Braun didn’t want to admit it, but he loved his current class. It catered to his inner trickster and made him remember the fond moments when he fooled the entirety of Aegis. Of course, there was another reason why he had rushed his class advancement.

Days had passed since back then and he had stopped dungeon diving and instead bunkered down in his own workshop. His eyes shone with an iridescent rainbow color for a moment as he perceived destiny, and frowned at the results.

The danger was still a distance away, but as time ticked, so did the danger approach.

It wasn’t that dangerous if Braun was seeing things right, but it was also not something he could just dismiss. If it was way above his pay grade, Braun didn’t have any problems ditching everyone else, but since he could still fight it, he might as well prepare.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t focus on his preparations for today as a more important event awaited him today. He glanced at the setting sun through the window and the townscape dyed orange. Adventurers and merchants buckled down in their houses and rested for the day as night was approaching.

Even from his house, he could already see the long line of travelers in their carriages and magical transports. Some included a familiar wind cloud, others rode on mounts, and some of the richer ones even mounted wyverns.

He fixed his tools and clothes before proceeding outside, readying himself for his sister’s departure, who he coincidentally met in the hallway outside his room. She appeared just like any other day, the same tomboyish sister who was hyperfixated on the field of smithing.

If he let his imagination wild, he would even think she was actually the daughter of Uncle Dwobug after he had an affair with his mother with how invested Mina was in becoming a blacksmith. Some might even believe her to be of dwarven descent due to her passion.

Of course, when others saw just how tall she was, they would quickly dismiss those dwarven theories.

“So… You’re leaving, huh?” Braun looked at her condescendingly. “You traitor.”

“What can I say.” She shrugged her shoulders, a smirk on her pretty face. “A realist like me would take the winning side.”

Braun chuckled at her comment and quickly went in to hug her. “I’ll miss you. I also miss Eira. Tell her I miss her, okay?”

“It’s quite sad that she’s not here right now.” Mina sighed.

“She said the capital has been in a state of unrest with the missing people cases.” He wondered if those missing people cases were a series of quests he would undertake in the future. “So she’s been unable to leave for quite a while.”

“At least I’m not going alone to the capital.” Mina tightened her hug. “And I’d still get to see you every summer and winter break.”

“Hey, who knows, maybe spatial magic would be advanced enough in a year or so that we could travel to the capital in one go?” Braun comforted his sister, while also hiding the fact that the whole family planned on permanently moving to the capital in a couple of months. The boy already knew that secret his parents had been desperately trying to hide from their kids, but he didn’t want to spoil the surprise for his sister.

“Maybe I’d be the one to make those advancements, eh?” She pompously suggested.

“As if.” Braun rolled his eyes, before whispering, “Take care of yourself there, okay?”

Especially with the increasing feeling of dread that he felt. While Braun was not too sure about his lacking perception of destiny, he could tell something big was coming.

It’s like those four months all over again. No matter how many years had passed, Braun still dreaded those four months with a passion. Danger lurked at every corner and the whole world was out to get him.

Of course, unlike back then, this level of danger was basically pipsqueak in comparison. What could possibly be more dangerous than seven Level 6 gods, two Level 7 gods, and one Level 8 True God, along with an entire worldwide organization with thousands of supers under their wing?

Well, perhaps ten Divine Class entities would do the trick, but if things do escalate to that point…

He was broken out of his thoughts when he found Mina rushing down the stairs, and he quickly followed from behind. Outside their house, the two kids found a giant house floating in the air atop a swirling white cloud; a scene ripped straight out of a child’s imagination.

On the cloud fields of the floating house, a group of girls waved at Mina after they noticed her.

“Mina!” They called for her attention. “We’re here!”

“That’s your ride.” Delmore patted Mina on the back.

“A floating house, how ridiculous,” Braun mumbled under his breath.

“Be sure to share your snacks with your friends, okay?” Erna reminded her daughter.

As ridiculous as it may be, Mina does have friends despite spending the majority of her free time in the smithy. In fact, they were quite a close bunch, and Braun even knew them quite a bit after years of passive interaction.

“And to think you still have no friends.” Delmore eyed his son condescendingly.

