This vision did not grant me the sense of sight. I could not hear anything either – the only thing I could feel was the freezing cold of the outside world. Time had no meaning as it passed by, and I drifted away in silence. Eventually, I collided with something. Whatever it was, it had fused with me rather than drifting away. Again and again, things would collide and merge with me, and I grew further in size.
Soon enough, I felt myself falling into an eternal contest of strength – I pressed inwards into my core, trying my best to crush it. My core resisted and pushed back in turn. What was once freezing cold began to burn hot, and yet, my core did not give in. As I kept on growing, my pushing gained strength, and my core’s resistance became ever more desperate. It was only a matter of time before I overcame my core’s efforts.
Eons passed in a flash, and I grew and grew ever so slightly, until one day my core gave out. I’d thought my body was getting hot before with the inhuman pressure of my struggle with my core, but it was nothing compared to what happened next. My body – my whole being, became a fire so hot that it scorched reality itself. My body became fire, and the flames burned ever hotter the deeper you looked. I don’t know or understand what happened, but I knew that these flames were born from this unyielding, indomitable, and ancient struggle of strength.
This was the power of the greatest crusher in the universe.
My sense of self faded as the sightless vision came to an end.
[Celestial Herald] has advanced into [The Crusher]!
For advancing into a pink rarity class or higher for the first time, [Divine Shard] granted!
[Elemental Dominion Lv. 20] advanced to [Mana Commandeering Lv. 20]!
[Law of Exclusive Attraction Lv. 20] advanced to [Force Lord Lv. 20]!
[Force Coefficient Lv. 20] subsumed into [Force Lord Lv. 20]!
19 class skill points refunded.
[Herald’s Domain Lv. 20] advanced to [Ensnaring Domain Field Lv. 20]!
[Force Sphere Lv. 20] advanced to [Orb of Devouring Lv. 20]!
[Sky’s Wrath Lv. 20] advanced to [Celestial Descent Lv. 20]!
New class skill [Destined Collision Lv. 1] obtained!
New class skill [Almighty Push Lv. 1] obtained!
Name: Kiara Azoth
[Sorcery Dragon]
[Level 13]
EXP: 8,513,962/16,500,000
Divine Shards: 11/?
HP: 26,105/26,105
SP: 6,394/6,394
MP: 78,282/78,282
Vitality: 1,055
Strength: 1,251
Dexterity: 1,183
Intelligence: 2,421
Wisdom: 2,003
Racial Traits:
[Sapient Creature]
[Dragon Combat]
[Dragon Breath]
[Draconic Vision]
[Draconic Scales]
[Kin of Mana]
[Shapeshift: Base Humanoid Form]
[Greater Appraisal Obfuscation]
[True Elemental Body]
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[Evolutionary Inheritance]
Class: [The Crusher]
[Level 111]
EXP: 5,635,294/12,500,000
Class Skill Points: 43
Class Skills:
[Mana Commandeering Lv. 20]
[Force Lord Lv. 20]
[Ensnaring Domain Field Lv. 20]
[Orb of Devouring Lv. 20]
[Celestial Descent Lv. 20]
[Destined Collision Lv.1]
[Almighty Push Lv. 1]
Skills:
[Appraisal Lv. 10]
[Sneak Lv. 9]
[Ambush Lv. 9]
[Fate’s Jester]
[Pain Immunity]
[Fist of Justice]
[Trauma Conqueror]
Titles:
[Ferocious Underdog]
[Abyssal Cockroach]
[Avenger]
[Indomitable Will]
[Progenitor]
[Giant Slayer]
[Trailblazer]
[Protector of the Meek]
[Mad Dog]
[Defier of Fate]
I opened my eyes, overwhelmed by the powerful vision I bore witness to.
Nothing I’d felt even came close to the humbling sense of awe I felt at this moment, and how insignificant and small everything and everyone I ever knew were.
I had just witnessed the birth of a star.
“...iara? Kiara, can you hear me? Are you alright?!” Nico called through the arena.
“Yeah! Yeah, I am alright. Sorry, there’s just a lot for me to take in.”
Shaking my thoughts for a moment, I settled down to take in my new gains in the order they arrived.
[Trauma Conqueror]
You’ve suffered a deep and devastating blow to your psyche. While you may be changed forever by the experience, you’ve at least succeeded at overcoming it enough to not allow it to impede your daily life. Not everyone could say the same.
