[You acquired 1x Epic G - rank class stone]
[You acquired 2x Main attribute stone.]
[You acquired 1x Gloves of strength - Uncommon.]
[Congratulations! You gained the achievement: the trial seeker. Be the first to clear a trial in your sector. +3 to all stats.]
All stats? Wait, does that include-
Before I opened my status page, a surge of otherworldly power circulated from the tip of my toes towards my brain, leaving a tingling sensation behind as it gradually dissipated. I was used to the feeling I got whenever I gained physical stats, but this one was completely foreign and, frankly, creepy. It was like there was a pair of hands carefully massaging my brain, tinkering with what was inside.
While I was interested to see my status, I focused on the pile of loot scattered in the middle of the platform. 3 Stone-like objects were nestled beside each other neatly, with a pair of gloves sticking out like a sore eye.
2 of those stones were the main attribute stones, which I’ve used before. The other stone - a smaller, violet-tinted rock - hummed with a type of energy I was not familiar with. I grabbed both of the attribute stones and used them immediately, saving the points for later.
The biggest object in the pile was the [Gloves of strength], so I inspected it next.
[Gloves of strength - Uncommon : Wearing it grants the user +5 strength.]
That’s straightforward. I was disappointed with the uncommon rarity, but I’d take what I could get.
Besides, I suspect that the real prize of these items was the class stone. I shifted my gaze and stared at the purple rock.
[Epic G-Rank class stone : Grants the user a selection of epic rarity classes of the G - rank level. The choices depend on the user’s achievements and feats during their time in the system.]
It was akin to the talent selection.
Licking my lips, I grabbed the class stone and used it.
[You used 1x epic G - rank class stone.]
[Please select a class from the list below.]
[Sky Lancer - epic : It was said that the spear is one of the most versatile and adaptive weapons to be wielded by a warrior. Blessed by the Deity of Spears, Gungnir, the sky lancer can wield the spear with incredible expertise from both land and the sky, giving the warrior an unparalleled advantage in combat. Grants these skill(s) : Spear mastery - novice, Sky vault - Novice, Air supremacy - Novice. Every level in this class provides the following attributes : +1 Strength, +2 Constitution, +1 Willpower, +2 Dexterity, + 1 Capacity. Increases effectiveness of air-attuned skills.]
[The Coveted Shadow: The Shadow follows those who are watched by Ezekiel, the deity of shadows and Death. There have been close to no stories about those who are coveted by the shadow since their presence itself is almost completely shrouded in secrecy and lies. Proficient in most close combat weapons, every swing and thrust is blessed with a tinge of darkness. Grants the following skill(s) : Dagger mastery - Novice, Spear mastery - Novice, Sword mastery - Novice, Dark arsenal - Novice. Every level of this class provides the following attributes : + 2 dexterity, +1 Capacity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. Increases the effectiveness of Shadow attuned skills.]
My eyes were agape, gawking at the prompt in front of my vision. Both options sounded almost too good to be true. Sky lancer was obviously an incredible option, providing me with stats that I couldn’t live without. The skills also sounded appropriate with the spear in my hand, and if I was right, this class focused a lot on aerial combat and mobility, which was something that I found very interesting. Each level of the sky lancer class also adds 7 total sub-attribute points, which was a lot.
The Coveted Shadow sounded almost too sinister. While I absolutely love my shadow-step skill, I knew little about what the shadow - or death - affinity was, nor did I know what kind of combat style the shadow skills used. Was it about stealth, or was it about speed and outmaneuvering your enemies? It also provided 1 fewer total sub-attribute points compared to the sky lancer, which was a bummer.
Ezekiel again, I thought to myself, the description of [Ezekiel’s embrace] talent resurfaced in my head. There was an obvious synergy between this class and that talent, and the system thinks that I should at least consider using the shadow affinity. Picking this class would also improve the effectiveness of my shadow step, but to which degree I don’t really know.
There was something inside of me that pushed desperately towards the Coveted shadow, despite my brain thinks otherwise. What was it inside of me that was calling out to this class?
My mind thought about all the darkness-related stuff that I’d encountered since I entered this world. From the Shadow stalker, To the Onyx Hyacinth, to the system rewarding me with a shadow-step and the dark cloak that was snuggling my neck at this moment, and then, the talent selection : [Ezekiel's embrace]. It all had to point towards something.
Why did the system give me so much shadow and death-related stuff?
The contents of the blue chest from the ant queen weren’t set in stone; the system had given me two shadow and death-related rewards for killing her. My talent selection was that way too, the choices displayed were curated by the system, meaning that [Ezekiel’s embrace] didn’t just appear out of nowhere. I just wished I could understand why.
Lamenting both options, I closed my eyes and picked the Coveted Shadow.
I felt something changed the moment I selected the class. Black smoke leaked from my pores, gradually clouding my vision as it spread around me. The entire scenery of the inside of the cube was gone, replaced with a black, empty darkness. Here, none of my visual or sensory inputs were functional.
But then, a terrifyingly sweet scent permeated around me, a scent so enticing that my brain simply… stopped functioning. The scent reminded me of the one that came out from the Onyx hyacinth, although it was so much concentrated in here.
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“Who roused me from my sleep?”, A booming voice echoed in the darkness. It was the voice of an entity that I could not describe. It was low-pitched, almost too low for any human to reach. There was an audible growl from each single word it uttered, a growl that was guttural, deep, and utterly dominating. “I sense another one that is walking the path of death. Well, you made the wrong choice.”