“I’m a Sage, Dad,” said Braun, as if it made the most sense and held profound logic.

“You’re a Sage, not a Hermit.” Delmore silently wondered just what could have caused his son to have no friends after ten years. The man knew his son loved training, but perhaps he should train more in moderation.

“And a sage needs no friends. A sage only needs to master the arcane arts and impart their wisdom to those that are lost.” Braun shrugged his shoulders.

“Just admit it, you’re a loser.”

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“Nuh uh,” Braun said in an incredibly annoying, whiny tone.

“What do you mean nuh uh?” Delmore almost lost his mind.

“I’m not a loser,” Braun smirked. “I’m a genius.”

“I… You… Ugh, sure, let’s go with that logic.” It’s not like Delmore is the delusional friendless loser here.

Confused by Braun’s befuddling logic, the family of three stared at Mina who had already gotten on top of swirling clouds. She hugged her friends and greeted them, before turning to look back at her family.

As always, goodbyes were awkward.

“Bye, Ma! Bye, Pa! Bye, Braun! Take care of yourselves while I’m gone!” She shouted loudly for the three to hear.

“You too!” Delmore shouted back.

“Be respectful to Eira, okay!” Mina didn’t want to see her daughter be disrespectful to a family friend.

“Buy me a gift on the way home!” Braun was as greedy as ever.

“I will!” Eira answered to no one in particular, but Braun assumed she said yes to his request. She’d be a scumbag if she didn’t buy his dearest brother any gifts.

The whole army of carriages, mounts, and weird constructs began to move as the clock struck five.

As the young boy stared at the voyage of magical ships, he sighed to himself and mumbled, “That’s another person gone.”

…

Turns out, Braun could adapt quite easily to feelings of loss. It was either because of his fucked up mind or due to his unique skill Adapt, but he quickly got over Mina’s absence. Instead, he focused more on developing his skills, unless he would be messed up by unforeseen circumstances.

Out in the woods, Braun grasped the hilt of a starmetal sword. It had a dark purple tint to its silvery gray body, while a dizzying number of runes was transcribed on its surface. Using the sword as a medium to cast spells, his own sword wand, Braun mumbled a familiar spell, “Wind Spear.”

His mana coursed through his body and out of the sword, transforming into swirling green winds that formed a long green spear. It spun rapidly in place, forming a vortex. Pointing his blade at a random tree, the wind spear shot forward at immense speeds, puncturing through the trunk like it was shot out of a powerful rifle.

Around half of a mage’s wind spear, and a quarter of a wind mage’s wind spear. Braun observed the effects of his spell and was partially satisfied with the synergies of his current skills.

Through the combination of Learning, Mimic, and Replicate, the progress of his spells had grown quite fast, especially his wind magic. Observing adventurers train also helped some of his skills to develop, namely swordsmanship, archery, and sneak attack.

Braun was honestly quite surprised at the depth of this world’s power system and how his previous classes affected his current classes. Generalist allowed him to learn all sorts of skills, Jack of all Trades allowed him to more easily master different skills, and his current class—Conman—bolstered his ability to replicate the power of other classes.

Even he was surprised to see that his wind spear was that strong, but considering his previous classes, it was only natural. He had the essence of a Generalist and Jack of all Trades within him, and his mastery over magic was beyond the limits of the system and was a skill he himself developed.

Wind magic was also his specialty besides runes and enchantment magic, so it was only natural for his wind magic to be that strong despite being a roguish class. A Conman, it’s as far as it could get from the prestigious Sage class.

He tested out his other skills, and abilities that he retained after having raised them to Z rank. Perhaps by reaching Z rank and tapping into a power above his current class rank, he could retain those skills when advancing his class, just like when he advanced from Generalist to Jack of all Trades.

If Braun had to assess his current progress, Jack of all Trades’ mastery was essentially the same as a Generalist, but instead of just learning diverse skills, he also had to focus on the getting good part.

He may be a master of none, but at least he was good at everything. That master of none part still remained now that he was a Conman, and the only unaffected skills were his class skills.

