Ahoy hoy, Ziggy here.
Random musing of the Ziggy: nothing carries the 80's OST motif more than random epic saxophones and synthesizers.
With the most important thing out of the way let's focus on something less so.
Since I've gotten this question several times, why not make an article for all the smol children?
Time to get into it. Remember to hit that unsubscribe button and leave a dislike to increase my algorithm results!
Spoilers for the new Volumes if you are trying to stay away from those. Why you would read any of these is beyond me if you wanted to avoid spoilers. Why you would read this at all is another mystery too. Don't you have better things to do? Like talking with your friends? Or writing your own fanfic or fantasy series? Or seggs? Or being a normie?
Well with how long this takes me to write it'll probably be out once Hitori gets to the part anyway...(or months after all the volume is translated)
So we got Zesshi's build and character sheet now.
But you might have noticed something peculiar about Zesshi or Antilene:
She is also able to use magic up to the third tier.
[V16]
She has Cleric and High Cleric for a total of 20 levels so that makes sense right? Of course she could only use third tier magic. Ainz even said it himself so it has to be true! And so the truth it shall be!:
In Yggdrasil, one could normally only learn three spells per level. A level 20
character would thus be able to learn a maximum of 60 spells. It would be quite
difficult to incorporate anti-divination magic into such a limited selection of
spells.
Perhaps those who were not in the know might think 60 was a sizable sum,
but if Ainz was limited to 60 spells from the third tier of magic, he would
probably have to spend all day worrying over his choices
[V10]
There's a problem here though. Two problems. At least one. The other one is actually debatable....
It held a huge, strange-looking lance in one hand, resembling a pipette one might use in a science class. This was Shalltear Bloodfallen. She possessed levels in Valkyrie — a divine magic caster class which specialized in fighting power — and she was fully ready for battle
[V3]
Valkyrie SHOULD be a Divine-caster class. So shouldn't Lesser Valkyrie?
So that would mean Zesshi has 20 Cleric Levels and 5 Valkyrie-type Levels giving her 25 Divine caster levels if we treat Lesser Valkyrie the same as Valkyrie.
Suppose that Valkyrie only counts as every other level for divine casting purposes (since it's mainly a melee fighting class and you want to argue that Half-Caster Rules are in effect). Basically even if we only count it as half and ROUND DOWN, that means two more divine caster levels. Zesshi(Antilene) would have 22 Divine caster levels. And drum roll please:
Recall 7-Levels-Per-Tier
1-7 Tier 1
8-14 Tier 2
15-21 Tier 3
22-28 Tier 4
What gives? Seven Levels Per Tier is far too supported to be incorrect. hence why we even posited Valkyrie might have just been a strange offshoot class.
You might have guessed it but the other problem is ignoring Valkyrie what do we do about Executioner and Inquisitor? In either case, Zesshi(Antilene) should be a higher tier caster than she is. In the absolute worst case scenarios: suppose Valkyrie AND Inquisitor count as only one level for determining what Tier Zesshi(Antilene) can cast where we are even so gracious to presume Inquisitor is a magic capable class.
10 Lvs. Cleric
10 Lvs. High Cleric
*1 Lv. Lesser Valkyrie
*1 Lv.Inquisitor
Total: 22 Levels
Based off super pessimistic calculations, she should be a Tier 4 Divine caster no matter what combination of Half-Caster or Third-Caster you want to count Inquisitor or Lesser Valkyrie as. Unless you want to argue these two classes are some ridiculous sort of Tenth-Caster... What we can conclude is that no matter the status of Inquisitor, it doesn't appear to provide Divine casting bonuses or ability. Even if we assume it's just as gimped as LESSER Valkyrie, a kneecapped class.
If we presume Inquisitor doesn't count toward Divine spell casting then the argument hinges on how Lesser Valkyrie counts as: Full-Caster, Half-Caster, Third-Caster, etc.
So let's recall what the Full-Caster, Half-Caster conventions mean.
Put simply, a Full-Caster is a type of Level where each level counts toward what tier you can cast at. And as the convention goes, Half-Casters and Third-Casters effectively count every two or three levels as a single level toward effective tier. Effective tier being what level you are casting at. So if you have Four Levels in a Half-Caster Class it only counts as Two Levels for casting purposes or what tier you can cast. Third-Caster is the same but it takes Three Levels to count for a single Level as a caster. It's like how Arcane casters are Third-Warriors. Same principle just applied and generalized to magic type casters.
Rather than argue over semantics as to what counts as Full, Half or whatever casters though why not look at this through another lens or two? Let's discard a few of assumptions.
Fact of the matter is Zesshi(Antilene) is a third tier caster. And our findings do not support Lesser Valkyrie and Inquisitor being Divine casting classes. Seven Levels Per Tier is fundamentally sound using character sheets of other characters so it's more liklely the assumption Lesser Valkyrie and Inquisitor is at fault.
And there is a flaw in the line of reason: why do Lesser Valkyrie have to function the same as Valkyrie?In the New World Martial classes can acquire things like Martial Arts for instance even if the classes are labeled the same. eg Fighter vs Fighter. So a New World Valkyrie might be distinct from a YGGDRASIL one.
