"What do you mean by really bad, while I haven't heard of it before, it is not unheard of for certain people to have a unique experience inside of the test hall." Xerxes said, still uncertain as to why it would be something bad on its own. Rat turned to him scowling. "I don't think you understand. When I don't know something, it means that my skills don't yet have the information for it. If you understand my skill, you should know that that shouldn't be possible, since it is a skill based on telling me things I don't know."
"This is bad, because it is something new, because the system doesn't have any information to give me about it yet. Normally, your soul is an aspect of your core, but this space, if it is as you described, then he has a separate space that has his soul in it, rather than his core." Rat started, but Xerxes saw where she was going with it. "But he has upgraded his core several times already." He said, trailing off. Rat nodded, "It means that either the soul is going to be stored in two separate places, it is a new mechanic of the system, or the boy has two souls."
After several seconds of silence passed, Rat continued to speak. "I don't think it is the last option, if it is as you described, then he only saw a different possible version of himself. Keep an eye on him. Still place your main focus on finishing the array and preparing your heir, any extra attention should be placed on this boy and finding out whether it is just him or everyone from earth with this new issue."
Xerxes nodded and said his goodbyes to Rat, before he disconnected his mana from the device. He needed to stop Owen from creating his secondary class for now, at least until they could talk more about what Xerxes now thought the possibilities were.
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When Owen had gotten back to his room, he had decided that he would spend some time figuring out what he wanted to focus on, then dive back into the test hall area, to create his unique class.
He had narrowed down what he wanted to a couple different things. Chaos had already joined his fighting style. It hadn't made anything change entirely, but chaos was more special than adding some random elemental effect to the end of his weapon. It was the antithesis to mana somehow, and yet from what he had learned, it was also what was used in creation. That was a power he wanted and as he had decided, he didn't want any half measures. If his goal was power and to stand either shoulder to shoulder, or even lead, then he couldn't pursue half measures.
As he added chaos to his list, he thought about all of the different weapon types and his inability to choose one and stick with it exclusively. He appreciated both the sword and spear, but neither were weapons he could see himself using at all times. So, he kept his plans more broad, as he began to consider what he himself wanted to be like, he heard knocking on his door and quickly answered it. He had already come to most of the conclusions that would help him, so now he just needed to wait until he could ask Xerxes a couple questions and then he would be ready.
He found Xerxes waiting on the other side of the door, a look of relief on his face when Owen answered it. "Good, you didn't jump right back in," He said. Owen expected him to lead them elsewhere for the conversation, but instead he pushed Owen back into the room and closed the door behind them. "I have spoken with some of my associates and there were some concerns about how your class test was different from others we have both seen and heard about."
Owen listened intently as Xerxes described his meeting with Rat. "I have a couple questions, but I don't plan on waiting." Owen said firmly. For the first time, Xerxes seemed genuinely frustrated by him, but after a pause, his face slackened somewhat. "Fine fine, I am not sure you quite understand the implications of her skill not working on something like this, but I will still answer any questions you have. Maybe it will be something that becomes its own solution when you form the class."
This time Owen sighed a little bit, "What are the implications of her skill not working?" He asked. He had wanted to focus on just his class, especially with them having as little time let as they did, but if Xerxes thought it was important to take a pause, he could at least wait to hear him out. "Her skill feeds her information about different things that she shouldn't technically know anything about, but if it is information the system has, then she will get the information. It works as if she has omniscience for the system exclusively."
Xerxes continued, "Which means that either you are special and this is a unique circumstance only you will experience. Which Rat doesn't believe anyone could be special in the eyes of the system. The other possibility, which is why she is concerned, is that something about the system has changed, something that her skill will now need to be upgraded to include. Normally this wouldn't effect her since she is taking steps towards godhood, but it something drastic has changed, it might cut off the current path she is on."
Owen listened intently and was starting to understand, but was still confused. "I had sort of just assumed it had something to do with how I was able to steal the polymath's inheritance. This other version of me, their whole path was based around that ability." Owen said sounding confused and Xerxes stared at him for a moment. "So, you think it is because you're special?" Xerxes asked, and there was no sort of jesting in his tone. It made Owen uncomfortable to admit it, but he nodded.
