Most of you who have been around know what dungeons or towers are. They're connections to other realms, other worlds—System-ruled worlds. Most of the time, you'll find them popping up during an invasion or a System Apocalypse.

But every now and again, when two Systems fight and one loses, the destruction is not entirely complete. Parts of the vanquished realm linger. Pocket dimensions remain stable even as the Source dissolves the rest. And within these pockets, the final pieces of the defeated System remain attached to other realms, awaiting someone to claim them.

They can take the form of essence-altered dimensions with a Dungeon Core. These usually result in long-time incursions as it tries to expand, infesting whatever remains to consume more Essence. Other times, they exist as extremely powerful entities that have gone rogue without their System's guidance. Whatever the case, if you can overcome them—if you can take their Essence into you—then you have a chance of integrating a new Class or Class Specialization for yourself.

This is not guaranteed, mind you. Some Classes and Specialization won't go together. Cross-System integration is a thing. But still, securing the dungeon will earn you a great deal of benefits. Worse comes to worst, you can sell the location to the Crossroads. They are always used for new properties.

-The Trespasser’s Compendium

II-17

Scion of the Celestial Flame (I)

Class Level > 81

Attention!

Leveling temporarily halted at Lv. 75. Please seek out Class Specialization Evolution opportunities to continue your progression. Total Free Points can still be distributed.

Eidolon Class Level > Lv. 75 (Actual: Lv. 81)

Cataclysm’s Herald (Specialization Evolution Available — Seek Specialization Rifts or overcome Archetypical Adversary for Evolution)

Aspect Advancements Per Level: +8 Strength, +6 Speed, +5 Mind, +6 Awareness, +5 Constitution, +8 Will, +5 Free Points

Free Points: [40]

Aspects

Strength > 812

Speed > 538

Enlightenment > 545

Awareness > 558

Constitution > 413

Will > 652

Wei let out a measured breath. His Class Specialization was on the cusp of evolving. And just in time as well. He didn’t doubt the Trespassers—or Bishop, for that matter—had planned this. They knew he was on the precipice, and whatever the outcome of his battle against his father, he would have likely reached Lv. 75.

"You were always planning to entice me with the Tower of Possibilities, weren’t you?" Wei asked.

John Bishop simply grinned. "Entice? Nah. You can say whatever you like. Nothing here that even resembles entrapment—shit, I can’t even say I’m familiar with the concept. But, if you're not interested in the tower's opportunities, well, there are plenty of spots across the Claimed Hills for you to undergo an evolution as well. It’s just that most of the Circles squat in those spots, and they’re usually found deep down in the Base, where Mepheleon routinely releases experimental demons for capable sinners to challenge."

“Archetypical Adversaries,” Wei said.

“Yeah.”

“There is a great deal you haven’t told me about Class Evolutions.”

“Yep.” And that was all Bishop said. They were absolutely stringing him along, and dammit, he was being strung.

“This can be to our benefit.” His Shell gazed upwards at the many bridges extending out from the pillar at the core of the tower. Each of them was connected to a dormant portal. Pathways to other places… "Feel the spatial Essence around us. Feel the complexity within this place. I suspect that there must be thousands of Specialization Evolutions available to us, with a more convenient and selective variety than most sinners of the Claimed Hells will ever know. This opportunity is too good to surrender."

"Very well," Wei said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He stared into the bright amber screen embedded in the tower’s central pillar and made his intent known. "I, Wei An Wei, Patriarch of the Drowned Sky Sect, accept your connection and will undergo whatever trial you place before me."

Confirmed…

Please wait as you are entered into the Tower’s registry.

"Why," Nils chimed next to the young master. “What spirit you have, boy. I look forward to seeing how well that spirit fares when you face a Remnant Avatar or a Dungeon Core?”

Wei eyed the Terrible Surgeon. “These are the challenges that await beyond the dormant portals. They seem like the rifts in the Moongraves.”

"Oh yes," Nils replied. "The Tower of Possibilities is something between an archive and a seed bank. It harvests portions of collapsed realms to reserve them as Instances. Within these instances, you’ll find recorded Classifications given form or great challenges meant to mold a champion into shape. As such: Avatars and Dungeon Cores."

"And it does this with every world?" Wei asked. He didn’t want to hope, but…

"No, not every world. Only the ones it deems interesting enough or asset-heavy enough to preserve." Nils gave him a sad smile. "Which means that your pitiful little Evernest had no chance. No chance at all."