Here's Ziggy's take away. Valkyrie should be a Divine system caster. However, Lesser Valkyrie doesn't necessarily have to function the same way. First of all, Lesser Valkyrie was the first class "divine caster" type class Zesshi acquired going by Level Order Acquisition theory. Not Cleric, not Priest, not Bishop, but Lesser Valkyrie. Second of all, by Level Order Acquisition theory we see Zesshi also was still training as a Weapon Master after she acquired lesser Valkyrie. Then her Rogue classes. If Zesshi relied on magic she unlocked from Lesser Valkyrie why did she level up in other things first? Or gotten Cleric sooner?
a: Zesshi only casts Third tier spells which can be accounted for by Cleric and High Cleric levels alone
b: Zesshi acquired Lesser Valkyrie toward the tail end of all her Warrior classes going by Level Order Acquisition theory
c: Zesshi's fighting style hardly relies on magic in any capacity besides minor support and not even for buffing as lamented by Maru himself
d: Acquiring Valkyrie or Lesser Valkyrie is extremely difficult for New Worlders normally
If you consider all of the above so far there is another hypothesis that makes more sense than if Valkyrie is a Third or Fifth caster or something else:
Lesser Valkyrie is Lesser because it doesn't count as a Divine caster class at all for Zesshi. We already know that Lesser Valkyrie is a weaker variant of Valkyrie already. Think about it like the following if that is a strange thought to comprehend (if it doesn't have all the features of Valkyrie why even call it Lesser Valkyrie in the first place):
Lesser gives you a certain percentage off the normal stat gain of the Class.
So for example suppose Valkyrie gives you:
+5 Phys Atk, +3Phys Def +2 Mag Atk +4Mag Def.
I'm just pulling these numbers out of my Ziggy.
And let's apply Lesser universally as a class modifier: since it's weaker overall to Valkyrie it grants a -2 on all stat gains from the normal Valkyrie.
Lesser Valkyrie:
+3 Phys Atk, +1 Phys Def, +0 Mag Atk, +2 Mag Def
Stats don't work exactly like the comparative ratio stat lines in Overlord but bear with me. Hur hur Bear. Hur hur.
The idea is Zesshi acquired the class with restrictions. And class gains in the New World are a bit different than classes from YGGDRASIL (Warriors learn Martial Arts for instance). So if we contemplate these restrictions and her inferiority to normal Valkyries we can happen upon a few possibilities (and since Ziggy is such a simp he'll even write out a few of them at least):
a: Lesser Valkyrie counts far less as a Caster class than even Valkyrie (eg the Fifth or Tenth of a caster per level argument)
b: Lesser Valkyrie has no spell casting ability at all (any stats it granted fell below the negative modifier of the Lesser designation and doesn't grant spell casting skills at all)
c: Lesser Valkyries are incomplete versions of the class (eg a Lesser Bishop would either be Divine only or Arcane only instead of both - missing class features argument)
d: Lesser Valkyrie only enables you to learn high tier spells on it's spell list (eg Tier 7-10 spells and since Zesshi learned it first, out of sequence, she can't use it to learn lower tier spells0
e: Lesser Valkyrie operates like Zesshi's talent - foundational or basic classes are required to use certain abilities from YGGDRASIL and since she had no foundational divine caster class, she couldn't get Valkyrie only Lesser Valkyrie IF Valkyrie did require foundational classes.
So how do we proceed? Well we know that people in the New World can acquire Job classes earlier than in YGGDRASIL let us examine these classes and cases.We are doing this because Maruayama already confirmed that no one else has acquired Valkyrie before and it's harder to acquire even Lesser Valkyrie than Ninja, another special exemption class.
Cursed Knights had the backstory of being corrupted cleric-knights who had been cursed, and they were considered to be a very strong class in Yggdrasil. However, they had a lot of drawbacks, so they were not very popular. Among the skills Cursed Knights could learn was the ability to release waves of darkness, inflict cursed wounds which could not be healed by low-level healing spells, instant death curses, and so on. Ainz narrowed his illusory eyes under his helmet. This was not a coincidence. While the Swords of Darkness might be weapons with powers similar to those of a Cursed Knight, it was more likely that the hero himself was a Cursed Knight. If that were the case, when one considered the prerequisites to become a Cursed Knight, it was certain that this “Black Knight” was at least level sixty — no, if one considered that he had to actually learn all those skills as well, he would have to be at least level seventy
[V2]
“—Are you quite done yet? Have you said your farewells to each other?” Entoma grew cautious for the first time. The manwoman — Gagaran — was nothing to fear. The problem was the newcomer — Tia. If her clothes were not just for looks, then she ought to be a ninja. That was a job class which required a minimum character level of 60 to take. If that were the case, then the teleportation technique which had allowed Gagaran to escape Entoma’s attack was ninjutsu. If she were a real ninja, then even Entoma would not be able to win easily. She had thought to conserve her strength and eliminate her opponent, but things being as they were, she could no longer afford to hold back
[V6]
Dragon Emperor: the guy who appears in the Vampire Princess: the Platinum Armor (in general during operation) : the First Seat: Blue Sky Dragon
Lord: Diamond Dragon Lord: Obsidian Dragon: Wyrm Dragon: Goblin
Strategist: Rigrit: the Supreme ruler [Enri?] Commander rank (each unit
has one person): Remedios: Buser: Kelart: Rotting Wolf Kurevo (in the
past [in his youth?]): Vestia Gazef’s teacher: Tira [Tia and Tina’s sister?