[Class Skills: Learning (C), Mimic (C), Replicate (C), Lie (D), Deceit (D), Acting (E), Illusion Magic (E)]

[Class: Conman (Rare) - a silver-tongued trickster, a master of deception, a stone-faced mage of illusions.]

Conman, as far as he could tell, embodied the essence of deceiving others for personal gain. This meant this was a class that was heavily dependent on others to progress and was not something he could just master all alone in a cave, much to Braun’s dismay, since that was his favorite tactic for ascension.

He quite literally holed himself up in a spatial cave for a month for his one-day ascension to True Godhood.

As for why he chose Conman to be his Rare Class, and his specialized direction, it’s because it was the closest to his desires. A Conman, according to the stories of others, are masters of acting as other classes, using their strong illusions, supernatural lies, and ability to deceit to display fake skills belonging to other classes.

There was even the legendary conman who had once posed as a Saint, deceiving an entire town of its wealth, although he was later executed by the holy forces of the Solus Empire.

Lying as a Rare Class conman doesn’t mean I could just make others believe something false, I can even make the world believe my lie! Braun swung his starmetal sword and cut through a boulder with ease, having activated his lie and deception skills to empower the false strength of his Swordsmanship skill.

Learn various skills as a Generalist, become good at all sorts of skills as a Jack of all Trades, and become as good as the real deal as a Conman! This was his vision, this was his path to ascension!

This is the path of a liar! A trickster! Braun grinned as he could already envision the day he took the divine throne, using all sorts of skills from all sorts of classes. Using light against the Goddess of Light, controlling seas against the God of Seas, or using death against the God of Death.

As far as the future may be, perhaps decades or centuries away, Braun knows his ascension to godhood to be inevitable. With the presence of zenithral power plaguing his life, he’d be forced to grow, to evolve, to transcend.

His thoughts were broken when he sensed something from afar, a series of mana signatures moving in different directions. Alarmed by this, he melded with the shadows, having used Rare Class Sneak (E), albeit significantly weaker from the real thing.

Driven by curiosity, he approached the faint life force he could sense in the distance and was soon greeted by a bleeding man.

He had messy gray hair dyed red by blood, his steel blue eyes losing the light of life. The combat-ready clothes he wore were riddled with tears and holes, his flesh cut and pierced underneath. Braun can vividly feel the power the man held, and the moment their eyes connected, he found the light of hope shining brightly in the man’s eyes.

Soon enough, he activated his zenithral power and pulled out the status screen of the nameless man.

[Name: Cody Gray]

[Class: Technomancer (Epic)]

[Skills: Technomancy (A), Nanite Engineering (A), Magic (A) …]

[Unique Skills: Hero, Nanite Production, Nanite Control]

Oh. Fuck.

“H-Help…” Cody called out weakly.

“Hell naw, bitch!” Dark purple light flashed from his ring and he whipped out his magnum opus, a gun.

“Is… Is that a gun?” Cody was shocked by the sight.

“I know what you no good heroes represent!” Braun gritted his teeth. “You fucking walking disasters. Fuck me, don’t tell me you’re being hunted right now?”

“Yes! Yes, I am!” Cody hurriedly answered, afraid that he would die.

“Great, hero hunters. I can smell a conspiracy from miles away.” Braun clicked his tongue.

“Wait, wait! Don’t kill me! They’re probably attacking your town already to corner me! I’ll help you!” Cody pleaded.

“And guess who just had to run towards this place? You!” Braun gritted his teeth. “Bastardly chosen sons of destiny, now I know why my danger radar had been going off like crazy!”

Just as he was about to press the trigger, a mana bullet came flying and nearly hit his hand if he didn’t react with impeccable reflexes.

Cloaked figures appeared all around him, their classes all at Rare, with one even being an Epic Class… Epic Class Marksman?!

The leader of the cloaked figures waved their hand and the space around them warped, causing a series of guns to manifest in the air.

“You have a magnum?” They asked as they recognized the weapon Braun wielded. “You’re an otherworlder?’

Oh great. Braun groaned, letting out endless curses in his head. Now I’ve done it. I’ve gotten embroiled in a conspiracy!