.

[Champion-Errant] was a less Valkyrie-focused knight class. It was effectively the ‘I don’t want to be a Valkyrie anymore’ class, and Iona was perfectly content being one.

[Fury of the Moons] was a second [Paladin] offering, focused on doling out brutal vengeance on behalf of the goddesses. Iona suspected part of the offering was the quest the two of them had just laid upon her. She was already their [Paladin], and while devoted, knew that life was more than religious, fanatical devotion to a pair of goddesses. She was faithful, but she was no [Zealot].

[Valkyrie’s Hope] was starting to get more like it! A pure Valkyrie warrior class, it was about Iona being the bright and shining hope of the Valkyries, the strongest of the destroyed generation. The one who was forging a future for the Order, not simply clinging onto the remnants of the past. It immediately went to the top of her list.

[The Valkyrie Paragon] was the final offering, the one Iona had saved for last. A pair of burning purple braziers promised power, and it was another ‘direct Valkyrie upgrade’ class. Less so about being the hope blazing forward, the class was about Iona being the Valkyrie’s Valkyrie. As Sigrun had dubbed her, ‘one of the best of us, the one we all hope to be.’

Iona frankly felt more comfortable as a [Paragon] than a [Hope]. Maybe one day she’d take up a greater burden, but for the moment, simply being the best of them was enough for her. [The Valkyrie Paragon] offered strong stats - and merged in her [Vow] into her main class. It wasn’t something she ever intended to give up, and the minor boost was nice.

With a brief apology to the Goddesses for not taking [Fury of the Moons], Iona took [The Valkyrie Paragon]. +200 Free Stats, +400 Strength, +400 Dexterity, +1000 Vitality, +400 Speed, +100 Mana, +300 Mana Regeneration, +50 Magic Power, +50 Magic Control per level.

“Onto the third class!” Priestess grabbed Iona’s hand, and the two of them cheerfully walked over to the third room. Under different circumstances, if it wasn’t a temple, the two of them would’ve probably been skipping. The most recent class Iona had picked had felt good. It had felt right. She was happy with it.

The last room was the most complicated one. Iona had gone into the class up with a strong idea of what she’d wanted for her first and third class, but the second was a little more up in the air.

[Frozen Huntress] was a natural upgrade of [Traveling Archer], focusing on tracking down large monsters and slaying them. The class’s name was deceptive for how powerful it was. Full credit for killing an adult wyvern boosted the quality to an incredible degree. It was a little more focused on the ‘huntress’ aspects, but that wasn’t the worst. The [Paladin] and [Valkyrie] class got a little more credit for fighting elvenoids and other intelligent creatures, while [Frozen Huntress]  focused more on killing monsters.

[Rime Battle Mistress] was all about fighting in a dozen different styles.

[Justicar of Ice] was a more bow-focused sniper and rapid-fire class, where Iona would lean into her bow and archery a little harder than she had been.

[Dragonslayer Aspirant] was almost immediately rejected by Iona. The goddesses had said at the end of her life, and Iona was still at the beginning of hers. If, by some miracle, she made it to old age, she’d look at dragonslayer classes again with a critical eye.

[Wyvernrider Frostlady] was the Fenrir-related class, and the one that caught Iona’s eye. Her companion bond would move up into the class, and it was all about fighting in tandem with her partner. It clearly distinguished the class from the rest of them, and made her decision easy. +300 Strength, +300 Dexterity, +300 Vitality, +300 Speed, +300 Mana, +300 Mana Regeneration, +300 Magic Power, +300 Magic Control per level.

[Hailstorm] sounded like a fun upgrade to [Blizzard Shot] to boot.

Looking over her selection once more, Iona gave a brisk nod of satisfaction.

“Right then. Let’s wake back up.”

Iona still needed to select all her skills, but a quick look at her stats made her smile.

[Name: Iona]

[Race: Mostly Human]

[Age: 35]

[Mana: 114,185/114,185]

[Mana Regeneration: 174,591]

Stats

[Free Stats: 12,536]

[Strength: 163,816 (+3,503,205)]

[Dexterity: 164,032 (+3,507,824)]

[Vitality: 314,875 (+1,829,424)]

[Speed: 185,912 (+3,975,728)]

[Mana: 114,185]

[Mana Regeneration: 114,185]

[Magic Power: 162,964]

[Magic Control: 162,964]

[Class 1: [The Valkyrie Paragon - Celestial: Lv 830 ]]

[Class 2: [Wyvernrider Frostlady - Ice: Lv 820 ]]

[Class 3: [The Relentless Paladin - Gravity: Lv 790 ]]


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AN: Yes, Iona's stat sheet is incomplete because she has a lot of choices to make and is currently offered a bunch of skills.

AKA I need to work out all her new skills lol