Or typo?]: Nigun: Ryaruasu Zero: Headhunting Rabbit: Luisenberg of
Red Drop: Pesshiam of Six Arms: Edstrom of Six Arms: the average of
the Imperial Four Knights: Azuth: Succulent: Calca: Silver Canary on average: Malvist of Six Arms: Deibanock of Six Arms: Sunlight Scripture on
average: Level 20 Wall
[TWTR]
Buser: Kelart: Rotting Wolf Kurevo (in the past [in his youth?]): Vestia Gazef’s teacher: Tira [Tia and Tina’s sister? Or typo?]: Nigun: Ryaruasu Zero: Headhunting Rabbit: Luisenberg of Red Drop: Pesshiam of Six Arms: Edstrom of Six Arms: the average of the Imperial Four Knights: Azuth
[TWTR]
First recall Buser is in the Realm of Heroes and Vestia is Adamantite ranked (someone who could put up a fight against Clementine). Given Tia and Tina's power levels, Tira who is most likely their third sister is Adamantite ranked at best. Now recall Azuth, he's actually around Orichalcum in strength and we know Calca was a fourth tier caster, someone who was at most the same level as Azuth.
That means the Four Knights on average is at least Orichalcum rank in terms of levels(so Leinas is around Orichalcum/Adamantite). Meanwhile Tira is at most Adamantite ranked. Like Leinas wasn't considered on par with Gazef at least so you guys are fine with letting her be in that safe place right? You're not going to mald about not knowing Leinas and Tira's exact levels right?
This is relevant because Tira, Tina, and Tia all seem to have similar bulids and level caps by virtue of being identical triplets. So we can extrapolate as triplets they all had the same affinities etc. No matter what it shows Ninjas can be unlocked at Adamantite rank and Cursed Knight can be unlocked as early as Orichalcum rank.
These are levels far, far below the YGGDRASIL minimum. And both cases so far are humanoids.
There's a disparity of about 30 levels. But neither of these classes got a Lesser modifier. Strange.... Suspicious.... There's some tomfuckery afoot here. Leinas isn't a Lesser Cursed Knight and the Triplets are not Lesser Ninjas....
Based on Level Order Acquisition theory Zesshi(Antilene) got Lesser Valkyrie in her 20-30s as well (it's hard to tell sometimes because you can start getting other classes before you max out others). But here's what's strange: Shalltear had Valkyrie BEFORE Cursed Knight AND Cleric. We don't know Shalltear's entire build. But we do see the partial ordering of her build. Now maybe she only got Cursed Knight and Cleric super late but it could suggest Valkyrie was rather early in her progression. Remember Vampires are Warrior-types...
Basically, Valkyrie doesn't seem to be some super prestige class or anything like Eclipse or World Champion that comes at the end of a YGGDRASIL build. So then why is Valkyrie so hard to get and only Lesser Valkyrie was acquirable by Zesshi but no one else? Supposedly not even Outliers can acquire it normally....
Perhaps it's a tradeoff: Classes like Cursed Knight and Ninja are easier to acquire, since Level Prerequisites no longer matter as much. In exchange, some classes like The One and Valkyrie are actually harder to get now. Well The One is probably "easier" because it doesn't require an item anymore or at least Lesser One. If you look at the class names New Worlders do have Valkyrie stands out as one that you can reason is probably difficult to get because what distinguishes Valkyrie from Clerics is vague already. It branches out strangely as well (Lance, the three Attributes, All of them together).
Given the confirmation we know Valkyrie is far harder to acquire than normal classes. So it should definitely be lumped in with the Ninja and Cursed Knight categories. But it's perhaps a mistake to consider the Lesser case in conjunction with these two.
The main distinction is it's a LESSER class and bears a new adjective. If we ponder on Base 10 Wall theory, both of these types of classes being unlocked early or missing features might just be the "bonus" people get at Level 20 or 30 if they so choose. So using the Level 20 wall, we know many humans can take strange classes at this point, so Ninja might be an example of this that became part of curriculum bypassing level requirements meanwhile Lesser classes are rarer, requiring at least 30 levels but you get to ignore more rules besides just level requirements. Base 10 Wall theory is not an agreed upon subject but many oddities in the New World's system can be explained by it.
Whatever causes the Lesser designation isn't fully demonstrable. Since Ziggy is a simple dum dum monkey he wants to name the buckets he's tossing these classes into to simplify the discovery we have. You know, basic categorization to help his brain grasp these concepts easier. Feel free to ignore them as you wish.
Definition: Manifestation
The acquisition of a job/racial class level in the New World.
Definition: Precocious Manifestation
A phenomenon where a New Worlder acquires a job class earlier in class progression than it should according to the logic of YGGDRASIL. This typically manifests from New Worlders who are far below the prerequisite level for a given Class but acquire it anyway. eg: Tira and Tina acquired the Ninja class via a Precocious Manifestation.
Definition: Petit Manifestation
A phenomenon of the acquisition of a class by a New Worlder under circumstances by which the individual acquires the [Lesser] variant of a class and not the regular form of the class.eg: Lesser Valkyrie is an example of a Petit Manifestation of the Valkyrie class according to Maruyama. Keno acquired Lesser One via a Petit Manifestation.
Why petit? Same reason Maruyama decided to call Mare's gimped, nerfed Grand Catastrophe Petit Catatrophe. Just close your eyes and accept the Maruyama logic. You don't have to call them manifestations if you don't want to either. There's obviously no deeper meaning behind that either. KOFF KOFF KOFF
....
.......
Well anyway, what we have here is a divergence in Manifestation. Technically, a Petit Manifestation(pm) is a Precocious Manifestation(PM) with these definitions. But the converse is not true, a Precocious Manifestation(PM) is not a Petit Manifestation(pm). We could adjust our definitions..... but meh. For now, let's just treat them as distinct.
