"Let's see..." Ethan muttered and looked at the system prompt.
---
[Skill Slots]
-Slot 1: Summon Undead Knight
-Slot 2: Undead Graveyard
-Slot 3: Death Link
-Slot 4: Mourning Rain
-Slot 5: {Empty}
-Slot 6: {Empty}
---
"Awakeners can unlock three skill slots for every ten levels, and I've already filled one with the [Mourning Rain] skill," Ethan said, rubbing his chin.
"There are many ways to acquire skills, but every single one of them is difficult, and most depend on chance and luck. That's why even high-grade professions struggle to completely fill their skill slots. It shouldn't be a problem for me, though, since I seem to possess max-level luck. Still, the method of acquiring skills also matters."
"I can acquire profession-specific skills every five levels. I gained one when I reached level 5, and I'll obtain another when I reach level 10. Alternatively, I can use other methods to acquire different types of skills to fill my slots," Ethan muttered as he sat cross-legged on the grass, relaxing while he pondered his profession.
"Sir Shawn did mention he knows several ways to acquire skills. I guess he'll tell me tomorrow. He also said I need to figure out the specialty of my profession, if I even have one."
There was no rule stating that every profession had to possess a specialty.
It was just that high-grade or advanced-grade professions had a much higher chance of possessing one.
And since Ethan's profession, Necromancer, was not only an advanced-grade profession but also a unique one, the chances of it having a specialty were extremely high.
"It's pretty late. I should get back," Ethan muttered, and after a few minutes, he reached the dormitory area.
The dormitory complex was vast, with dozens of buildings easily accommodating tens of thousands of students.
Students with personal guides like Ethan were granted separate houses, each with dozens of rooms, attached bathrooms, a common hall, and a kitchen.
They only shared the house with the other students under the same instructor, in Ethan's case, Sir Shawn's students.
It was already dark, well past dinner time, by the time he reached the house.
Entering, Ethan found himself standing in the common hall, where several people were already seated on the couches.
"Oh, he finally came," one of them, a man, remarked.
Everyone's attention turned toward Ethan.
"Come on in, don't be shy. Introduce yourself," said the woman sitting beside Raiya, waving her hand with a friendly smile.
"I'm Ethan Ashenfall. My profession is Necromancer," Ethan introduced himself.
Then, one by one, the others began to do the same.
"I'm Mikhail Fedorov, profession: Holy Knight," the man with a wide smile said.
"I'm Shiro Ishikawa, profession: Spirit Summoner," the Japanese-looking man, strikingly handsome, introduced himself with a slight bow.
"My name is Cedric Warder, profession: Wall Breaker," said the man with short blond hair in an uninterested tone.
"Celia Romirus, profession: Dual Ranger," said the woman sitting beside Raiya, the same one who had waved earlier.
"Amaya D'Arclay, profession: Battle Priest."
"Tasha Sinclair, profession: Ice Sage."
"Sasha Sinclair, profession: Flame Sage. And as you can see from our identical appearance and matching names, we're twins," said the two girls with identical brown hair and green eyes in unison.
Finally, it was Raiya's turn.
She simply said, "He already knows me."
"Nice to meet you all," Ethan said, nodding before his gaze shifted to the man sitting alone.
"That's Marcus Rivers. His profession is Gladiator. Just ignore him. He's hard to deal with," Mikhail Fedorov whispered quietly.
"Wait, Gladiator?" Ethan asked, eyes widening in surprise.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction. Remind me not to get on his bad side," Mikhail Fedorov said with a chuckle.
"Yeah..." Ethan was quite excited to be surrounded by all these powerful professions, even though he didn't show it on his face.
Especially the Gladiator.
Ethan was familiar with the Gladiator profession.
It was a very powerful combat-class profession with a combination of offensive and defensive skills.
Gladiators were also known to possess abilities that made them nearly unstoppable in war.
They were considered more dangerous than merely "powerful."