"It isn't that I think I am a once in a million genius, but I was able to create a pill out of a necklace. I only knew it was possible because of a system prompt. It had asked if I wanted to add the power from the amulet to my basic identify skill. I haven't seen anything like that sense, but it had appeared in that moment and I can see in other situations me trying to take advantage of that specifically." Owen had thought they had talked about it before, but he couldn't remember the reasoning they had come up with earlier.
It had been brushed off somewhat, but one theory he thought he remembered hearing was that he had an inheritance, that allowed him to steal the polymath's. But since then, he hadn't seen anything activate, so he had lost hope in being able to do it again. Xerxes seemed yo be going through his own system menus for a while before he turned his attention back to Owen and pull out a necklace. It looked exactly like the first one Owen had found that contained the skill, slightly rusty from time.
He identified it and smiled and the familiar message.
*Jeweled Monkey King's Amulet
Wearing this amulet permanently grants the skill Identify, this skill uses the knowledge of the previous Jeweled Monkey Emperor's to accurately categorize the world. Wearing this item grants 5 additional stat points in mana.*
Xerxes motioned for him to put in on, so he did, but other than the increase in mana, nothing happened. Xerxes nodded and took the necklace back, Owen only slightly hesitating when he saw the five point boost to mana. Xerxes then pulled out a second necklace and passed it to Owen who quickly put it on while reading what his identify told him.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
*Amulet of the Farseeing
Wearing this amulet increases perception by 100% and permanently grants the skill Farseeing. This skill pulls on the memory of the Farseeing and grants the user their unique skill based on their tribe. May nothing hold back you or your sight.*
Owen had to keep himself from trying to bind it too himself, or trying to hide it inside of his storage bracelet. A 100% boost to a stat was insane, even more so that Xerxes just had it lying around inside a storage device. Xerxes seemed to be waiting in anticipation for something, but after several seconds, nothing happened. Xerxes looking defeated asked for it back, and Owen could only be thankful that at the very least he had gotten this farseeing skill.
As he took the necklace off, he felt like his energy was beginning to go haywire in his channels. Something felt off and it felt like he had been hungry for as long as he had been alive. Everything started shaking, though Owen realized that Xerxes only seem concerned while looking at Owen. Xerxes started to rotate and Owen lost consciousness as the world rippled.
He woke up confused, but instead of in the courtyard or even his room, he found himself lying on the floor of the testing hall for his secondary class. Standing in front of him was himself scowling down at him. "Your greed knows no bounds," he heard himself say. Owen sat up groggily, but didn't rush as it seemed like his copy wanted to speak again. "What do you mean about my greed, you are the one that has his skills." He tried retorting, but it sounded more like he was whining.
"You already have one of the most powerful inheritances and tried to replace it with a lesser one?" His copy said in a sneering tone. He phrased it as a question, but he continued before Owen could interrupt. "I chose the polymath's because it was the most powerful option out there. Why would I want anything lesser?" Owen must've still been wearing the necklace in the real world, because his perception was beginning to hone in on something about his copy.
Something about the whole interaction was off, he knew this was supposed to be him, but his perception screamed that something was wrong. Despite being a perfect copy, it looked like it had seams or at least wasn't real in some way. "What do you mean you chose the polymath's inheritance, I did that, not you. You are just a me that could've been." Owen said, standing tall in front of his copy, but as the words left his mouth, he realized they might not be true, maybe he wouldn't have actually turned into something like this.
Gritting his teeth, he heard his clone start saying something in a demeaning tone, but Owen began to scan his surroundings, something felt off about the whole thing now. Using his mana manipulation skill at full power, he tried ripping up one of the walls and saw a crack form. Silence filled the chamber after that as the copy turned towards him scowling. "You want to end your path here, end OUR path here?" Owen had been to the void space before with the system for the first events and there was no way he could've broken any aspect of that space.
Something was telling him though that the whole room seemed off though, he was certain the hall was supposed to look like this, but again something screamed at him that things were off. He began using his mana manipulation to pull chunks of the hall to pieces. His copy began screaming and attacked with a ferocity unmatched to earlier when he had been designing his class. Chunks of the hall were torn apart as Owen danced through all of the attacks his copy sent at him. The largest section of the hall fell away and an unmatched brilliance filled the hall as Owen saw what could only be the real hall in all of its glory.