Ziggy isn't going to get into set theory too much but basically how you define things affects how you can categorize them and we can abuse the framework of set theory in mathematics to help understand the point Ziggy is trying to stress here through the haphazard usage of these terms and symbols normally used for Set Theory:
If you define PM and pm as follows:
pm {Lesser Valkyrie, Lesser One, etc}
PM {Ninja, Cursed Knight, etc}
pm⊂ PM
PM⊄pm
for instance.
By the definition Ziggy lazily gave earlier technically -
PM {Ninja, Cursed Knight, Lesser One, Lesser Valkyrie,etc}
We could call the complement of pm in PM something like non-petit precocious manifestations(nppm). But for our purposes, we're going to treat them as distinct (for now).
NANO PARTS PER MILLION!!!!!!
SFX SENTAI EXPLOSION SFX
...
.........
Anyway - we got Precocious Manifestations (PM) and petit manifestations (pm).
So with this framework let's reexamine the possible cases from like 2 KB above:
a: Lesser Valkyrie counts far less as a Caster class than even Valkyrie (eg Fifth or Tenth of a caster per level)
b: Lesser Valkyrie has no spell casting ability at all (any stats it granted fell below the negative modifier of the Lesser designation and doesn't grant spell casting skills at all)
c: Lesser Valkyries are incomplete versions of the class (eg a Lesser Bishop would either be Divine only or Arcane only instead of both)
d: Lesser Valkyrie only enables you to learn high tier spells on it's spell list which might be limited to the same spell list as Valkyrie (eg Tier 7-10 spells) and since Zesshi learned it first, out of sequence, she can't use it to learn lower tier spells
a: is "plausible" but requires more info to validate.
b: seems somewhat plausible
c: seems most plausible for petit manifestations in general
d: it might be possible but... Precocious Manifestation cases function fine
e: we cannot confirm but case e might explain why Zesshi got Lesser Valkyrie
Due to the lack of precedence it's almost best to discard case a to be honest. case b and case c are nearly the same argument. Case d is like "failed to acquire new spells due ot missing prereqs" or something so its hard to argue that without any precedence. Case e might have some weight for Lesser One but the problem with Lesser Valkyrie is that based on Level Order Acquisition theory Shalltear had Valkyrie rather early on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We can try to approach this from another angle as well:
Let's designate Zesshi's(Antilene's) levels as Martial or NOT Martial.
Definition: A Martial class is one that confers Martial Art aptitude and progression. That is Martial classes count toward Focus and Focus Capacity.
Fighter 10
Berserker 10
Master Fighter 10
Lesser Valkyrie/Almighty 5
Weapon Master 7
Rogue 1
Assassin 5
Executioner 10
Cleric 10
High Cleric 10
Inquisitor 10
Trying not to stare at the defenseless torso, Zesshi activated a martial art.
[Super strengthening Agility], [steel arms steel strike], [Super piercing] [Super strengthening Ability], [Super sensing possibilities].
It was for this moment that she desisted from using the martial arts before.
Her speed, agility, damage from her attack, piercing damage and her strength were all increased along with sharpening her six senses to the extreme.
[V16]
疾風超走破 剛腕剛撃 超貫通 能力超向上 可能性超知覚
[Super Wind Stride], superior version to Clementine's Wind Stride
[Strong Arm(Favored Arm) steel strike],
*Buser had a Strong Arm Martial Art and it was considered a superior version of another martial art; Hekkeran used this martial art too 剛腕豪撃ダメージ量が増える<豪撃>の上位武技。(剛撃の誤記？) so since two martial arts use the same prefix it appears to be a higher order Martial Art indicator.
[Super piercing]
[Super strengthening Ability], Hero minimum Martial Art
[Super sensing possibilities] - improved version of Gazef's Martial Art
Recall that we surmised that any Greater/SUPER Martial Art is a Focus Cost 2 or above Martial Art(basically a pre existing improvement to a prior martial art increases the Focus Cost incrementally with the degree of improvement). In that case, in this particular blitz, Zesshi(Antilene) used four Super tagged Martial Arts and one non-super Martial Art of unknown Focus cost. IT seems to be an enhanced version of another Martial Art as well but we don't see it used so it's uncertain. Recall how Brain exhausted his Focus Capacity with only a few Martial Arts due to their increased burden.
So while the use of [Field] and [God Flash] remained the same, the use of [Sixfold Slash of Light] over [Fourfold Slash of Light] made it a new technique. Martial arts used something akin to focus. The stronger the martial art was, the more of it was required. Exceptional warriors — higher-level warriors, while they had a greater capacity for it, would also find it difficult to use multiple martial arts at the same time. Indeed, Brain had greater reserves of focus than your average warrior, but he had already reached his limit back when he used [Nail Clipper] against Shalltear. So it should have been impossible for him to use [Sixfold Slash of Light], a much more focus-intensive art than [Fourfold Slash of Light], with his other martial arts. There was only one reason why he could despite all of that. The Brain Unglaus who stood there had already surpassed Gazef Stronoff — he had entered the realm of heroes.
[V14]
At minimum then the Focus Capacity Zesshi displays here is: 9-10 depending on the Focus Cost of [Steel Arms Strike] . That means if 5 Levels Per 1 Focus Capacity theory is true, Zesshi(Antiline) should have 41-46 Martial Levels minimum and at maximum 46-50. You could postulate every Greater or Super Martial Art costs 3 Focus so Zesshi/Antilene's Focus Capacity would be around 13 or so.
Basically assuming linearity, every approximate upper 20 levels in Martial classes should give an additional 6 Focus Capacity.