But these were not the things that made everyone wary of Gladiators; it was the special effect of the profession that affected their mood.
In turn, the more aggressive they became, the stronger they could grow in battle.
Gladiators were one of the rare yet very popular professions; even the ignorant ones would have heard of them.
"We all know about Gladiators. Tell us about your profession... Necromancer. This is the first time I'm hearing about it. Is it a newly appeared one?" Celia Romirus asked.
"Yes," Ethan nodded.
"What kind of profession is it?" Cedric asked, equally curious.
"Let me show you." Ethan lifted his hand, summoning his Undead Knight from the depths of his Undead Graveyard.
Seventeen specks of darkness broke away from his shadow, each taking shape as seven undead knights gripping black blades.
Even the quiet Marcus Rivers, the gladiator, was watching Ethan's skill with a curious gaze.
"You are a summoner like me," Shiro Ishikawa said, silently observing Ethan's summons.
Shiro Ishikawa was also a Summoner; his profession was Spirit Summoner.
Spirit Summoner was a high-grade profession.
As the name suggests, the profession revolves around summoning spirits—not just ordinary spirits, but powerful elemental and non-elemental ones, monstrous spirits capable of immense destruction.
"If you don't mind, I want to see your summons," Ethan asked.
"No problem," Shiro muttered, activating his own summoning skill.
In the next second, a huge red magic circle with intricate patterns and symbols manifested on the ground, and from it emerged a human-shaped spirit radiating intense heat.
Standing six feet tall, with a muscular body, its head burned like a candle, and its body was covered in veils of flame that seemed to dance as if they had a mind of their own.
Ethan silently used Detection Sense on the spirit.
---
[Flame Spirit Brawler]
[Level: 8]
[Attribute]
-Strength: 90
-Dexterity: 70
-Stamina: 70
-Vitality: 110
-Sense: 100
-Spiritual Energy: 120
[Skills]
-Flame Manipulation: The spirit can generate intense flames and shape or mold them into any form at will.
-Blazing Charge: The spirit cloaks itself in searing flames and lunges at the target. Movement speed and attack power are greatly increased during the charge.
-Flame Strike: Enhances melee attacks, dealing additional explosive damage to the target on impact.]
---
While Ethan was observing Shiro's summon, Shiro was also observing Ethan's undead summon, and they were having similar thoughts.
"Your summons have the general attributes of a normal Knight profession awakener without any enhancements, and they don't possess any skills. But your advantage, I'm guessing, lies in the quantity of your summons?" Shiro asked.
"Yes…" Ethan nodded. "I can summon more, but would it even matter when their attributes are just basic and they don't possess any skills?"
"The higher the level of the monster, the significantly stronger it becomes. While my undead knights are strong now because of their numbers, they would become insignificant against those types of monsters."
"Not necessarily, but I can't be sure since your profession is brand new," Shiro shrugged.
"My brother has a possession summoner–type profession. From what I have learned so far, every summoner profession acquires a skill focused on boosting the power of summons or increasing the attributes of the summoner by borrowing the skills or strength of the summons."
Shiro shook his head. "I'm sure Sir Shawn would know what to do..."
Raiya looked at Ethan's summons with a curious gaze.
"No wonder he reached level 7. With so many summons, it's not that hard to reach that level within this time frame."
Back in the Awakening Hall, Raiya was greatly surprised to see that Ethan had reached level 7 in just seven hours, while reaching level 6 was already considered an impressive achievement.
Now, looking at his summons, she finally understood how he had leveled up so quickly within the Verdant Hallow Dungeon.
"These summons are great in number, but they lag behind in skills and attributes. Dealing with low-level dungeons like the one we entered was easy for them, but the same cannot be said for higher-level dungeons."
Raiya thought quietly as her gaze turned toward Ethan.
"If his summons don't grow stronger, then simply leveling up won't be enough, and he will fall even further behind. No, that can't be right. His profession is a high-grade hybrid. It might seem weak now, but that doesn't mean it won't grow stronger in the future."