Epilogue

~ Curator Meltissa Jane ~

While the boy slept under Titcomb's Law for Legates, vol. 2, Meltissa checked her quest logs.

Progress [Governance Course, Speedrunner Edition]: 91/100

Quest [Debutante Ball] upgraded to [Stunning Debut]

Congratulations! Your mentee shocked and awed hundreds of people in his first public appearance.

Quest [Stunning Debut] complete.

Reputation gains awarded.

Skill level-up available: [Mentor]

New skill availble: [Appraise Magic Item]

Minor class feature unlocked: [Inner Librarian]

Do you want to skill-up now?

Meltissa reflexively clicked the "No" button on her interface. Her class had gained so much from Bilius, she habitually deferred all skill-ups. It was better to take a few medications and lie down first.

"An education is never wasted." Those were the words that started it all, the day she accused him of killing his mother. Until that point, Bilius was just a responsibility. She learned how badly she had failed him and resolved to be a better guardian, but she hadn't planned on getting involved. Her class had other ideas.

Primary Quest: [Mentoring A Monster]. The child before you is precocious, intelligent, determined, and bursting with talent. He could become anything. [Usurper], [Holy Father], [Dark Lord], [Cataclysm] are his most probable fates.

And he is asking for your help.

If you accept this quest, his accomplishments, tangible and intangible, reward you with experience. Those gains will stack with improvements to your [Township] and other experience sources. His death or severe setback will incur class penalties.

Most importantly, your influence will shift his attitude toward Aarden and the people in it. Will he bear a curse-fueled grudge against the world, or will he seek to salve the hurts of others? You could be the difference.

This is a primary questline with potential for many side quests. Success carries you through the second threshold. It ends when he attends his Selection ceremony, or you part ways. The nature of your quest rewards will be determined by the type and degree of your influence and the nature of your separation.

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Most of the fates were self-explanatory, except for Dark Lord. Curious, she asked her class for more information. She expected a straightforward definition, but received something else instead.

A Dark Lord's strength is drawn from secret places

Won't bow for gods, nor kings, nor ancient races

Pursues a goal inscrutable to those

Who yearn for power, gold, or glory's throne.

Not quite an answer, nor quite like a riddle. Knexenk gave out cryptic quatrains when questions touched on mysteries or amorphous truths. Of all the classes, Scholars and Magicians saw them most. Fighting and production classes were rarely presented with one.

She had to click Accept. Considering what was at stake, not accepting was not an option.

There were more surprises in store when her first subquests were logged.

Quest: [Governance Course, Speedrunner Edition] Oversee your mentee's reading and offer him useful case studies. Have him complete the standard Imperial Academy Governance course in under a year for full rewards.

Alternate Quest Ending: [For The Greater Good] Intentionally cause the death of your mentee, directly or indirectly. When pursuing this ending, the usual penalties for mentee death are not applied. Use this ending to prune a threat to civilization and gain an advanced experience package. As rewards scale with the power level of your target, it becomes more difficult the longer you wait. Failure results in stiff class penalties, up to and including class death. Class penalties do not include penalties exacted by your target if he discovers your attempt to kill him.

Curse or no curse, she was not going to kill her dead friend's son.

Meltissa was still level thirty-nine, blocked by the second threshold, and would likely stay there until she and Bilius parted ways. Then, her main questline would pay off, and she would cross into the third tier.

She didn't mind where she was now. She'd be more sorry to see him go than she was glad for the promised level-ups. Besides, she had learned an important lesson from her time with the boy, something she'd been told often by her arc mentor but never truly believed: Levels weren't as important as most people thought.

There were all kinds of ways to extend one's abilities, and Knexenk reflected those hard-won skills in a person's class. Appraise Magic Item was just the latest example. Meltissa had been brushing up on her Spellscript and secretly purchased an Accessorist's loupe on their first day in Bostkirk. She needed to know what the boy was making, and had learned more than she bargained for. He was prolific and, in the cases of Riverstone and Wyvern's Heart, profound.

Long ago, Meltissa chose to maximize her partnership with her ward's Battlemage mother by choosing a progression that offered Appraise Spell. According to every relevant text, and she owned all of them, that choice cut her off from Appraise Magic Item. Either one excluded the other in all known branches of the Scholar class.

And yet, Knexenk was offering her the impossible skill. It seemed Bilius was right, and anyone could have any skill, provided they were willing to learn it without a class system first.

What had he said when he offered to teach her Mana Control?

Discard your crippling dogma.

It was heresy.

It was mind-bending.

It was very Bilius.

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