A warrior like Gazef could use six different kinds of martial arts at once, and combined with his hidden ultimate attack, that made seven martial arts at once. Until now, he had been using martial arts to improve his physical attributes, fortify his mind, improve his magic resistance, temporarily render his weapon magical, as well as another technique that he used on hitting an opponent. That made five martial arts. The reason why he had not pushed himself to the limit and used all seven at once was because powerful martial arts depleted one’s concentration
[V1]
“[Essence Seal]! [Grand Power Strike]!” One was a martial art Neia had not heard of before, while the other was an advanced technique, a powerful strike that would inflict additional damage. After using both of them, Buser charged out, faster than before
[V12]
Martial Levels(Min-Max) and Focus Capacity(FC)
1-5 FC1
6-10 FC2
11-15 FC3
16-20 FC4
21-25 FC5
26-30 FC6
31-35 FC7
36-40 FC8
41-45 FC9
46-50 FC10
51-55 FC11
56-60 FC12
61-65 FC13
Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Berserker 10 ???
Master Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Lesser Valkyrie/Almighty 5 ???
Weapon Master 7 MARTIAL
Rogue 1 NOT MARTIAL
Assassin 5 NOT MARTIAL
Executioner 10 ???
Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
High Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
Inquisitor 10 ???
We can conclude that Rogue, Assassin, Cleric, and High Cleric shouldn't count as MARTIAL classes as Martial Arts are not normally not observed in those classes. Thus at least 26 Levels out of 88 are not counting toward Zesshi's(Antilene's) Focus Capacity. So there is only a possibility of AT MOST 62 Levels that count toward her Focus Capacity. Recall that Zesshi only ever simultaneously uses 9-10 Focus at any one time as well. That implies 41-50 Martial Levels.
Fighter obviously is Martial. And based on the pattern, Master Fighter should be a higher ranked Fighter class (eg see how High is used for Divine caster classes). Berserker SHOULD count as a Martial class but we don't have confirmation or evidence. Berserkers are not as common in Overlord but the Berserkers don't use magic, and instead melee weapons so the possibility exists.
Weapon Master is debatable but most likely it counts as a Martial Class because Buser had it and he was also a Martial Arts user. It's always possible it's not though.
Based on statements from Maruyama and easily citable observations, Zesshi's(Antilene's) Class type breakdown can be summarized so far as :
Martial Levels: 41-50
Divine Caster Levels: 20
Rogue Levels: 6
Other Levels: ??
Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Berserker 10 MARTIAL???
Master Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Lesser Valkyrie/Almighty 5 ???
Weapon Master 7 MARTIAL
Rogue 1 NOT MARTIAL
Assassin 5 NOT MARTIAL
Executioner 10 ???
Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
High Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
Martial Levels: 41-50(37 accounted for)
Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Berserker 10 MARTIAL???
Master Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Weapon Master 7 MARTIAL
Divine Caster Levels: 20(20 accounted for)
Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
High Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
Rogue Levels: 6 (6 accounted for)
Rogue 1 NOT MARTIAL
Assassin 5 NOT MARTIAL
Other Levels: ??
Given Zesshi's description of Executioner most likely that class is a Assassin based class. Especially because none of her Martial Arts had anything to do with execution or one hit kills or critical hits.
Zesshi had a class called Executioner. It greatly increased the damage from a critical hit and sometimes even killed the opponent in a single hit. Originally it also had the ability to deepen the wounds from a slashing weapons. But because she used the middle blade to pierce instead of using the crescent blades that extended to the sides like wings to slash, that ability wouldn’t trigger in this case. Even so, this attack should have damaged the girl considerably.
[V16]
Martial Levels: 41-50(37 accounted for)
Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Berserker 10 MARTIAL???
Master Fighter 10 MARTIAL
Weapon Master 7 MARTIAL
Divine Caster Levels: 20(20 accounted for)
Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
High Cleric 10 NOT MARTIAL
Rogue Levels: 16 (16 accounted for)
Rogue 1 NOT MARTIAL
Assassin 5 NOT MARTIAL
Executioner 10 NOT MARTIAL
Other Levels: ??
If we look at Inquisitor by that same logic, should it not count as Martial neither?
So instead she activated one of the two special skills she learned on mastering the inquisitor job. She activated it in case the girl was some kind of priest that could use high tier magic that Zesshi didn’t know about.
“[denounce heretic]”
This skill makes the priests who worship a different god expend a little more mana than usual when they use magic around her. It wouldn’t show clear effects immediately but it would slowly start weighing the opponent down in a long battle or if they used stronger magic.
She didn’t plan to extend this battle but she decided to use it in case the opponent came out casting one high tiered spell after another. Using an ability like this that aimed for a single very specific effect was probably wasteful when she wasn’t sure about her opponent’s abilities but such abilities were useless when not activated at the start of the battle
...
Zesshi also activated another ability like the one before.
“[sentence heretic] ”
It’s the other special skill she gained on maximizing Inquisitor. This one also had a similar effect in that it increased the rate of failure of activating the spell instead. Naturally the mana would be spent even if the magic failed to activate.
As she ended up using both of them, she wouldn’t be able to use Inquisitor’s skills until their active time ran out but it couldn’t be helped. She would still have the physical durability and resistance against magic that’s granted by the Inquisitor class so it was in the tolerable limits.
[V16]
Inquisitor's skills are based around having a god and someone else's god differing from theirs. Based on the Divine caster tier of three however, its highly unlikely to be a Divine class. So then what is it?
