Once Zeke was decent enough to move, Cloud aided him towards the washroom regardless of his former stink and nudeness. If anything, Cloud practically cradled him like how a helper aided an elderly. Once Zeke got into the washroom, his new senses overwhelmed by the sheer mana exuding from the runes inhabiting the bath, Cloud let him be alone to wash himself away in the shower. Hearing from Cloud that he could take as much time as he wanted in the shower was like music to his improved hearing.
He felt raw, as if he just shed literal skin off his back. His senses were swallowed up by everything, deafening him and blinding him at the same time. Zeke could tell Cloud purposely dimmed the lights to keep his eyes from burning, the water not too hot but not too cold, washing his new skin.
His new skin… the words felt foreign, yet it is what it is. He gained a new body–a body meant for his new sub-race and his advancement into Journeyman.
He definitely felt taller, more refined, and despite his lagging motor controls, his body picked up on his intent and moved along as expected. It was disjointed at times, making Cloud help him.
He let the warm water wash his face, ignoring the small pin pricks that somewhat hurt his sensitive face and eyes. Honestly, it felt nice. He wondered if his Pain Resistance was helping him in that regard.
There were a crap ton of notifications waiting for him to view, but he took up on Cloud’s offer and just enjoyed the warm shower getting rid of every gunk and clutching grime he had on his body.
After a few solid minutes of just being in his nothing box in his mind, he grew bored and started exploring his newfound body.
Damn it, that sounds sick as hell, Zeke mused, chuckling to himself as he looked at his new body.
He… grew, if that was the right word. He grew properly. He was perhaps a few inches taller, not as tall as Piker, but tall enough to perhaps rival Cloud now. His toned body, once filled with developing muscles close to that of a starting MMA fighter, now became refined, a true veteran that went through years of intense and careful diet and exercise.
He even noticed a certain upgrade to his little buddy. He didn’t ask for it–but he certainly wouldn’t put it down.
But more importantly, it felt right. It was as though the system finally gave him a body that was properly meant for his style of living–mana channels that were bigger and denser than ever before, and he swore that he was regenerating mana at a faster rate just by doing nothing compared to his Expert self undergoing Meditation and after drinking a mana regeneration potion–a potion that was easier on the channels and taste buds by just increasing his regeneration rate than directly restoring his mana.
He recalled one of the features, or traits in this case, that Soul Elves have that allowed them to use the mana from their surroundings. That would explain his rapid mana regeneration growth, and he was doubly thankful that it didn’t seem to affect his surroundings too greatly.
He also noticed something else. His body had tattoos, but they weren’t his rune buffs. Unfortunately, gaining a new body–or reforging his old one–caused the system to indirectly wipe away all of his rune tattoos off of his body. That meant redoing his painful tattoos all over again.
Honestly, he was fine with that. He planned on re-doing his tattoos either way, using his newfound knowledge and increased power to enhance his buffs further after reaching Journeyman. But what surprised him was that the tattoos weren’t his runes, but from his Soul Elf heritage.
They were like bluish waves across his limbs and torso, but they didn’t feel unnatural. If anything, they looked like they belonged to a well-woven tapestry made up by an incredibly talented artist, leaving the exposed skin behind to make a sort of imagery of a man truly loved by the winds of mana. Thankfully, there was a small mirror put aside in the washroom, clearly used for any new Journeymen to see for themselves.
Taking it up, he surprised himself at his new face. It was refined to look more appealing to the senses. He always had a ‘boyish face’, at least according to Mikella and Myra. That boyish face grew up, but it still had that softness around the facial structure, and that damn dopey look in his eyes he had all his life. He wanted to look striking like Cloud, or even intimidating like Piker. Unfortunately, he’s always going to look like a man in touch with his sensitivity.
I mean, elves often look girly, right? Zeke mused, convincing himself that this was how manly elves look.
The tattoos thankfully don't reach to his face, but his new pointy ears proved otherwise. Feeling them up, he shivered when he realized how sensitive they were, proving that elf ears were indeed sensitive.
That’s gonna take some getting used to.
He also knew that his ears would return to their normal human ears, but that was going to take a long while since he was just newly advanced.
Putting the mirror down, he stopped the shower at some point, getting out of the bath and finding his mage robes neatly folded to the side, probably from Cloud. He was thankful he took them off, because he was going to have to burn them off if they were left there in the grime.