It looked like the hall Owen found himself in, but everything was polished up and his perception wasn't screaming at him, though a system notification appeared that had begun to make Owen think that it wasn't his perception telling him off.
*Farseeing: Level 1 --> Farseeing: Level 8*
A lightbulb went off in his head when he took the time to look at the notification. It hadn't been his perception telling him off, it had been his new skill. More and more of the fake hall began disappearing and another system notification blared through everything. Owen watched in shock as his copy dove towards the office on the other side of the hall, rushing with everything it had as the last remnants of the fake hall dissolved.
Owen wasn't sure why his copy was running but he was certain it had something to do with the system and so with a quick use of his mana manipulation skill, he bound up his copy, faster than it could tear through the mana threads. A system notification rang through the hall and his copy immediately stopped struggling.
*Congratulations, you have passed the combat test while a foreign invader held you in a separate space and participated in the fight as well. You have passed with the highest possible score, adding bonus to compensate for the interference of foreign force. *
*Congratulations, you have passed the test of character. You have firmed your resolve and have learned form your past self. You have passed with the highest possible score, adding bonus to compensate for the interference of foreign force.*
*Please design your Unique Secondary Class within the next twenty four hours. 19:59:56 time remaining.*
Owen stared at the notification and then at his copy. He willed his body out of the testing hall area, but kept his mana engaged. Thankfully the system allowed the working and Owen felt like there was something attached to his core. Not giving Xerxes the time to ask questions, he placed Xerxes hand of his back and said, "Look at where I am using my mana inside of my constellation."
Xerxes listened without asking questions. Several seconds of silence passed as Owen felt his control over the mana begin to slip away. Then Owen felt a pain unlike any he had felt before, he wanted to writhe on the ground, anything to try and get rid of the pain, but he couldn't move. When he finally could, he let out a breath and realized he hadn't been breathing during the entire process. When Owen turned, Xerxes face looked ashen and there was an intense anger in his eyes.
"They have gone too far." Was all Owen heard before faster than his eyes could keep up, Xerxes disappeared. Confused, Owen entered the testing hall again, simply by willing it and the door at the end of the hall had completely vanished. Any hints that there had been a room attached, completely gone. Though Owen realized that it was more than likely because the first time he had entered the hall, it had been fake. He still wasn't certain what the cause had been, but seeing the new information about his unique class, Owen felt his jaw drop.
*Unique Class - No Name
Class bonuses: Choose 3
Class Passives: Choose 3
Class Specialty: Choose 1
Stats awarded every unique class level: 75*
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Xerxes stormed into his room and immediately sent out a call to all of the zodiac. Several seconds passed before he heard Rat's voice through the mana device. "What did you find out?" Xerxes asked her to wait as the rest of the zodiac joined their mana with the call and Xerxes began speaking.
"The sins infected a boy with a soul virus and attempted to take control of his secondary class tests with it." Shock went through the twelve, but none of them spoke up. "I am not sure yet to what extent the damage has caused, but given the virus that was used, my assumption is that they managed to find a way to join and control someone's secondary class tests and are using it to join themselves to the person through it."
He went on to explain what Owen had originally told him about his class test and how weird it had been, before ending with Owen finding the clump attached to his core, after Xerxes gave him the amulet of the farseeing. That caused an uproar and several voices shouted out their complaints. Xerxes was ready to quite them down, but Rat spoke first. "I gave him permission." That silenced everyone, including Xerxes who was about to defend himself.
She hadn't even known he had the amulet, and if she had, she would've taken it and thrown it away or used it herself. He waited though to hear her excuse for him. "I have suspected the sins for a long time of reaching past their station and now it has been confirmed. We will postpone all array focused on my advancement and will shut down this plan of the sins, before they find a way to develop this too far."
Xerxes knew what was really the case, Rat wanted the technique for herself, but was going to create a crusade to hide the fact she was doing it for her own good. Maybe he was the only one that knew, but her chances at ascension were a lot worse than what she had convinced them all it was.