There's a curious thing about Inquisitor - it's abilities affect other specific beings. Specifically it targets specific beings for it's Class Skills. Now Clerics have Turn undead but they are not the only class with targeting skills - and Turn undead is very specific for a given race. Inquisitor appears to operate similarly but it's targeting any divine caster who doesn't share the figure of worship she has - a broader categorization. Paladins and presumably Dark Knights target those of a differing karma. It's an Anti-caster class of sorts. Because it has no other skills we know of and Zesshi doesn't use any other spells beyond minor support spells.... most likely Inquisitor is a non-casting or limiting casting anti-mage class. Now what class is most like that?
Simply put, the difference between warriors and paladins was that warriors were offensive frontliners while paladins were defensive frontliners. While it was hard to express in figures, one could say that a warrior’s attack rating was 11 and his defense was 9, while a paladin’s attack was 8 and his defense was 11. Needless to say, paladins could cast spells, but warriors could learn all sorts of martial arts, so it was impossible to make a simple comparison. Still, this was the easiest way to explain the situation to someone who knew nothing. If the question was who would be better against a magic caster, the answer would be a paladin. Thanks to the protection of the gods, they boasted superior magic resistance compared to warriors. Therefore, if Nasrene had been a magic caster on the same level as Remedios, she would not have been much of a threat. Next was Halisha, who was very likely to be a monk-type given his war gear and movements. Monks had the advantage against magic casters or thieves, but the reverse was true against paladins. For that reason, that monkey was not a frightening foe either.
[V13]
Now why would Ziggy be biased toward Inquisitor as a Paladin-variant?
Well:
a: in terms of class name themeing Inquisitors have a specific "smite" target
b: Paladins have strong magical resistance
c: Skill themeing
d: Zesshi's talent
Name themeing isn't the strongest argument, but the magical resistance is something to note. Especially with how Zesshi survived Petit Catastrophe.
Skill themeing is a stronger argument since broadly Classes are organized by common class features. Paladins being the class that targets different kinds of enemies to their faiths or people while Cleric tends to be centered around the undead broadly. That's a fine line however.
But most of all there is a reason to consider Inquisitor as a Paladin class - Zesshi's sheet states
"She accepts the disadvantage because it allows her to use various weapons like those of the Six Great Gods."
And recall the God of Wind, our elden lord and saviour, the Glittering Angel Neko Nyan!
Most specifically, he was a Paladin. If Zesshi truly wanted to be able to use not only the weapons but also her talent with them she would need a set of classes that let her do so. So there is logic to acquiring Inquisitor if it's a Paladin and not a Cleric class. Likewise, under this perspective, Inquisitor might be a variant type of Paladin. Functionally it has more in common with PAladins than Clerics and computationally it makes sense for it not to be Divine centric. The oddity is why Zesshi could jump straight to Paladin. We do know Cleric can progress into classes besides High Cleric like Templar (Lakyus) or High Priestess(Calca). Zesshi's Inquisitor might be an alternate path for Clerics who focus on melee without spell casting. She wasn't one to use spell casting much, so based on acquiring classes based on how she fought, since she didnt' rely on buffs she could of gotten that anti-caster pure melee type of class.
The issue is why?
Decem for example acquired Elementalist(Earth) using a predominately Druid build by focusing on summoning and relying mostly on his Elemental. There's a logic there he could of acquired the class as a result of his hyper specialization. The issue is he should of had to acquired a class like Sorcerer or Wizard. Zesshi acquiring Inquisitor (and using the tier 3 restriction) shows whatever this class is, it's not a pure Cleric or Divine magic casting class. Given they are related, it could likely be a prestige option to diversify due to specialization. In this case, since Zesshi was so strong and didn't rely on attack magic or buffs, she might have gotten the requirements for a casterless focused type of class. Since she wasn't fighting as a Cleric would normally she got a more Paladin-centric class.
Divine casting classes are weird. First, Calca was a Cleric yet had Priestess classes. Caspond had Cleric too, so this shows that likely it was the class of their bloodline. Yet the practices of the Holy Kingdom mainly created PRIESTS or PRIESTESS users, given Kelart's classes. Lupusregina had Hierophant too, but she had more Cleric focused classes. Lakyus also started as a cleric and got Priestess later in her progression, using the Level Order Acquisitoin hypothesis. One hypothesis is Priests and Priestesses are CAREER divine magic users - ie they perform roles as divine casters in society and thus it's more of a variant of Cleric based on that logic. For Fighters, the similar example are things like Mercenary, Imperial Knight, or Holy Knight - classes predicated on specific functions in society. Given Calca performed some roles in the Holy Church, that seems more likely, since normally if she just studied holy magic she should of been a High Cleric given her disposition from her bloodline.
Extrapolating further, Templar then would be Clerics who focus more on melee normally but still use magic of some kind. At least that is how Roberdyck fought and Lakyus fought similar to him. Neither Kelart or Calca used melee weapons as they did so that might be the missing link. Priestess and Priests forsake the melee aspects of divine magic casting classes to focus on casting (like how Bishops split Arcane and Divine with no melee). Mapping this out in terms of Paradigm Focuses for the Divine magic casting classes:
Melee Mixed Casting Dual Casting
? Cleric Priest(ess) Bishop
Templar High Cleric High Priest(ess) ?
? ?
We can hypothesize the progression is sort of like this?
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There were many kinds of divine magic casters. Perhaps she was not a meleeoriented Cleric, but a spell-oriented Priestess, or perhaps she was a Bishop, who specialized in spellcasting.
[V3]
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Inquisitor could be the Melee equivalent of High Templar. Though Templar should still count for divine casting ( it just might not be as good as High Cleric or High PRiestess).