Putting them on, he reviewed his notifications, proving once and for all his new advance was truly real.
> You have chosen your sub-race.
>
> You are able to advance.
>
> You are now a Journeyman.
>
> As your reward for advancing to Journeyman, you are eligible to evolve your Class. Choose your evolution on the list and further strive for ascension.
>
> Due to choosing your sub-race, your body has been permanently altered to that of a Soul Elf.
“Permanently altered… when it’s said like that, I really made a big choice.”
He didn’t like the idea of permanently altering his own body. Then again, he sort of modified his own body with his rune buffs, literally carving permanent runes into his flesh for power.
But each and every time, including now, this was done by his choice. He knew where it would lead him, and he won’t regret it, especially not after feeling the intense power radiating off of him.
But the next notification after that surprised him quite a bit.
> Exclusive Race Skill: Mana Blast
>
> A–
>
> ERROR!
>
> Attunement forcibly changed Exclusive Race skill. It is now modified to better suit your Attunement.
>
> *****
>
> Exclusive Race Skill: Aether Blast
>
> A Soul Elf normally doesn't’ fight, but when push comes to shove, they will prove why they are loved by mana. Evolved with the help from the higher realms, you can create a concentrated form of mana known as Aether and direct a powerful blast at your enemies. Increases overall power and density according to the level of the skill and the current Attunement Rank.
>
> This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Zeke’s eyes widened at the realization that he may have been bamboozled by his own attunement. Reading the description, he still couldn't’ believe how it just changed like that, as if by force from his own power.
Then again, his attunement did supposedly take an angel’s power for itself. Strangely enough, it didn’t seem to want to ‘desire’ anything else despite a whole year passing by. Yet now it came up to change his only Exclusive Race Skill.
He had been trying to control his attunement for the longest time, especially after the biodome takeover, but he hadn’t made much progress compared to his skill levels. Thankfully, Cloud mentioned that people who advance to Journeymen often had better control, so it was possible that Zeke could eventually learn how to wield that enormous power that even took down a Master-Rank boss on his own.
And perhaps this race skill that was changed by his attunement might be his chance to better control that power like through a proxy.
Putting that aside, considering he has no way to experiment with that in his current state, the next notifications were his Class evolution options. Just as before, two different options were available to him as usual. He wondered whether he would gain a new option like how Mikella gained her Extra Class Skill, but no such luck here apparently.
Reading his new class options, he studied them one by one to ensure he would pick the best one.
> Runic Knight
>
> A Runist that focuses primarily in combat. A Runic Knight puts aside their need for learning in a study to learn during a battle.
>
> Attribute Growth Per Level:
>
> +5 STR
>
> +5 DEX
>
> +5 INT
>
> Two Skill Choices at Level 60, Level 75, and at Level 90.
*****
> Arcane Runist
>
> A Runist that specializes in the depths of magic itself. Their abilities while scribing runes enhance as long as the rune itself is within their range of grasp. An Arcane Runist thrives no matter where they go.
>
> Attribute Growth Per Level:
>
> +5 DEX
>
> +5 INT
>
> +5 SPI
>
> Two Skill Choices at Level 60, Level 75, and at Level 90.
The two choices felt so diverging from one another, but Zeke can’t complain that he exhibited both of these aspects more times than he could count.
Here, he has a choice. Normally, Arcane Runist is typically at the top of the choice as it has Spirit given at every level. His runes use his massive Spirit stat to give him an edge in battle with his buffs, but that might not be necessary thanks to his new sub-race.
His sub race already gives him Spirit, on top of Dexterity, Intelligence, and even Endurance for some reason. If he were to pick Runic Knight, he could add Strength on top of everything else, rounding out his stat gains and only leaving his Vitality out, which he can raise with his free points. If he only needs to focus on one stat to gain by himself, it would be easy.
But even after all of this, Zeke can’t help but feel that every Spirit is worth their salt, no matter how meager the gain is. Not to mention, while he did enjoy battle, a Runic Knight focusing on the battlefield feels limiting to him. Sure, he likes to fight, but he never intended on primarily focusing on fighting.
No, he only ever fought to deal with his rising need to be there for his allies in the thick of it. But he never once forgot his true duty as a supporter. Hence, the choice was obvious.
