Chapter X

"You picked a class called Gene-Stealer...?" Cash slowly asked back. 

"Yeah, why do you look so spooked?" Opie asked back while tilting his head. 

"Oh no reason... just that the name reminds me of a certain species from a certain game who ravished the galaxy and used organic matter to create horrifying nightmares." Cash responded, rushing the words out of his mouth to accentuate his point. 

"Sounds badass. My class does something similar." Opie said. 

"Uhhh, care to explain buddy?" Cash said worriedly. 

"Yeah sure, let me try sharing my screen with you." Opie sent back. Opie was silent for a moment before a window appeared in Cash's eyes. 

 Opie wishes to share his Status with you? Accept? 

Surprised that it worked, Cash accepted the prompt and Opie's status screen opened up. 

NAME: OPIE ANDROMEDUS (LVL. 3)

RACE: BEAST 

BLOODLINE: ??? 

CLASS: Gene-Stealer (Rare) 

SOUL COMPANION: CASSIUS (LVL. 3) 

ATTRIBUTES: 

STRENGTH: 13 

ENDURANCE: 16 

AGILITY: 15 

DEXTERITY: 11 

CHARISMA: 7 

WILLPOWER: 4 

INTELLIGENCE: 3 

WISDOM: 3 

LUCK: 6 

TITLES: 

FORERUNNER

FIRST TO KILL 

SECOND CHANCE 

SOUL-BOUND 

SKILLS: 

CHOMP (BASIC LVL. 3) 

REND (BASIC LVL. 4) 

DEVOUR (RARE LVL. 1) 

SHAPE-SHIFT (RARE LVL. 1) 

Cash smiled when he read that Opie's last name was the same as his own. However, the smile fell away as his eyes read the skills Opie had. He had two rare skills. One of them sounding exactly like what he feared.

"Opie... have you tried using Devour yet? Do you know what it does?" Cash asked. 

"Huh, I forgot I had that. No, I haven't used it yet." Opie replied while licking his paws before continuing, "As for what it does, it says when activated it has the chance to consume aspects of the devoured and allow me to use them." Opie finished.

Cash had to let that sink into his head for a second before understanding it. If Opie uses the skill, Cash assumed that the properties of whatever Opie uses it on will become his own. That was... extremely powerful and not at all as terrifying as what Cash first related the name of the class to. 

Cash had momentary visions of Opie consuming some legendary beast and gaining the ability to fly or spew fire or gaining attribute points; there really wasn't any way to determine what he would get without experimentation. He chuckled to himself at the thought of his clumsy companion eating a dragon and gaining the ability to fly; kicking in the air like he would when he was a puppy in the bath. 

"That skill sounds really overpowered. I'm assuming shape-shift relies upon you using your devour skill on enemies as well?" Cash asked. 

"Uhhh, yeah actually it does. I didn't know that." Opie replied as he obviously read over the skill. 

"Well, let's remember to use it in the future if we come across something strong. Both skills might turn out to be incredibly useful. You got a good class buddy. I'm happy for you." Cash told Opie while scratching his back.

Unbeknownst to Cash, Opie had a dopamine rush as his dad scratched and praised him. They were more like best friends now but Cash was the one who raised Opie. Cash was now his soul companion but he would always think of him in that way, not that he would ever tell him that. 

While Opie was lost in melancholy, Cash was thinking of the benefits of Opie's class. "Opie's rare class must mean he gets more attribute points per level too. He has roughly twelve more points into his attributes currently than I do." He began to worry that Opie would soon be too strong for Cash if their attributes continued to grow at this pace. He would become a crutch to Opie and wouldn't be as good a teammate in fights. Shaking his head, Cash vowed to keep up with his companion no matter what. If his class was a lower rank than Opie's, then he'd just have to figure out a way to get more attribute points or a new, higher rank class in order to keep up. 

"I wonder if there's job related classes in this new world or if it's only combat related. There's gotta be jobs right? Can jobs also help us level up?" Cash thought aloud. 

"Wait, can you only have one class?" Cash asked next. Cash had no way to confirm whether or not this was true at the moment, but he had to believe that so long as the conditions were met, he could be awarded another class. Cash decided then that he would attempt to get another class. He started to think upon the things he enjoyed and the easiest way to get another class. He had a lot of interest in blacksmithing before the world ended. He thought back to the enjoyment he felt at using his pickaxe to create their new home and smiled when he realized what he wanted. 

"I think I want to become a miner first." Cash stated aloud.