Another possibility is Inquisitor is a class Zesshi got from Valkyrie, and since her VAlkyrie doesn't appear to count toward her spell casting, she would only be able to advance it to melee only paths. Valkyrie should be a Divine casting class based on Shalltear's description. If she used the class without any magic though, it's theoretically possible a rare class exists for that - like Inquisitor which isn't even Divine. Lesser Valkyrie is probably New World exclusive, so in YGGDRASIL such a class would of been rare - why play a Valkyrie if you don't use any of the magic?
Personally, Lupusregina suggests an alternative logic - a class called Battle Cleric does exist, and she acquired a class after called Warlord. now that might be related to whatever Werewolf levels count as, but Templar may not be the Martial focused Cleric class but Battle Cleric would be. Based on Roberdyck and Lakyus though that seems strange as both had Templar. It could be in the New World Battle Cleric is a Martial Art Divine casting hybrid class like how Paladins can use magic but also martial arts?
The same issue still applies though - how these classes are counted toward divine casting.
Given Zesshi's tier magic, the abilities of the class itself, and all the other martial divine classes, it does seem more likely it's something like Paladin. Rather than based on karma it's based on God. That makes sense in Slaine if you recall Surshana was supposedly an evil god of a sort, so their culture wouldn't see evil itself as always evil rather it would view those who don't believe in the pantheon as evil instead.
Paladin Inquisitor
Sacred Archer Holy Knight?
Evil Slayer
Given Nimble and Fluder both had Bishop despite not being dedicated divine magic casters suggests there are strange rules in effect for grabbing alternate classes. Decem having Elementalist(Earth) might also fall into this categorization.
Functionally inquisitor has more in common with Paladins than Clerics. And the calculations support it being a non-Divine class. Part of the requirement might be not using a sword, having a god with non-good karma, and some divine and martial classes. Honestly karma might not even factor into it. Zesshi's level is so high it obfuscates where this class could fit into the broader system. All her roles also complicate matters. Based on all the evidence though, the argument is stronger that it's not a Divine class so Paladin variants would be the next logical consideration given how close they are to Clerics historically and mechanically. It makes sense for Slaine to have a God smiting class when they care more about their six gods than specific karmas. Surshana had "evil" subordinates supposedly so that also would create the idea the Gods you worshipped mattered more than the karma of the gods. Ironically evil is not inherently something that needs to smited, worshipping the wrong gods does however.
Berserker may be it's own variant of Fighter like how Paladin is to Cleric then. We don't have the Head Chef's entire character sheet but we do know he has Cook Levels, his one racial class, and then Berserker style classes. His racial level may count for something else but it's difficult to say without combat scenes. Basically using Level Order Acquisition Theory we can identify foundational or basic classes on prior character sheets. Based on Zessh'is Talent she needs these to then access the abilities of the Six Great Gods.
Fighter - Climb, Brain, Gazef, etc
Berserker - Head Chef
Valkyrie - Shalltear, Herself?
Rogue - Tia and Tina, Imina
Paladin - Remedios, Gustav, AWAKENED Neia, Touch Me
Cleric - Roberdyck, Calca, Caspond, Lakyus, Lupusregina
One theory is Zesshi can use her talent on her own equipment to double use Einherjar which is... creative? Theoretically that makes sense - the TAlent lets you use the trump card of anyone who has used the equipment you wear. And you wear the equipment you wear right? So... the Talent can use her own trump card while also using her trump card itself? That's pretty jank but if you can just pull out The Goal of All Life Is Death... It's not that bullshit in context.
The goal here is Zesshi theoretically has 6 character archetypes (at most- the gods may have duplicates) so she can use the trump cars of all the Great Gods.
Fighter
Berserker
Rogue
Cleric
Paladin
The only mystery is whether Valkyrie counts as it's own unique Foundational class or if Assassin is one. Assassin is unlikely given it typically follows other classes or races first, so it's more likely to be a follow up class to Rogue. The reasoning here to think so though is Executioner sounds like a class that takes after Assassin more-so than Rogue so it's possible to think of Assassin as it's own Foundational class but Executioner might just be a less sneaky type of Assassin.
Ultimately the problem is no Assassin has Assassin on the top of their class list. It always comes supplementary - like a way for people to focus on sneak attacks without being pure Rogues.
Valkyrie is the most likely however. As Maruyama alludes to her being able to use her Talent to summon another and we know for a fact there can't be another Valkyrie user in the New World so it was most likely one of the Six Great Gods, assuming she's not using it on her own class and equipment via a loophole. Unless it was her own gear? Not sure if she can't use her own trump cards twice - once with her Class and once with her Talent. The insinuation is it's possible in theory though.
Anyway:
Fighter - ?
Berserker -?
Valkyrie - Implied to be one of the Six Great Gods but not confirmed
Rogue -?
Cleric - Surshana? (if he's a divine necromancer)
Paladin - Neko Nyan (confirmed)
Neko Nyan is confirmed to be a Paladin. The others are all speculative for now.
Now Surshana.... We know Zesshi can use The Goal of All Life is Death. And we also know there doesn't seem to be a single Arcane caster class on her sheet. So how did she do it if her Talent requires foundational classes?
We know that Ainz acquired the class via Eclipse. But ask yourself- does Eclipse say anywhere that you have to be an Arcane casting Overlord?