> You have chosen Arcane Runist.
>
> For each level, you gain:
>
> +5 DEX
>
> +5 INT
>
> +5 SPI
>
> For choosing Arcane Runist, along with your sub-race being Soul Elf, your Battle Runecraft Skill has advanced. It is now Legendary.
>
> You gain points based on the advanced Rarity:
>
> +3 INT
Zeke’s eyes widened to see that his already Epic rarity Battle Runecraft has now become Legendary. His second ever Legendary Skill on top of Restoration. It didn’t look like it added anything fancy, but he knew that deep down inside, his Battle Runecraft skill has expanded by leaps and bounds.
What surprised him a bit more was that his sub-race had something to do with his improvement. Still, he put that to the side, figuring it was the benefits of being a Soul Elf, while focusing on his new Class Skill gained after becoming an Arcane Runist.
There were two choices as usual, but after reading them over, he found them a little… underrated.
Was this his new skill after reaching Journeymen as a Runist? Or was it due to him having Battle Runecraft over any ordinary Runecraft skill?
> -Script Improvement
>
> -Theory Improvement
These two similar looking names had very different outcomes. Script Improvement helped create a field around him when he was inscribing runes. Supposedly, it would help in stabilizing his runes and even improve them in ways an ordinary Runist couldn't even with the aid of his other Class Skills.
It didn’t matter what type of field it was as it only existed for Zeke and Zeke alone. It can’t even be messed with, such as how he could call upon his Runic Library without any drawbacks from anything else. He wasn’t sure whether someone would have a skill that perfectly counters this, but Zeke knew this was too niche for them to completely focus on.
Theory Improvement was an odd one. It creates the very same field that Script Improvement does, except that it doesn't help in inscribing runes easily, but rather aids the Runist to create more diverse runes. In other words, it improves the theories concocted by the Runist as the field is made. From the feel of the skill choice, there was no mana cost either. It was a true-blue passive Class skill.
So another easy choice for Zeke. He was already making up a crap ton of different ideas when he was creating his runes. Hell, his Parallel Mind was already coming up with different ideas all the time as of right now, just burning itself away in the back of his mind while Zeke pondered on the skills. So it really wasn’t a difficult decision when Zeke chose the first.
> Class Skill: Script Improvement
>
> An Arcane Runist is a unique scripture that by their very presence, their runes come alive. It not only stabilizes the runes, but improves them in small, minute ways that not even the Runist themselves could pick up. The skill is gradually improved according to the level of the skill and the current Intelligence stat.
It was another first ever skill for him, this time relying on his Intelligence stat rather than his Spirit stat. Still, he had an abundance of Intelligence, so he might as well take that as a good sign.
Taking all of his changes into account, there were so many things he needed to test and experiment with. So many things, yet his body refuses to do anything else. Even now, he could feel his resources desperately trying to catch up even with his Meditation skill on full blast to no avail.
Putting everything into order, he opened up his newly upgraded status page after advancing into Journeyman.
> Name: Zeke Parlow (King of Elemental Prison)
> Race: Human
> Sub-race: Soul Elf
> Arcane Runist: Level 60
> Attunement: The World (Tier 2)
> STR: 93
> DEX: 231
> INT: 278
> SPI: 338
> VIT: 100
> END: 110
> Free Points: 0
>
> General Skills:
> Mana Manipulation (R) Level 8
> Kinetic Manipulation (R) Level 1
> Unarmed Mastery (R) Level 1
> Battle Runecraft* (L) Level 4
> Pain Resistance (R) Level 5
> Steadfast Mind (R) Level 1
> Parallel Thought (U) Level 7
> Meditation (C) Level 7
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Barrier Craft (E) Level 6
> Recovery (L) Level 1
>
> Race Skill:
> Aether Blast Level 1
>
> Class Skills:
> Runic Library Level 4
> Inscription Proficiency Level 10 (Maxed)
> Runic Spell Level 4
> Phantasmal Runes Level 10 (Maxed)
> Runic Echoes Level 10 (Maxed)
> Rune Copycat Level 2
> Script Improvement Level 1
>
> Title Skill:
> Prison King (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)
I wonder how Mikky is doing? Zeke thought, imagining what incredible race she picked up. I hope it went better than mine at least.