Only a dull pain throbbed inside Wei. He was used to disappointment now. He didn’t know what he was expecting. "Then I am to enter one of these Instances and overcome them for my next Specialization upgrade?"

"For some of them," John Doe answered. "Others will let you know their requirements. With your class being on the verge of evolution, its spiritual structure is malleable to deconstruction and transformation. But even with the flexible Class architecture provided by the Harbinger, some System Classifications will remain incompatible with yours."

Nils grinned. "This will also allow you greater personalization and influence over your Eidolon. Needless to say, I'm sure you doubt just how much control you have of your own weapon if Mepheleon demands it betray you."

"I had thought of that before," Wei admitted, "but I suspect that would be the least of my issues if the Harbinger wished me ill."

Just then, he felt a twinge of pressure rush across his mind and then glide away from him, over into a sphere.

Examining class configuration… analyzing Class Specialization… Cataclysm’s Herald… analysis in progress… analysis complete. Sorting for synthesizable class specializations. Narrowing… narrowing options to most optimal combinations. Options narrowed. Opening gateway to Instances.

At once, Wei felt a series of spatial gateways snap open far above. They weren’t like the rifts characterized by whirls of spinning blackness. Instead, they were sheets of bright translucence, resembling a film of glowing fluid.

108 options generated.

Wei blinked at that. "108," he muttered. That was a staggering amount. That was practically too much choice. "I’ll be spending all day here. I must contact—” The young master blinked. He had been gone for a while, so why hadn’t anyone contacted him through the Chat?

“We already have that handled,” Moonscar said. “Your companions are being watched over. No communications can reach the Gray House or the Tower of Possibilities. Lay your burdens to rest. You have time. For now.”

"Got a suggestion for you, Wei," Bishop interrupted. "Instead of going through and examining each of these Instances, why don’t you directly get some hands-on experience?"

The young master regarded Bishop’s suggestion. "And how do you suggest I do that?"

"By heading into each portal and seeing which of them you can clear without difficulty… and which of them might take you a few tries. They all offer an evolution, but I don’t think you’re one to settle for something subpar, yeah? And besides… I don’t think you got it."

“Got it…” Wei said, his fingers tightening around his spear.

“William… his ass was distracted against you. His Class? Wasn’t the best available. You’re not gonna find as much mercy and gentleness from these Remnants. It will be interesting to see how far you’ll get.”

The young master clenched his teeth so hard he heard something in his jaw crack. This man… this bastard…

“He’s taunting us deliberately,” Wei’s Shell seethed. “And it’s working. This bastard… This fool… He dares challenge us.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I will show you, Master Bishop, that there are consequences for courting death…” Wei whispered.

“Are there?” Bishop’s grin grew wider.

Beside them, John Doe simply shook his head while Nils muttered something about “severe inferiority complex.”

“Yes,” Wei said, leaning closer to Bishop. “I will make you swallow that smile.”

And suddenly, massive crystalline bridges extended down from above, creating pathways connected to pathways, offering Wei a way up.

As if he couldn’t fly.

“Alright, then, kid,” Bishop said. “Let’s see it.”

Wei flared his Source. “Gladly—”

“Without the use of your System,” John Bishop added.

Wei paused. The Shell turned to glare at the fight. “Excuse me.”

“Your System. You rely on it heavily. We wish to see how you perform without an outsized advantage. This, and using your Concept Breaker within the Instances will result in permanent damage.”

Wei blinked. His Shell shrugged. “So be it. Show them. Show them that a cultivator is a cultivator, down to the bone.”

The young master’s hesitation hardened to resolve. “Fine.” A shift built in the wind. A crackle of electricity ran up his arm. “I accept this hobbling. And know that nothing has changed. Nothing!”

***

Filtering for (Common) Instances

The common Instances Wei entered weren’t worth mentioning in detail. Stepping through their thresholds, he either found himself faced with an assortment of challenges, a collection of foes, or a single enemy bestowed with what remained of a formative system classification. He found himself fighting in all manners of desperate biomes, but the commonality between them all was the concept of destruction and the themes of disaster.

He dueled a three-headed tiger in an erupting volcano; he wrestled a bioelectric shark at the bottom of an ocean trench. He hid between the cracks of mountains as the skies above were filled with falling steel, cast down from the wings of enormous hawks. And he shattered the exoskeleton of a sandworm by smashing his way into its core and stealing an Essence-empowered treasure.