Each time you overcome a symptom of trauma, your mental fortitude adapts to it and makes overcoming it again slightly easier the next time.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here!”
A silly grin covered my face. If nothing else, this skill was worth the struggle to advance. Still, getting Huros’s help might save me from recovering the hard way. With this out of the way, it was time to see what the strange title I got did.
[Defier of Fate]
Over many past lives, you’ve been fated to face hardships that would bring anyone to their knees. In none of them did you ever give up. You stood in the face of terrible foes and difficult times alike and spat in their eyes, daring them to do their worst. While the wisdom of doing so may be questionable, you challenged your fate again and again. Perhaps this time you may succeed in finally bending destiny to your will.
Effect Incalculable.
“…What?”
I didn’t know which of the numerous implications of the title’s description to think about first. It seemed that I had multiple past lives, and all of them were rough. It also implies that I stubbornly fought back in all of them (are personalities even inherited through reincarnations?), and that I failed to come out on top each time.
Then there’s this stuff about ‘bending destiny to my will,’ whatever that’s supposed to mean. I’ve also never seen the system say ‘Effect Incalculable’ before.
“Urgh… Why’s this such a headache?!” I yelled, holding my head in frustration.
“Is there a problem with your class?” Nico asked, but I waved her off.
Still sitting upside down against the arena’s ceiling, I decided to ignore it.
“By the way, Kiara, you should know that increasing your skill levels past level 20 requires double the cost. I thought you might want to know that before you assign any skill points too early.” Nico said helpfully.
Well, dammit.
“I wasn’t going to push all my skills to level 30 anyway. Might as well check them out first.”
With that thought settled, I began reviewing my new class skills.
[Mana Commandeering Lv. 20]
Your mastery over the elements has evolved; you can now wrestle with your opponent for control over their own spells. Efficacy depends on skill level, mana manipulation proficiency of user and target, and affinity to mana type of user and target.
Abyss take me, this is going to be great against enemy mages and monsters alike!
The grin that had disappeared because of my new title was back and wider than ever.
[Force Lord Lv. 20]
Apply a force of attraction between any two objects within sight. Base strength of the attraction is equal to that of the strongest gravitational attraction applied on the user. Multiply the force of attraction by any value up to an absolute value of 20.
“…”
What the hell?! Isn’t this potentially stronger than even the force sphere?! And it fused with force coefficient as well.
“‘The Crusher’ indeed.” I whispered in awe.
As I successfully, if barely, resisted doing something monumentally stupid, I looked at my next class skill.
[Ensnaring Domain Field Lv. 20]
All creatures within 20 meters of user, including the user themselves, will be teleported into a Domain Field of the user’s creation. Ensnaring Domain Field must be designed beforehand.
Domain Field Preparation cost: 2500 MP. Domain Field maintenance cost: at least 1,000 MP per minute.
I may have been surprised one too many times today, but I shook my head in exasperation.
“Another ridiculous ability. Dragging an enemy into a field of my own choosing is an oppressive advantage to wield. Normally, it’d be balanced by the obscene mana cost it requires, making it a rush-down ability where the user races to kill their opponent before they run out of mana. However, the skill’s synergy with my being a true elemental takes it to the next level.”
I definitely had to talk to mom to learn more about domain fields and arenas – there’s definitely more about this ability to consider.
[Orb of Devouring Lv. 20]
Summon a dark, weightless orb that can devour anything it touches, except for the user. The sphere will exist for 20 seconds before devouring itself.
“This one’s strange, and a little disappointing. Force sphere was incredibly useful and spell that let me apply tremendous push or pull over a large area, and I’m definitely going to feel its loss. Sure, it looks like it can go through any defense, but I am not sure how much damage this thing is going to inflict. The word orb implies it can’t be too big.”
[Celestial Descent Lv. 20]
Summon a meteor to descend over a designated area. Each skill level gained decreases cooldown by a day. Cooldown cannot be less than one day. Cooldown unaffected by any other abilities and effects. Base cooldown: 30 days.
Cost: 15,000 MP
I gasped. It seems I complained too soon. I didn’t know what to expect from a pink class, especially considering how much harder it was to achieve than even mythic rarity classes, but this blows it out of the water.
“And there’s still two more skills to go through…”