Opening his notifications, he decided to leave the Tsurmirel: Probational Apprenticeship Contract for another time, though he should really take some time to read through it and make sure there weren’t any nasty surprises in it. For now, however, his eyes zeroed in on the notification underneath it, the one titled with Conclusion of the Climb.
As he opened it, a burst of sound and bright dots of light exploded around him and he jumped in his bed.
“What the…”
A window popped up in front of him
Congratulations NAR293457741235645XAV, you have completed the Climb!
Throughout all the obstacles and tests of faith arrayed before you, you kept your faith and devotion to your commitment to earn your forgiveness in the Eyes of the Merciful Crystal and the Radiants, and you persevered through to the very end!
You have earned your forgiveness and your freedom!
You are welcomed into the O-Nex, Child of the Radiants, and free to pursue whichever life you most desire in the blessing of the Most Holy Ones.
Hidden Quest, Reach the Gates, has been completed!
Hidden Quest, Complete the Ceremony of the Final Atonement, has been completed!
Hidden Quest, We all made it!, has been completed!
Rewards and gains are being calculated…
Rewards and gains have been calculated!
Warning!
Detected emergency application of class change and gains!
Detected emergency application of gains from Hidden Quest, Be Worthy of your Request.
Detected emergency grant of single use of the skills [Mantle of the Champion] and [Strike of the Champion].
Detected removal of the skills [Mantle of the Champion] and [Strike of the Champion].
Applied gains are being re-calculated…
…
The three dots at the end of the message flashed in and out in order, and Nar took that to mean that his gains were being recalculated in real time.
Wow… It’s never done that before, he thought, staring at those three little dots. And three more hidden quests? Crystal, those have got to be good gains… And crazy how all of sudden the notifications just casually start talking about the Radiants! For fuck’s sake… Was it really that hard to just explain it all to us from the beginning? And how did we even forget about the existence of 24 other gods?
He shook his head. Ah… Whatever. I’m out. The past is the past…
The window flickered in front of him, and new words appeared.
Gains have been calculated!
In lieu of three levels being granted, you have been granted enough experience for one new level, together with your class change.
You have leveled up!
Class change complete!
Class [Auramancer 5] has been upgraded to [Champion Aspirant 1]
You have gained:
Strength 18 -> 23
Constitution 24 -> 30
Stamina 25 -> 31
Agility 21 -> 29
Speed 25 -> 34
Aura** 156 -> 200
[???] 20 -> 21
[???] 25 -> 33
Might 7 -> 10
Endurance 12 -> 13
Instinct 26 -> 30
Reflex 22 -> 27
Hearing 17 -> 19
Sight 17 -> 18
NPC 5 -> 10
Attributes unlocked:
Dexterity
Perception
Accuracy
Awareness
You have gained:
Dexterity 0 -> 5
Perception 0 -> 7
Accuracy 0 -> 2
Awareness 0 -> 5
Skill upgraded:
NPC
Gains already applied through emergency class upgrade!
New skills gained:
[The Aspiring Champion]
[Mastery]
[Dark Vision]
Skills upgraded:
Skill [Aura Channels 4] (Passive) was upgraded to [Pathways of the Champion] (Passive).
Skill [Aura Senses 2] (Passive) was upgraded to [Senses of the Champion] (Passive).
Attribute modifiers have been unlocked!
…
No attribute modifiers applicable!
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Upgraded status has been unlocked!
Stand by for status reorg and setup…
Enhancing status…
Reorganizing attributes…
Compiling passive bonuses…
…
New full status tab available!
Just think full or compact status to switch between the two.
The window disappeared.
“Wait!” Nar shouted.
There was way too much going on in that gains window! What in the Nexus was all that? Class change, massive gains, new attributes, new skills, [NPC] upgraded, and even a new status tab? That had been way too much to take in all at once!
However, before Nar reached out to do it, the status tab opened by itself.
Holy…
The tab before him was at once recognizable as the same status tab he had grown used to, but at the same time, it had become something more.
NAR293457741235645XAV
Champion Aspirant 1
(Aggr. Level: 27)
Rare
DPS/Tank
Aura: 2000/2000
Health Points: 300/300
Stamina: 310/310
Stats:
● Strength: 23 (+ 2 [The Aspiring Champion] = 25)
● Constitution: 30
● Stamina: 31
● Speed: 34 (+ 2 [The Aspiring Champion] + 5 [NPC] = 41)
● Agility: 29 (+ 2 [The Aspiring Champion] + 7 [NPC] = 39)
● Hearing: 18 (+ 2 [Senses of the Champion] = 20)
● Sight: 19 (+ 2 [Senses of the Champion] = 21)
● Smell: 9 (+ 2 [Senses of the Champion] = 11)
● Dexterity: 5
● Reflex: 27 (+ 2 [The Aspiring Champion] + 13 [NPC] = 42)
● Accuracy: 2
● Awareness: 5
● Perception: 7
● NPC: 10
● ???: 33
● ???: 21
● Aura**: 200
● Instinct: 30 (+ 2 [The Aspiring Champion], + 2 [Senses of the Champion] = 34)
● Might: 10
● Endurance: 13
What’s all this? He thought, his brain struggling to make sense of what he was seeing.