None of these battles lasted longer than thirty seconds. And as he vanquished his foes or overcame the obstacles, he felt the surge of essence coalesce around his Eidolon, the Essence that composed the Instance collapsing, swirling, asking to be absorbed by his spear.

Begin Class Specialization Evolution? That was the question each time, and every instance offered another variation of weapon type, a new Essence he could channel, and Skill he could use. But of those fifty-five instances, not a single one pleased him. Unfulfilled, he tore through the Rare and Elite tier Instances with equal disinterest.

After a near month of fighting for his life against esoteric and powerful enemies, the threats offered within these pocket dimensions were simply displeasing. Add that to his overwhelming Aspect advantage in most cases, and there was rarely much of a fight to be had.

With ninety Instances done and the chance to turn his Eidolon into an artillery cannon rejected, Wei finally moved onto the Epic category of challenges. He cleared six more Instances—each one holding a massive beast that represented a specific element—spending six minutes within each one.

Then, he came upon the first Instance worth nothing, as he entered a world consumed by towering stalks of tangible darkness. Enormous tendrils of fluid ebony rose from a devastated urban landscape. Between their lengths, the rubble of buildings greeted the young master.

Wei took to the sky to survey his surroundings, only to discover a strange and solitary figure standing at the center of the destroyed city. The Remnant Avatar was humanoid and rail-thin, from their back extended countless lengths of Umbral Essence. They wielded and shaped all darkness around them, and formed the same darkness into shields as Wei loosed a Lance of Calamity from high above.

The projectile, infused with the full power of a falling storm, crashed against a midnight bulwark. For the first time, Wei found himself caught in a struggle as gigantic hands clutched the lance and tried to stop its acceleration. But even so, the young master’s Aspect of Strength proved greater. His lance exploded through the dark—

And achieved nothing.

In the very same instant, Wei felt a dilation echo pulse within him, warn of an incoming attack, but the young master couldn’t understand from where—

A spike of pain punched through his gut. Hooking claws wailed against his reformed armor. The young master cried out as the remnant suddenly materialized next to Wei, leaking from the shadows imprinted on the young master’s body.

Shadeshaper: Lv. 125

Its eyes were pools of white upon a canvas of shifting darkness. To Wei’s self-loathing, he failed to sense its coming—the way it wielded blackness itself was delicate and subtle. And the control it possessed was incredible.

Constructs of shadow closed around the young master’s body. But just as he failed to kill it with his first blow, so too did it fail to achieve the same. Wei Essenceshifted into air and drifted away from the Shadeshaper, lashing at its body using his Skill’s Telekinetic modification. He tore at the Shadeshaper—but its body broke and recomposed without difficulty. The young master returned to his physical shape and let loose a bolt of lightning—only for a net of shadows to swallow the bolt just as it flashed.

A storm of umbral projectiles exploded from all directions. A wave of shrapnel closed in on Wei. He dove and dodged, Dilation-Echoes saving him more than pure reflex. He clenched his teeth as he flew on. This was already more of a challenge than all his prior fights put together, and he pour more Scorn into his Heart of Cataclysms as he counter-attacked.

Tsunamis counter-charged tides of shadow. Columns of stone exploded outward, swallowing entire sections of the city below while flashing bolts of lightning made the shadows around Wei flinch, and his wind blades left cuts across the Shadeshaper’s body.

Source: [542/600] Lumens

This continued for five minutes. Then ten. Then Wei was running low on Scorn, reducing his attacks to take on a more defensive posture, all while the Shadeshaper remained unfettered throughout. Any physical harm it suffered was regenerated in an instant. Though he could contend with it Aspect to Aspect, his Scorn was far inferior to whatever resources it required, and so he found himself on the verge of exhaustion while it seized increasing command over the battle’s tempo.

“Because you are a fool,” Wei’s Shell chided. “It flinches with your lightning. It takes special care to capture your bolts before they can land.”

I noticed, Wei snarled. Another dagger-sized shard of darkness crashed against his right pauldron. A responsive burst of flame destroyed the darkness—but a mountain-sized claw swept down from the clouds above. Wei twisted. Dodged between the fingers and cleaved it down the middle with a trailing jetstream. Only for a dozen more hands to punch down, seeking his life.

