Chapter 2 of 26 · Book 2, Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Chapter 2 — Race and class

Book: Carl's Doomsday Scenario · Previous: Chapter 1 — The jury room · Next: Chapter 3 — The Over City explained · Floor: Floor 3 — The Over City · Series: the series

Opening

Mordecai took a deep breath, and I watched him calm himself.

Summary

Carl's 398 races, three recommended: Hobgoblin (perfect for bombs, hideous), Human, and Sasquatch — size-24 sparkling feet, which is the AI telling him something. He refuses to be its parody and reads everything, finds an Intellect Hunter he suspects is what runs the Valtay, and picks the empty silhouette at the bottom: Primal, a blank slate five levels behind with every skill unlockable to 20, named for the vanished progenitors some systems worship as gods.

Class: Bomb Squad Tech, Prizefighter, or Compensated Anarchist — a 'trapmaking, bomb-making, social-media dynamo' with Escape Plan, Backfire, a Fear spell, and a charisma minimum that eats half his points. He takes it. The second floor collapses while he reads; eight days for the third. Stats set — Strength 13, Charisma 25 — and Mordecai says the only thing that will make this build work is money. He presents 'Dungeon Crawler Carl, the Level 13 Compensated Anarchist Primal' to a village.

Characters

• Carl — Primal, Compensated Anarchist; 'Was I an idiot?'
• Mordecai — Explains Primals, Escape Plan, and the ninth-floor war chests.
• Princess Donut — Asleep with Mongo; wakes to find him still human-looking.

Locations

• Tutorial guilds — The selection continues.
• The Over City — First seen: a village on wooden slats over smoke.

Motifs

• Race and class — Carl's choice, and the AI's Sasquatch bait.
• The Valtay Corporation — The Intellect Hunter race Carl suspects is theirs.
• Carl's bare feet — Sasquatch: 'unlocks higher tier Smush skill.'