In reply, his status was shifted to the right, and a new window popped open.
Congratulations NAR293457741235645XAV! As part of completing the Climb rewards you now have access to your full status tab.
You mean I didn’t before? Why in the pile not?
The window flickered before his outrage could fully mount up, and a new series of lines appeared.
Your full status tab now displays the additional following information:
Aggr. Level: 27
This is your aggregate level. While you start from level one whenever you change your class, you do not lose your gains nor the cumulative levels and experience points that you have earned so far.
Rare
This is the rank of your class. Class ranks are the same as gears, weapons and now, also skills. The ranks are, in ascending order, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. The higher your class rank, the better its associated skills.
DPS/Tank
This is the role that you are best suited for in combat.
In addition to this, you can now also see all of your bonus attributes granted to you by your skills, gears, weapons, consumables or others. This is called the Attribute Extended View. You can return to the Attribute Compact View by simply thinking about it!
Your attributes have also been reorganized to match the respective fundamentals of Body, Mind and Soul.
As before, focusing on any aspect of your status will provide further information!
This time, the window stayed where it was, and Nar finally had time to re-read through it and properly absorb the information presented to him.
Aggregate level is simple enough. And it makes plenty of sense! I thought I always just started back from level 1!
He shook his head and exhaled. Would it really have been that much work to let us know about all of this stuff from the start?
Shaking his head again and taking a deep breath, he considered the rest.
A rare class? That means that whatever this Champion path is, it has to be strong, right? I mean, considering what happened at the Ceremony, then yeah, I guess it is. Though that warning… Hmmm. No point in thinking about it for now. And then, there it is, DPS/Tank…
Just like Balink had told him.
Thinking back to the very beginning, he had requested from the Crystal to be granted a tank/DPS hybrid class, and from that point onwards, he had always considered himself one. That hadn’t been a simple coincidence. He had wanted to put a heavier emphasis on the tanking side of things, to make sure that he would be able to protect his dad on their way up, and ensure that he would get all the benefits of a tank in order to be able to Climb back down on his own.
However, staring at the flipped order of the roles, he now wondered what that meant.
Balink said that it was important… Does that mean I ended up becoming more of a DPS than a tank? But how?
That change made little sense to him.
Sure, he wasn’t a proper tank like Gad, but for most of the Climb he had served the role of secondary tank much more than he had performed a satisfactory role as a DPS. He had managed to step up and protect the party time and again. In between stopping guardians, deflecting bolts, guarding their rear and even facing off against those massive spiders, his role had always been one of protection first, and damage a very distant second. His DPS had always been lackluster too…
Until I became an Auramancer… Nar realized. That’s when I got my [Aura Attack].
And that was also when he had finally gained a way to properly DPS. And by the Crystal, he had brought awe inspiring destruction upon anything that dared to block his path to the surface! Like Gad had told him, he had cut down anything he couldn’t block, dodge or run away from, including a downed Raid Boss… And who knew how many thousands of enemies with it.
Was that it? Is that why it flipped?
He rubbed his chin, recalling memories, enemies and fights.
Truth be told, he had no idea what had happened to cause the change. If anything, he had just balanced his DPS with his aura, not completely flip his path and actions…
A yawn escaped his body, and he closed the explanatory window.
I’ll think about it later. Let’s see the rest of my gains…
[Aura**] had been pushed down to near the bottom of his attribute list, but on his UI, the gray bar now stood above his HP and stamina, perhaps symbolizing its importance for his path.
Damn… 200 points!
Now that he knew that aura and aether were just opposite sources of power for a combat class, the sight of all those points, as well as the two attribute modifiers in his [Aura**] filled him with giddy joy rather than angst and resentment.
“Yes!” he celebrated in a whisper.
That had always been what he had wanted, even if with aether instead of aura. And it meant that he now had a powerful source of power to fight with and continue building his path with. It may not be magic, but considering that Mul’s affinity was one of fire, it would probably work in the same way, right?
Speaking of affinity, it was disappointing not to have unlocked it, but there were plenty of gains, a class change, new and upgraded skills, not to mention the whole apprenticeship with the Scimitar!
All in all, everything had gone great for him! Beyond great even!
It was hard not to dread that he was merely dreaming, still laying down in that thing that he could now scarcely call a bed, back home in his dark cubeplant.
He chuckled to himself. I’m not dreaming. I could never even dream about any of this… Thank the Crystal. Or else, I’d be questioning my own sanity…
And pushing that unpleasant thought aside, Nar ran his eyes through the attributes before him.
The gains were substantial, and at a glance, and considering the significant bonus points in brackets, it looked as though they further solidified his path as a fast, mobile and agile fighter, with a lot of survivability being granted to him through his [Instinct], [NPC], [Reflex], and movement and sense attributes, rather than through [Constitution] and [Toughness], as it was for Gad. He still had to avoid being hit, rather than simply taking it head on and shrugging it off, but the way his path was going, it was only going to get harder and harder to actually hit him.
