I had a theory about my class book and its ability to absorb new classes. Specifically, about the pitch-black page of [Corrupted Bane of the Berserk]. It couldn’t just be a coincidence that mine had been golden.

In fact, upon some reflection, it became quite evident that I should be useless with a purely melee class. Not only was I inexperienced in absolutely everything that the class description mentioned, but my attributes were insufficient.

Which made me think that, while the book allowed me to take the class, it was also warning me about how absurd the idea was. Perhaps, and I’ll never know, Charlotte saw a golden page where I only saw black.

I was never going to take it, but it was comforting that I could if I really wanted. The System was not there to impose any limit on me, not even when it came to sabotaging myself.

If I were with Bob, going through the books it had decided I had to look into, a melee berserker class would have never made the cut. For good reasons, probably, but who was it to choose for me?

Chances were that most of the classes I would ever create and collect would be unsuitable for myself. My attributes were specialized for mage-like classes, while my experience was more fitting of a battlemage. But that wouldn't stop me at all. Since Charlotte's book had been absorbed, my next steps became clear.

I gathered Yasmin, Pol, and Claudia in Core’s meeting room.

“You all know that the battle was a failure on our part. The fact that we are alive is only thanks to Charlotte. But I've not gathered you here to dwell on the past. I want to move forward and build an empire. Charlotte has paved the way for that,” I explained.

I laid out all I know regarding my class. I didn't leave out a single detail, not even Charlotte’s class book and what I had learned from it. Especially, I strongly remarked on the part where they could screw themselves over if they didn’t think it through.

“To sum up, I will need the three of you to think about what you want your class to be. And, I would very much like it if you keep it related to your current one. Claudia, I’ve been told your class is [Scholar]?” She nodded. “Then I’d like that you become someone able to cleanse corruption. Cleaning it, purifying, you want to call it.”

Whenever I was not in Core or Nova, I would need someone to make sure that our infrastructure didn’t fall down. I could not be that person forever, and the sooner there was someone else, the better.

“Good!” I said after confirming that everyone was deep in thought already. “I’ll first go to Nova and convert a few people—probably the army. You have until the end of the day to think.”

I set out for Nova, traveling at full speed while ignoring all the monsters that unsuccessfully tried to pick a fight with me. They were, at most, level 15. Far from a threat, they wouldn’t be able to even scratch me. Only the [Sorrowful Wraith] would be dangerous, and perhaps the [Corrupted Abyss] could have put up a fight.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The soldiers at the gate were used to my figure by that time, so I no longer had to go through the queue to get into the city. I called for the same scrawny man that had been leading the guards, hoping that whoever came this time looked more like a captain and less like a pushover.

“Ho?” I exclaimed when I finally saw the man. “You’ve even evolved your class?”

[City Warden]

“Regretfully,” he betrayed my expectations with a sorrowful tone, “it wasn’t enough or in time. I started the evolution process before the Fourth got here, but I barely finished an hour ago…”

“Evolution or not, if you came, you would have died,” I nonchalantly said. “That’s the truth, like it or not. You’ve made fantastic progress, and if you keep it going, you will be able to join next time.”

His head was still down, clearly not yet convinced by my explanation. But I hadn’t come to reassure him, or anyone else, of their value.

“Maybe what I have come here for will cheer you up a bit. Gather all our units below, outside the gates.”

I had realized, after corrupting Charlotte, that humans and objects were not different when it came to corruption. They just needed more energy to make them yield. That meant that, just like when I spread corruption, I could do several people at once.

There would be a point, of course, that I would have to individually look at them. Some would reach the point of no return sooner than others, and when that happened, I could no longer fire pulses indiscriminately.

That was, obviously, not going to stop me. If anything was clear, I wasn’t going to spend days and days doing each people individually. All of our guards, soldiers, and capable people arming the walls had gathered outside. I stood right in their middle.

“All right, today’s the day that you are freed from the System. Mind you, I will start the process, but you will drive it. Meaning, I will just remove the System interference; the class you obtain is entirely up to you.”

I paused and turned around, looking everybody in the eyes. Up until now everything seemed straightforward, almost too easy to be true. And that was because it really was not as painless.

“The last person I did this for was so deep in a well of revenge and anger that her class killed her. As soon as she used the powers, she died. You need a clear picture of what you want to become, so make peace with yourself and picture what you want to be.”

I was not worried about them not wanting to fight anymore. Maybe it happened, but I was not holding them hostage anyway. If any of them decided to step down, then so be it. I’d rather have one more farmer, baker, or whatever they went for than a danger for everyone on the frontlines.

I gave them an hour to discuss and think. Right there, as I wanted to see how they approached it, and I was glad I did. Jonas—the [City Warden]—immediately started mingling among his people, creating groups, and separating them by their interests.

Clearly, they—the whole army—had stepped up their game. They were still weak by my standards, but nowhere near the unorganized group of armed individuals that they had been before I ordered them to fight in the dungeon.

“We are all set, Sir,” Jonas announced, all his troops neatly sorted around me.

“Then let’s get to it!”

It was hard not to be nervous. In my hands were the lives of many people and the future of Nova. This time it couldn’t be a failure; otherwise, I might as well abandon the city and start anew somewhere else. An option that, honestly, I wouldn’t mind at all.

Nova just held some negligible sentimental value, and the only reason it was valuable to me was because of Yasmin’s connections.

I sat on the ground and slowly breathed in and out a few times to calm my nerves. I packed energy with [Fusion], and set a pulse with corruption intent.

Here goes nothing!