“You notice, but you do nothing to achieve a proper outcome,” his Shell growled. “Have you learned nothing from fighting our father? Provoke. Observe. Learn how your enemy reacts. You have less than a minute to win this battle before you disgrace us with your System.”

I will not—

“You will! We both know you will unleash your harvesting blade before ever accepting defeat. Your pride is raw.”

A bitter taste grew inside Wei’s mouth.

“Think. What is the correct path.”

A lance of pure darkness barely missed Wei’s throat. He exploded away from the Shadeshaper rapidly pursuing him, its body a small nub connected to a mass of colossal tendrils. He couldn’t keep evading. He needed to find a decisive way to strike at the avatar with his lightning. But—

He recalled another thing his Shell said.

Layer his attacks. Let his art flow together, one technique leading to the next.

Thus far, he launched his assault with wide abandon, seeking to overwhelm his foes. But that wasn’t enough. Countered and stymied, he was simply biding his time, dueling ineffectually. A greater thought was needed if he wanted to push through his enemies defenses. Predictions and surprise…

Wei turned suddenly, and knew he only had enough Scorn for three more bolts of lightning. It was this, his System, or surrender. The last wasn’t an option, the second was disgrace. Once more, the young master let certain defeat guide his hand.

A bolt shot out from his spear. Like all the times before, darkness reached out to catch it. But what the Shadeshaper didn’t anticipate was Wei Essenceshifting himself into another bolt and merging with his attack. Wei forked off the lightning before the shadows could close around him. More shapes bubbled across the Shadeshaper’s body, but not fast enough.

Wei crashed into the Remnant Avatar in a thunderclap of force and light. The darkness composing its shell and constructs peeled away, recoiling. Then, in that instant, he saw something exposed. It looked like a gleaming sphere at the core of Shadeshaper’s parted body, and Essence radiated from it in waves.

For the first time, Wei pulled the Knight of Lust’s rapier from his Inventory and drove it into the core, unwilling to risk his Eidolon in this desperate strike.

The silvery blade punched clean through. A flash of light surged through the shadows, and a piercing cry sounded from the Shadeshaper as it broke apart into dissolving motes. Suddenly, a brightness returned to the pocket, and the Instance quivered around Wei like a smeared painting.

Instance completed!

Integrating [Shadeshaper] with Current Class Specialization…

Umbral Stormshaper (Legendary) — Specialization unlocked by joining storm and shadow. Unleash calamity from shadows; shape shadows into calamities. Grants the user the ability to shape darkness into calamitous constructs or infuse lightning, water, earth, and air with the Essence of [Shadow].

>Aspect Advancements Per Level: +8 Strength, +10 Speed, +10 Mind, +8 Awareness, +12 Constitution, +12 Will, +5 Free Points

>Abyssal Invocation (Evolution): [Shadowstorm] — You are shadow. You are calamity. Unleash the dark was a storm and hide the storm in the dark. You gain access to the [Force,] [Destruction,] [Lightning,] [Water,] [Earth,] [Wind], and [Shadow] essences and can direct them as if strikes from your body. The amount of force you can exert on the world is based on your Aspect of Strength. The scope of your influence is determined by your Perception. Your control over the channeled disasters is determined by Will. Become the Heart of Calamity and let the world be cleansed. The Heart of Calamity state will constantly consume your foundational Sin.

>Skill Shard: [Shadeform] — You become an avatar of shadows, leaving you vulnerable to [Fire] Essence or concentrated light, but immune to physical forms of damage. You can also travel to any point of darkness within your (Perception).

>Eidolon Form Evolution: [Umbral Hand]

Wei looked through his newest specialization’s offerings and found himself pleased for the first time. The control over shadows was least among these benefits. Shadeform would see his survivability increased… although he wasn’t sure about the vulnerability to light or flame. Fire was quite common in the Claimed Hells.

The Umbral Hand was another downside. It looked to be a curved shovel rather than a spear. The hilt also resembled a shadowy hand with a sphere of lightning, earth, air, and water hovering upon the digits. Wei guessed it could be functional, but aesthetically and practically…

Begin Class Specialization Evolution?

“We can do better,” his Shell said. “And now that you have bested it, you can do it again.”

“Right,” Wei muttered to himself. There were more choices to go through. He rejected the evolution.

Time to clear out the remainder of the Epic Instances and see what awaited thereafter.