Rieren wasn’t too afraid of the changes to come. Especially since had seen what exactly would evolve in the System Shop.

It should have felt more… climactic. A rush of increased power, the knowledge of new abilities, some kind of significant change regarding her innate strength. That was what had happened in her last class evolution ages ago.

All it really did was make her spiritual anguish vanish.

Maybe that was it. Maybe, she could actually feel stronger now that her soul didn’t feel like tearing itself out of her body. Which made her stop and actually pull up her [Status] now that she had accepted the class evolution point.

[Status]

Rieren Vallorne

Race: Human

Class: Arisen Bladebane

Profession: Enchanter

Realm: Exalted [Mid]

Level: 41

Perks: Endless Beyond [A]

Titles: Abyssal Historian [+20 Spirit]

Stats

Body: 68 [+9]

Mind: 46 [+9]

Spirit: 46 [+9]

Skills [Shiftable]

Fray Passage [S]

Gale Blade [A]

Earthfell Blade [S]

Reaver Stance [S]

-

Techniques [Shiftable]

Tidal Summon [C]

Call of the Past [Spirit Bond] [B]

Water Dancer Blade [D]

-

Domain

Demonic Ocean [B]

Ah. So many interesting changes. Her perk was no longer Divine Resilience. Focusing on Endless Beyond brought up its new definition.

Perk: Endless Beyond [A]

Connects elixir field to body. So long as one is well and active, the other will regenerate at an accelerated rate of 20% per minute. Regeneration extends to a radius to up to three paces around skin, radius controllable, and includes both armaments and non-original body parts.

Rieren had to blink at some of the specifics. Extending out to three paces? Did that mean she could heal others just by standing close to them now? That felt unnecessary. She had no wish to heal enemies simply because she was standing too close to them.

Though, controllable suggested that she could reduce it with some focus. Hmm, something to implement and test on her own.

Non-original body parts also suggested there was more going on with this new body of hers than she knew. It sounded almost as though she could attach other parts or replace bits and pieces as she saw fit. Or perhaps both. Rieren shook her head. Cursed monsters with no idea of the sanctity of one’s body.

Interestingly, all her stats now had an added modifier to them. An addition of nine points to each stat at first seemed like a minor boost, but then, she got four stats per level. A total of twenty-seven meant she had received almost eight levels worth of extra stats just through her class evolution.

That was incredible.

Her skills and techniques were still the same, though she wasn’t certain what “shiftable” meant in this context. When Rieren focused on it, she found her elixir field acting up, her meridians flooding with Essence as something drew it to her from her surroundings.

Shiftable… with corrupted Essence? Something told her the system expected actively change her skills and techniques with her corrupted Essence. She frowned. That would be taking a gamble. Without some sort of prior guidance or knowledge on how exactly the Abyss-Aspected Essence would change things, she had no reason to potentially ruin her abilities.

It was time to focus on what lay ahead of her. After all, she needed to rejoin the battle.

Rieren had no trouble recognizing the way she needed to travel. She had been here to meet with Elder Olg before. Despite the destruction the forest had undergone, she was on track to reach her destination—the distant brazier still spewing faint smoke into the sky.

She could tell she was nearing her target location thanks to all the noise. Whatever had happened, an end wasn’t one of them.

It was good to be able to test out her transformed body now that she was out in the open. Her experiences within the Fellserpent had already showcased the greater strength she now wielded. On her journey across the forest grounds, Rieren found out just how fast she had grown too. Trees zipped by in the blurs and she covered great distances in a matter of heartbeats.

Such a shame this body was monstrous, for she could have gotten used to it.

There was that untethered feeling as well, one that she quite appreciated. The physical laws that held up the universe no longer had as much of an effect on her as they used to.

For instance, no matter how fast Rieren moved, she could change her direction with the minutest of inputs. Inertia could no longer hold her back as it had done before. The same went for the resistance of air upon her motion, and the effects of gravity. As with time, she had loosened the grip of all natural forces of the world.