I struggled to open my mouth in my attempt to respond. Yet, no matter how much I tried, none of my voice came out.
“I don’t sense any affinities inside of you. And yet… you reek with the stench of death.”, It continued. I felt the fury in the tone of its voice. “Regardless, unless you possess the shadow or death affinity, you hold no interest in my eyes.”
“Leave this place.” The voice whispered, yet the sheer volume almost ripped my eardrums apart. “I have no interest in participating in the system’s games.”
The darkness solidified and the odor thickened, suffocating my weak self. Gasping for air, I thrashed around where I floated, trying to find some sort of exit from this nightmare. A constant pressure formed around where I was, pulling me down to the floor, which force intensified every passing second.
Death, or at least, something akin to it, surrounded me with its icy touch. I couldn’t manage a scream before I drew my last breath inside the blackness.
[You acquired The Coveted Shadow class.]
I jumped awake with sweat completely dripping over my body. The sudden change from the darkness to the light from the forest took a while for me to get used to before I realized that I was back at where the obelisk was.
Is that.. Ezekiel?
I’ve never felt such oppressive pressure from another being before… Was that the true strength of a deity? Chills ran down my spine as I got up, with all my limbs trembling from the encounter. Frankly speaking, I actually died inside that pitch-black darkness by suffocation. It wasn’t a feeling that I wanted to relive again.
My hands were still trembling when I attempted to stand upright. It took me an embarrassing amount of tries, the fear and straight-up oppression from Ezekiel remained in my heart, only dissipating after a good few minutes.
I scoured the area for potential threats - only opening my status page once I confirmed everything was alright. The obelisk was gone too, as if it never existed in the first place.
After putting my points from the stones towards my physical stat, I checked the new skills I earned from picking the coveted shadow class.
[Daggers mastery - novice(1)] [Spear mastery - novice(1)] [Sword mastery - Novice(1)] provides extra damage and expertise of each respective weapon types. The description for each skill was similar and not worth any in-depth analysis.
[Dark arsenal - Novice(1)] However, was interesting.
[Dark arsenal - Novice(1) : Summons a shadow weapon. The choices are: a spear, a set of daggers, or a sword. Each level of this skill increases the damage and the durability of the shadow weapon. Costs 10 mana to summon, each level increases the mana cost by 1.]
I suppose I can worry less about losing my spear now…
I checked my status page again, noticing that my mana stat had finally begun regenerating.
Player : Zane Black
Race : [G - HUMAN]
Level : 10
Health : 260/260
Stamina : 120/260
Mana : 45/90
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ATTRIBUTES
Physical [14] :
[Strength] - 26 [base : 14] [sub + achv : 6] [equipment :5] [bonus 1% : 1]
[Dexterity] - 34 [base : 14] [sub + achv : 15] [equipment : 2] [bonus 6% : 2]
[Constitution] - 21 [base : 14] [sub + achv : 6] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]
Mind [0] :
[Intelligence] - 4 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 3] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]
[Willpower] - 4 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 3] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]
[Capacity] - 4 [base : 0] [sub + achv : 3] [equipment :0] [bonus 1% : 1]
[Free Main Attribute points : 0 ]
[Free Sub Attribute points : 0 ]
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Classes :
[The coveted Shadow - epic (1)]
Skills :
[Daggers mastery - novice(1)] [Spear mastery - novice(1)] [Sword mastery - Novice(1)] [Dark arsenal - novice (1)] [Shadow step - epic]
Achievements :
[Death’s door(2)] [Big game hunter] [The first of many] [the trial seeker]
Affinities :
[]
Talents :
[Innate sensory]
So, one of the mind sub-stats grants regeneration… I thought to myself while admiring the total stats I have at the current moment.
Next, I tried out the [Dark arsenal] skill.
Tendrils of dark shadow shoot out from my fingertips and gathered into a dagger-shaped shadow between my palms. The process was almost instant; From my rough calculations, it took about 0.3 seconds before I was holding a pair of jet-black daggers. The effect of Dagger mastery was immediate too, as I felt familiar with wielding two daggers despite having no experience of using them before.
I threw the daggers at the trunk of a tree. A satisfying thud was heard when the bladed edge of the dagger sank cleanly into the trunk, dissipating into thin air the moment its momentum was stopped.
That’s a lot of mana for a simple ranged attack. I can only use these sparingly.
The tree a few meters ahead of me rustled, revealing a scarlet ape swinging its way towards my location.
[Lvl 14. Scarlet ape]
Smiling, I found a target to test out my new strength.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
An ape was minding its own business in the forest, looking around the vicinity for easy food. Frowning, it recalled the blasts of explosion in the forest a few hours ago. It hurried there to aid its friend, only to find its brethren’s corpse when it got there.
Its eyes focused on a human standing mindlessly in a clearing. Thinking that it found easy prey, it used the momentum of its swing and leaped up high, charging both its fists for a bombastic landing. It grinned, dreaming of the human flesh that it so dearly craved.
A blast of explosion ruptured the land it landed on, but instead of its prey, it found a black spear skewering its chest at its point of impact. Did that man turn into a spear? it thought.
The weapon exuded a light layer of black smoke, akin to the smoke that one plant emanated some distance away, but it couldn’t remember where it was precisely.
To the ape’s surprise, the once solid spear dispersed while the ape started to lose its consciousness. Behind it, a man covered in a thick haze of shadow emerged with a glint of a smile on his face. The ape turned its head around, only to be met with another spear piercing its head.
[You killed lvl 14. Scarlet ape!]