Ainz had sixty levels of job classes, and one of them was quite special. It was a class that was very rare even in Yggdrasil, held only by a small number of Players. Ainz could enter this class because he was not fixated on pure power, but had instead focused on role-playing a necromancer to the hilt. Had he pursued character power, he would not have discovered this class — which required a very unorthodox build — by chance. This was because the class’s entry requirements were five levels of Overlord, a focus on necromancer-type job classes, as well as an overall character level of ninety-five. In normal games, most people would spread the news of a newly discovered class on walkthrough sites to share with others. However, games like Yggdrasil put a very high premium on information. For instance, few people would share news about a World Class Item with others without charge. This was especially true for classes with trump cards. The class in question was called “Eclipse.” The class description stated, “Only an Overlord who is truly dedicated to the pursuit of Death may obtain this class, which swallows up all life like an eclipse.” The move Ainz was planning to use was one which was only available after reaching the maximum level (fifth) in Eclipse, a skill which could only be used once every hundred hours. It was the trump card of the Eclipse class. That skill was called [The Goal of All Life is Death].
[V3]
So here's Ziggy's interpretation - Surshana was a Cleric based Eclipse user. That is, instead of a necromancer, Surshana was a Cleric focused on all the necromantic spells and specializations. In that case it would explain why Surshana used a Scythe at one point, how he got Eclipse, and why Zesshi can use his trump card despite having no Arcane casting classes.
And perhaps you forgot but... we've seen a former Divine caster specialize in Necromancy of some sort (specifically controlling the undead) - Khajit. What's strange with him is he didn't cast very high tier spells but he had a pretty good chance to defeat Clementine so people have always wondered what his true level was. The main reason is even Clementine was impressed by how many undead he could control oddly enough. And the book makes a very clear point he specializes in controlling the undead, not just in casting spells while also forsaking his Divine class for Arcane. The logic being since his god wasn't a god of undeath it doesn't instantly become a Necromancy capable class.
Ziggy's hypothesis was he may no longer believe in his gods but he might still be able to get bonuses from his Cleric or Priest classes toward controlling the undead.
he number of undead that could be controlled by the third-tier spell [Create Undead] was limited by the power of the spell’s caster. The more undead one made, the fewer one could control. Still, Zombies were among the lowest grade of undead. Someone like Khajiit, who was specialized in controlling the undead, could maintain his hold over the unbelievable amount of over a hundred of them at once. The reason Khajiit could control more than even that number was due to the power of the item he carried — the Orb of Death.
[V2]
Clementine glanced toward the entrance. She seemed to have noticed the undead controlled by Khajiit, who were waiting there for his orders. “I think I could win… but if I draw out the fight I’ll probably lose~ tehe~, sorry, Khaji-chan.” Clementine returned her stilettos under her cloak, and the rumbling from the earth ceased. “Buuuut~ that’s a specialized undead controller for you~ Well done!”
[V2]
Yet, the more magic he learned, the bigger the problems he encountered. There was a resurrection spell in the fifth tier of divine magic, but that spell could not resurrect his mother. Resurrection expended a tremendous amount of life force on the part of the dead person, and the deceased who lacked sufficient life force would not be resurrected, but reduced to ash and dust. His mother did not have the necessary vitality. Nor did he have the time needed to research a new resurrection spell. However, if he abandoned his humanity and became undead, he might be able to buy himself enough time to eventually develop a new spell to raise the dead. That was the conclusion which Khajiit had arrived at. He abandoned the divine magic he had studied all his life, and stepped on the path of using arcane magic to become undead. However, there were still obstacles in his way
[V2]
Some people think it was just a weird kind of class change but that seems unlikely given how most classes and character sheets are. Gazef didn't just lose Mercenary when he stopped being a Mercenary, neither did Gagaran lose Knight even if she's an Adventurer now. Just to name a few examples. The distinction here being he retained his divine classes but got Arcane classes after. It seems more likely it's like Decem's case where undead control falls under both Arcane and Divine classes just like Elemental summoning can be a Druid or Arcane skill.
Anyway, tangent aside, Ziggy thinks Surshana is an Undeath Cleric of some sort - given he had Eclipse, a class that requires a very specific type of play-style and build. As she lacks any Arcane necromancer classes, Cleric is the next viable build to fit her Talent's rules and a plausible way to acquire The Goal of All Life is Death.
If the Six Great Gods had six distinct builds is debatable since duplicates could exist. Though given how varied YGGDRASIL character builds could be, it's fairly possible that there were 6. We don't know if Zesshi trained to even harness the abilities of all the gods either though since not all their trump cards would be equal potency.
It'd be funny if five of the Great Gods were Clerics and Neko Nyan was actually a terrible multi class build accounting for all the other classes Zesshi has. No wonder Slaine turned out so religious!
Is Mare the Great Fish? Or does the sea swallow up all equally? Are all lesser to the waves of the boundless ocean? This is too philosophical and allegorical for a dum dum like Ziggy to figure out! Even Ziggy cannot understand Ziggy!
Anyway, some of the calculations here are rough, but the goal is to get you all thinking more about exactly what is going on in the character sheet. It's a great exercise in applying rudimentary rules we have encountered in past volumes. If you get confused by some of the terminology please defer back to those other articles. Like the Focus Capacity arguments and tables.
Berserker is so under explored in the story Ziggy thinks it's spotty to consider it. Like in other literature they are distinct from Fighters, in others it's not. Part of being a Berserker is more brute strength, which fits Zesshi's style, but then does it count like a Martial class for Martial Arts? Or is it closer to a traditional fighting style of warriors before the Great Gods preserved in Slaine culture? The absence of Berserkers in the other nations implies the Great Gods might not have had a Berserker.... If classes really did exist in the past, Berserker style classes or combat might have been the norm for humanity since it would be one of the few ways they could strengthen themselves lacking technology and magic. That's too contingent on speculation to worth considering deeply though.
Anyway, in your Overlord the truth can be whatever you want it to be!
aaa