Nevertheless, it would be something to be wary of. Certain motions during her fights tended to depend on those very effects that she had no wish to regain. In any battle happening onwards, she would need to be mindful of the changes.

The battlefield was barren. There were powers thrumming not far away, and the effects of destruction were all too evident even aside from the battles Rieren and her team had participated in. Torn, cracked land, shattered and burning trees, air that smelled foul and blistered, battered and broken bodies lying every—

The smell. Rieren frowned and sniffed hard again. She had never been one to rely on mundane senses like the ability to sense odours to reliably tell her anything about monsters. There were certain stenches associated with certain Abyssals, but Rieren had her other senses, especially Essence to rely on.

Now, however, the stench was different. Her transformed body recognized it. Human.

Was this what monsters smelled whenever they found a mortal or even a cultivator? It was horrid. A ripe, zealous odour that felt somewhat sickly sweet with the faintest hint of rottenness to it, like someone had doused a maggot-ridden corpse with far too much perfume.

Rieren shook her head to get rid of the stench. It didn’t matter. She had come here for one thing and one thing only.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Getting her sword back.

Of course, there was the chance that someone had stolen it and left her with nothing. Amalyse or Kalvia could have taken it too, perhaps seeking to safeguard it until Rieren met up with them again.

But Rieren found it soon enough, lying exactly at the spot where she had been wrestling with that brute of a Blightmane. Her sword wasn’t by itself, however.

No, there was a token lying atop it.

Rieren frowned. She didn’t like the looks of this. A quick survey revealed no one nearby, though the fighting wasn’t that distant from her location. Maybe a few hundred more paces and she would be in the thick of the battle.

But the point was, no one in their right mind would leave a token just lying in this manner. It was obvious someone had left it for her. And since it couldn’t be a human competitor who could have ever thrown away a token, it had to be an Abyssal. Answering why wasn’t difficult either. After all, the monsters had acted rather desperately to get her on their side.

Though, there had been that Fellserpent swallowing her up. But then again, it hadn’t gone any further. The more she thought about it, the more it appeared the gigantic serpent had simply sought to get her away from that battle.

All so Rieren could enter it later, after her transformation into an Arisen was complete?

She sighed. Of course not. Their real intention had been to separate from her teammates, who would no doubt have stuck to her side regardless of her current appearance.

Well, no matter. Rieren picked up both her Receptor sword and the token. Since she had a runic formation piece of her own now, there was no point in dallying any longer. Now, she just needed to head straight for the brazier spewing smoke.

Rieren headed forward. It would have been advantageous if she could have scouted out the lay of the land, possibly from a vantage point. No such location materialized before her, however. Though… there was a way she could do so. Rieren paused, summoning her Domain and then her Domain Summons.

The Dawn Cloud looked the same as ever. Considering her Domain had changed to Demonic Ocean instead of a simple Ocean, she—actually, Rieren had no idea what a demonic version of her off-white puffball of condensed, compressed mist was supposed to look like.

Should it have grown horns too? That sounded too ridiculous.

Rieren jumped aboard her Domain summons. The cloud bore her with no difference from before. It was only when it started moving that she began to notice things were off.

The Dawn Cloud was breaking apart and reforming as it moved. Misty wisps and strands tore off the cloud’s surface to dissipate to nothing, revealing the dark water boiling within it, only for newer off-white puffs to fill up the empty space.

Rieren frowned at her Domain Summons. She knew it had access to some of her applicable skills and her perk at the Domain’s current level. If it was the corrupted Essence that was tearing her Domain apart, her Eternal Beyond perk was regenerating it just as quickly. At least, enough of the cloud’s integrity held to bear her without making it a strange ride.

She decided she would fix whatever was wrong with the Domain Summons later. For now, it functioned, and she had a battle to get through first.

Except, Rieren was spotted before she could get close enough.

“Another one!” a familiar voice shouted. “In the air.”