The [Senses of the Champion] aren’t as good as the [Aura Senses 2] I had, though. Hmmm, maybe that will upgrade. It's still at level 1 after all… And [Might] and [Endurance] gains are always very good. But…
His eyes fell on the two [???] unknown attributes.
At 33 and 21 points respectively, those were some substantial points for attributes which he still didn’t know what they were or did. With one of them at 33 points, it made it the third highest attribute in his status, after [Aura**] and [Speed]!
How do I still not know what they are? He wondered. Was the whole Climb plus that insane Ceremony not enough to unlock them? What in the pile do I need to do?
He knew instinctively that none of them were [Toughness], as he had once hoped for, and he knew of no other attributes that they could be.
The thought of the unknown requirements to unlock those two attributes caused a little knot to form in his stomach. He had gone through some pretty insane situations, and if none of them had been enough to unlock those two attributes for him, then what would be?
Ugh… Let’s just forget about it for now. Never mind the many things I’m putting aside for now… Uh, let me see… Ah yes! New attributes!
As he focused on them, a window popped open as expected.
Dexterity - The degree of skill and accuracy that one can bring to bear while using their hands and body. The ability to perform more and more complex movements and multi-coordination actions and tasks.
Attribute Modifier Bonus: None.
Accuracy - May one’s arrow fly and strike true. May one’s chisel carve away with exactitude and no more or less. May one’s punches meet their intended target. May one’s notes fall in their exact, perfect place in the melody. May one’s sword find the weaknesses through their opponent's defense. May one’s aura devastate that which is its intended target. For what good is intention if it does not come to fruition?
Attribute Modifier Bonus: None.
Awareness - One’s ability to know what is happening around them, allowing them to stay on top of events, affairs, developments and the flow of what is occurring in their surroundings. Applicable in all kinds of battles and battlefields, as well as non-combat classes, from engineering to crafting, [Awareness] increases one’s capacity to better absorb the information gathered by their [5 Senses]. However, what is [Awareness] without understanding?
Attribute Modifier Bonus: NA/blocked.
Perception - Helps one gain a deeper understanding of events, affairs, developments, happenings and occurrences, and the flow of what is happening around them, both in effect to them and to others. It is the keen observation, the moment of insight, the breadth of analysis, that combined grants meaning. However, what is [Perception] without awareness?
Attribute Modifier Bonus: NA/blocked.
Attribute modifier bonus? Oh yeah… There was something about it. But what is…
Another window popped open before he even finished his thought.
Attribute Modifier Bonuses are extra effects granted when one gains an attribute modifier in an attribute.
Not all attributes have modifier bonuses, and for those, None is displayed.
So that means that neither [Dexterity] or [Accuracy] have bonuses then… And I shouldn't have any bonuses on [Awareness] or [Perception], because I only have modifiers on my [Aura]. Eh… The descriptions also seem a lot better for these skills. Maybe I now have access to better descriptions for all attributes? Maybe I should check… Wait! Hold on!
He sat up in his bed.
Why does [Awareness] and [Perception] have the Attribute Modifier Bonus showing as “blocked”?
The words in the most recent window changed.
Passive skill [The Aspiring Champion] is blocking Attribute Modifier gain as well as the application of Attribute Modifier Bonuses.
It’s doing what? He nearly shouted, his jaw dropping open. Show me that skill!
The Aspiring Champion (Aura/???) (Passive) - The Path of the Champion is not an easy one to tread, but you have taken the first steps to do so. As long as you hold firm and stay the course, you passively gain n * 0.01 bonus points to your main combat attributes, where n is your [Aura]. In addition, while [Aura] remains your highest attribute, no other attributes can gain modifiers. The Path of the Champion demands commitment. - Rare
What is going on here…
If he understood it right, then that passive skill would block him from gaining any attribute modifiers on any attributes other than his [Aura]!
That’s fucking insane!
Even when he had wanted aether, he had never sought to have all of his five attribute modifiers dumped into it!
He had originally wanted them in [Strength] and [Constitution], and slowly had changed his mind to perhaps his [Speed] or [Instinct], or even [NPC], as unlikely as it was given how few points he had in that particular attribute.
I’m closest to [Speed]... Does that mean that I really can’t get the modifier on it? On anything else?
Sure, his aura was the source of his power, the thing upon which his entire class, path and plans hinged on, but what did that mean for him?
The first modifier gives plus 1 point per point gained. The second gives 0.8, then the third 0.6, the fourth 0.4 and then 0.2 for the last one. If I were to combine it all together… Crystal! That would be a plus 3 points per point gained in [Aura]! What in the pile am I supposed to do with so much damned [Aura]?
He stared at his [The Aspiring Champion] skill description.
Commitment? Just what kind of path is this? And is it deciding for me what my main combat attributes are as well?
The Crystal, or the System, or one of the Radiants for all he knew, had decided that this was the path he had asked for, but as it stood, it made no sense to Nar. What kind of path had he just stumbled upon? One that demanded absolute commitment to his aura like that?
Just then, a horror filled scream pierced the silence that hung heavy over their room.