Reincarnated As A Dragon With Cheats-Chapter 16: First Phase Of Evolution (1)

Chapter 16: First Phase Of Evolution (1)

[Notice. The Evolution consists of three phases.]

[Phase 1. Choose a Job and a Class. Several options will be provided.]

[Phase 2. Choose a specific Evolution Pathway.]

[Phase 3. Find a safe location and complete the Evolution.]

[Commencing Phase 1.]

Ding!

[Choose a Job from the following options.]

[1. Berserker]

[2. Sage]

[3. Healer]

[4. Ruler]

[5. Predator]

[You have five minutes 00:05:00 to make a selection.]

[Failure to choose will result in a randomly assigned Job.]

Pebbles stared at the floating interface.

Five minutes.

Five Jobs.

He guessed the system was generously offering one minute per mistake.

He narrowed his eyes.

Okay. Tell me about the Jobs.

Ding.

[Information regarding a Job will only be disclosed after it has been selected.]

"...You have to be joking."

Pebbles felt a vein twitch somewhere in his rocky skull.

What kind of lunatic presents five life-altering choices and refuses to explain any of them?

It felt suspiciously dangerous.

It felt exactly like something the System would do. After all, he’d gotten it from a certain scammer.

He exhaled slowly.

There was no bypassing it.

He would have to decide.

Turning away from the glowing interface, Pebbles looked toward his subordinates.

The Stone Spiders were still bowing.

Right. He had forgotten they were doing that.

He casually waved a limb.

"Enough."

At once, most of them retreated back into their holes. A few crawled toward the pool, inspecting the scattered corpses of insects with professional interest.

Only Nightstone remained.

Pebbles glanced at her.

If anyone knew something, it would be her.

"Nightstone," he called.

She immediately turned toward him.

"Yes, Master?"

Her posture straightened slightly, as if bracing for something important.

"Tell me," Pebbles said, keeping his tone calm, "do you know anything about Jobs?"

The reaction was immediate.

Her eyes sparkled.

No, sparkled was an understatement.

They ignited.

It was the expression of someone who had waited their entire life for this exact question.

Pebbles suddenly felt a faint sense of regret.

He had just activated something.

"Yes, Master! How could I not know about Jwobs!? Jwobs! Oh God! It’s something only the noble bloodlines get when they are evolving."

Pebbles blinked at her a few times, but she continued.

"Jwobs are the foundation of an entity’s growth after Evolution. They shape skill acquisition, instinct development, and long-term potential. Choosing incorrectly can permanently cripple your advancement curve."

"..."

"So, not all monsters who evolve get this choice?"

Nightstone almost jumped as she said, "Of course not, Master! Only beings capable of moving the world get these choices... only beings who can control fate... or are chosen ones... or someone like you, Master!"

Nightstone had also half-guessed that her Master had gotten something related to Jobs, which made him ask the question. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Pebbles briefly chuckled when he heard that.

He then posed another question, "Then what are the Jobs given to such noble beings, and how rare are they?"

Nightstone walked a bit closer to Pebbles. "Quite rare, Master. Quite rare."

She then lifted one of her legs. "My grandmother told me that they are one in a million... or something like that."

"But the Jobs are not that many. There are only four Jobs that I’ve heard of."

When Nightstone mentioned four, Pebbles simply glanced back at the system and counted them.

Yes, there were five. One of his claws on the left had been left out earlier, so he was right. Five.

"And they are...?"

She opened her mouth wide again and again as she named them. "Berserker, Sage, Healer, and Predator."

I see, so Ruler is a rare one... or at least something so uncommon that she hasn’t heard of it.

Nightstone started explaining about them, but Pebbles was worried he would run out of time.

Nightstone didn’t care.

"Berserker is a frontline devastation type. High physical amplification. Increased damage output at the cost of stability. They grow stronger the more injured they are. Master, such a Job gives poor control, but it is excellent for massacres."

Pebbles tilted his head as he noticed Nightstone briefly glancing at the pool.

She noticed his gaze, withdrew immediately, and continued rapidly.

"Sage is cognition-oriented. Extreme mana efficiency. It is all about skill analysis and pattern recognition. They tend to evolve unique abilities rather than brute force. I believe such a Job is weak early, but it becomes terrifying later... especially if someone lives a long life."

Pebbles nodded after hearing that, but he had already dismissed the above two Jobs.

Brute force but no brains? No thanks.

And as for the Sage, he had an interesting opinion.

I’ll be weak early on but then become terrifying? What nonsense!!! I’m already weak, and getting a weak Job will only weaken me further. Forget living a long life... I might die before I could glimpse even the tiniest potential of that terrifyingness.

Not knowing his thoughts, Nightstone simply continued.

"Healer focuses on vitality manipulation. Regeneration, toxin resistance, biological enhancement. Low offensive scaling unless paired with a secondary combat class."

At this point, he was just a tiny bit interested. But then he heard about the Predator Job.

[Timer: 00:02:00 (2 minutes)]

"As for the Predator Job, one could consider it a trash Job... I mean, only low beings who accidentally awaken consciousness get this option... like, let’s say, a slime that gained consciousness or a goblin that was somehow born intelligent..."

Pebbles almost felt a stab in his heart. He too had gotten such a Job.

"Ahem." He looked at the system screen. At this point, he had less than a minute left.

Actually, the moment she had mentioned there being four Jobs, Pebbles had decided to choose the Ruler Job.

He felt that to soar the skies, one must rule them too!

The only thing stopping him was the lack of information and Nightstone’s enthusiastic blabbering.

"Master, if I may ask, what Job are you choosing!?"

Pebbles looked toward her.

He somewhat knew that she had no idea about the five options.

So he simply smiled.

"It’s a weird Job, nothing fancy."

Saying this, he clicked on the option.

Ding!

[Congratulations!]

[You have chosen the Job: Ruler.]

Ding!

[You have gained 5 stat points.]

[You have gained 2 Passive skills.]

[You have gained 1 Active skill.]

"..."