Alarm bells clanged in Rieren’s mind. She didn’t waste a second to jump off the Dawn Cloud. Just in time too.

As Rieren jumped off the cloud, a whirl of glowing white Essence shot into her Domain Summons, tearing it far worse than it was doing to itself. It was a complete eradication. Her perk couldn’t heal what no longer existed at all.

But that ability, and that voice… Rieren turned to seek out the owner of both. She found him before long.

“Hello there, Cerill,” Rieren said, smiling at the young man with the strange spear and a stranger greatshield upon his back.

Cerill stared at her, eyes a little wide and stance as hostile as ever. Ah, of course. She had thought her voice would remind him who she was, but then, her voice had changed now too. The corruption had finally reached her larynx. It seemed her earlier theories were off.

“How do you know me, monster?” Cerill asked. His eyes were a little calculating, and a little confused. “And how do you know my name?”

“I know you because we used to be disciples together,” Rieren said. “Can you really not tell who I am?”

“A monster I was supposed to have killed but didn’t for whatever reason? No fellow disciple of was ever an Abyss—no, you’re not an Abyssal are you. Not an Aetherian, either. What in the world are you?”

“I am Rieren.”

Cerill’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head at any moment. “Lies. I know Rieren. She’s battling against the likes of you with her team. With other disciples I know and cherish. If you wish to fool me, monster—” he levelled his spear. “—then you should have picked a better lie.”

Before Rieren could attempt to explain anything, Cerill yelled out a battle cry and charged.

Rieren was tempted to curse her new form for making her fight people she actually liked, but the impulse was weak. It faded before Cerill had even finished his first step towards her. Ah well. It wasn’t like she minded fighting. She could handle Cerill with ease.

He had obviously grown stronger since that time they had faced off against each other in that little tournament at Lionshard Sect. His weapon was steady in his grip, and the large shield upon his back didn’t impede his movement at all. Rieren distantly wondered what realm and level he was now at. She was certain that he had left the Sect too, like her and the others.

The multipronged spear with the many, curving blades spiralling like a crown of horns began shimmering. A second later, the brilliant light began twisting and rotating around the shaft. Before Cerill could complete his charge, a blast erupted from the end of his spear, shooting over the ground straight at Rieren with the speed of a thunderbolt.

She was able to deflect without trouble, of course. A quick use of Earthfall Blade sent it careening to the side with a little explosion.

And then Cerill himself was upon her. Ah, of course. The skill use had been a mere distraction to hide his true charge. Rieren grinned, dug her feet in to anchor herself, and readied to face him down.

At a glance, Cerill’s spear looked too large and unwieldy. Rieren had seen just how dexterously he could use it, however. As such, she wasn’t surprised in the least when Cerill weaved and slammed it around like it was nothing more than a stick.

His strikes were fast and powerful, but nothing Rieren couldn’t handle. She didn’t even need Earthfall Blade to deflect his regular blows.

The only problem was counterattacking. During Cerill’s charge, he had pulled off his shield to hold with one hand, its size covering up over two-thirds of his whole body. That left precious little space for Rieren to take advantage of to strike back at.

Rieren pulled herself free from the engagement. She threw herself back, summoning her Domain at the same time, dark water bubbling to life around the position she landed on.

Cerill wasn’t about to relent his pressure. He jumped after her as well, his own Domain firing to life. Rieren frowned. She had never seen him use a Domain before, so she had no knowledge to go off of. Faint golden light flickered to life around him, but nothing further manifested. He was keeping the extent of his Domain’s power under wraps. Smart of him.

Rieren blocked and deflected his continued assault without trouble. Even when he added his shield to the onslaught, Rieren had no issue dealing with it. This didn’t feel right. Cerill wasn’t a brainless brute who would go on hammering away at an opponent when he found himself outclassed. He was too intelligent for that. So what was he aiming for here?

Enough was enough. With a quick focus, Rieren forced her Domain to rise, releasing the pressure she had been building with the steam underneath its surface.

Cerill dodged. Her eyes widened. By himself, Cerill shouldn’t have been fast enough to evade the geyser, not with how close he had come and how far he had thrown himself into attacking her.

But he hadn’t dodged regularly. The faint golden light had solidified around him, constructing twisted wings on his back that pulled him back at a rapid pace.

So that was the power of his Domain. Crafting body parts at will. Parts that didn’t necessarily have to be human in the first place. An intriguing power. Though, Rieren supposed there might be more to it than that.

“You scum,” Cerill said. The frown had dug deep enough to push out a few temporary wrinkles on his forehead. “How dare you attempt to use Rieren’s powers as well? Stop insulting her. You will not fool me, and you will never be able to match even an iota of her true strength.”

Rieren shook her head. This blathering idiot. Why was she thinking him intelligent again? “Cerill, it is me. Things happened, which led to my current condition. A chain of logical events. Have you never heard of anyone being turned into a monster before? You have no idea what has happened with Elder Olg, have you?”

“He gave his life for Lionshard Sect, may he rest well in the Beyond. Do not desecrate his memory, monster.”

“I can literally take you to meet him.”

“Cerill, why haven’t you killed that thing yet?”

Cerill suddenly tensed. He looked like he had been very, very slowly turning around to at least listen to what Rieren had to say, but the arrival of the new voice had immediately shattered all progress she had made. Cerill was back to being righteous and stubborn and wholly the unintelligent man she had known back at the Sect.

The newcomer himself was a thin, arrogant-looking fellow she hadn’t seen before. Slicked-back hair, upturned nose, a sallow face. One couldn’t paint arrogance without a picture him. Something told her that he was one of those Cerill had come to know in his travels beyond the Sect. Or perhaps, someone from the region Cerill had come from in the first place.

As far as Rieren was aware, Cerill originated from the southwestern portion of the Elderlands. A region that was overrun by Abyssals.

“It’s a powerful one, Alstrig,” Cerill said. “And it keeps talking weirdly…”

Rieren tried not to roll her eyes. “I am not talking weirdly. I am asking you to listen to the truth. I have—”

“Blah, blah, blah.” Alstrig, acting like the prick that he resembled. “We heard one of you stole away one of Cerill’s former comrades, one Rieren Vallorne, with your wild little speeches. We aren’t about to let that happen to anyone else, you hear me? That means shutting you beasts up before you can spout your filth. Cerill, end that thing.”

Cerill hefted his spear, his expression tightening with resolve. “With pleasure.”

His Domain flared. Where the golden light had been faint before, now it sparkled to life around him. The wings materialized at his back again. This time, they pulled him up straight into the air, where his spear had begun twisting with golden light as well.

With another loud and powerful battle cry, Cerill threw himself forward, shooting at Rieren like a comet.

She grimaced. So it had come to this, then. Cerill approached with blistering speed, but she was faster still. It was worth it to wait until he had arrived at just the right point in his flight towards her.

A quick use of Fray Passage took her two paces ahead of where she’d been. Cerill was already too close to change his flight path. Just as he and his twisting, golden spear crashed down where Rieren had been, she pulled up a leg and kicked back as hard as she could.

Cerill screamed as he was sent hurtling back a few dozen paces, crashing over the ground and losing his grip on both his spear and his greatshield, which went flying in opposite directions.

“Oh for the love of…” The newcomer glared at Rieren, then rushed to where Cerill had been flung too and hadn’t risen since.

Rieren was minorly hopeful she hadn’t killed off Cerill entirely. After all, she had refrained from using her sword. Though, the strength behind her kick had taken her aback a little too. She would have to keep her growth in power in mind.

She turned away and headed towards the main battle. Something told her she might have to cut her way through it, if her interaction with Cerill was anything to go by.

But before she could go any farther than two paces, a new obstacle materialized.

Three Masked Avatars appeared before her all at once.