Electroturge - Foundation - Rare. Strike with the force and speed of lightning. Upgradable
Aeroturge - Foundation - Rare. The Power of the Gale. The Grace of the Wind. All yours. Upgradable
Tempestarius - Foundation - Epic. The Tempest is not chaos. It is the heartbeat of inevitability. Upgradable
Grand Elementalist - Foundation - Epic. The World is a Canvas. The Elements of the Paint. Upgradable
Sovereign of Storms - Foundation - Epic. The storm’s dominion is vast, yet its sovereign walks alone. Upgradable
He was curious about why he only had five options. Based on the word "Top," he clearly qualified for more. He decided not to worry about it too much. He doubted the Network would change its mind if he asked. He couldn't even be sure it had a mind. There was a sixth option, if you could call it that. A "Test of Fate" where he could roll the metaphorical dice. There was, however, no good reason to do so. There was no mention of a rarity above epic, and there was no way he could go lower than rare. There might be a slight chance that he could get into a class he didn't qualify for. Like maybe something related to arrays, but that wouldn't be wise. He needed to fight. He tried to find more information, but the Network either couldn't or wouldn't provide anything. No description or even hints at the attributes. Granted, his build so far prioritized Intelligence, so there was no reason he would get a class that didn't. That would be pointless.
He noted that each of the classes could be upgraded. He assumed this meant by "tier," but if it were possible to improve his class after he got it, things would be better. It would give him the chance to get better. It might even give people the chance to catch up if they started off slow. He doubted it would be that simple, though. The Network wanted them to fight and grow, so an incentive was necessary. He tried to check the epigraph next to the class, but it provided nothing new. He shook his head and focused on the options in front of him. He was confident higher rarity meant better by some definition, so he discarded the first two options.
They were pretty obviously a wind mage and an electricity mage. Which obviously fit what he had been doing. He assumed those two were still there because of the combat, which made him curious as to why he didn't get a healer class. Either way, he couldn't take it. There were too many people relying on him for him to gamble. That and the world was too chaotic. He needed to maintain his lead, but he doubted he could develop enough skills to replace the potential weaknesses. At least not yet. He had to operate under the assumption that this would be the most important choice of his cultivation so far. He shook his head and focused. He was stalling and wasting time.
He turned his attention to the trio and had to admit that of the three, the Grand Elementalist was the least appealing. He assumed it would relate to the elements, though he wasn't sure which set. The western version didn't have lightning, and the eastern didn't have wind as far as he knew. Of course, it was possible that the class didn't synergize with all three Dao. Either way, there were too many questions about that one. Also, if he were honest, he liked the names of the other two better. From what he remembered, a "Tempestarius" was a weather wizard. Which was the direction he had aimed. It should provide a dao related to snow or ice.
It was the last one that drew his eye. It was a mix of his intentions and what he had done already. The epigraph for it made him feel conflicted. He didn't like the solitary nature of it, but he enjoyed the theme. He was powerful. It was powerful. It was also the only one that alluded to his position as a ruler. He wasn't sure if that would help him with governing or not, but it represented everything he had done. He wasn't sure if it was vanity or if it had some special meaning. Either way, it felt right to him. He considered it for a few more minutes, but he knew he was just delaying the inevitable. With all his other options eliminated, he made his choice.
A wave of spiritual energy surged into his body as soon as he made the choice. He immediately brought his focus to his dantian, but the energy avoided the area. Instead, it flooded into his body. Through his channels and into every cell. His bodily greedily devoured it as he was improved, for lack of a better word. It was similar to when he improved his affinities, but still different. Just as he came to terms with that, he felt his channels solidify. As if they had turned from flexible rubber into hardened cement. He had expected the change, but it was still strange. It was as if his veins had been pulled out and made better.
There was a chill that came with it. Not enough to hurt. Or even to bother him. If anything, he felt more like he had eaten peppermint. All too soon, the moment ended. He cracked his neck as he passed his gaze through his body. As soon as he did, he realized his channels had changed. He assumed his new ones were based on his bittersweet class. He knew it was coming, so he couldn't complain too much. Yet, he found himself sad all the same. He liked being flexible. His melancholy lasted less than a second before he was hit with several prompts, one after another. The first of which was related to his class.
High Class: First in the World to reach level 27 and gain a Class. Reward: All Attributes +5
True Elite: Gain the Highest rarity class in your realm. Reward: Potency of Attributes +5%
Classed: Gain a Class. Reward: All Attributes +1
He read the messages and nodded. They were more or less expected. The Network liked "first" titles, which was why he pushed so hard. Five additional points should be a lot to try and overcome. Now that he had gained another one, he was starting to feel overpowered. Well, more overpowered. He knew that life was rarely fair, but this was just cascading benefits. A snowball that was turning into an avalanche. He removed the title notification and accessed the information on his class.
Class: Sovereign of Storms, Foundation - Epic.
Intelligence +10, +10%.
Wisdom +5, +5%.
Level: +6 Intelligence.
Skills
Storm Manipulation (Locked)
Flowing Storm (Locked)
Skysworn (Locked)
He read the new prompt and nodded. The class was pretty amazing. He wasn't sure if the class provided the free attributes from before in addition to the plus six. Either way, it was more than worth it. Worst case, he just doubled his per-level power. He assumed the other attribute boosts were one-time things, but they represented a massive boost in his total power. The skill names were decent, especially compared to his current skills. He closed down that menu and then opened the quest menu. The potential quest was gone, but there were three new ones.
- Storm Manipulation (Class): Shape the Storm to your Will. Strike 3,000 times. (0/3,000) Reward: Storm Manipulation Skill
- Flowing Storm (Class): Power flows like water, and wrath becomes grace. Kill 1,000 opponents when outmatched. (0/1,000) Reward Flowing Storm Skill
- Skysworn (Class): Empowered beneath the boundless sky. Fight under the open sky. (0/50) Reward: Skysworn Skill
He ruefully shook his head at all three skills. He knew his journey had just begun, but he had hoped some of his progress would have carried over. Yet even that was too much to ask for. He knew he had hit more than 3,000 things. Rather, it counted monsters, other people, or random objects, which was an issue. The quests were simple enough, but he would need to go out of his way to complete them. Which meant he needed to go out and fight. He had just returned from doing that. He didn't like abandoning his responsibilities, but there was a chance to manipulate the quests. None of them said he had to kill anything. They didn't even say he had to hurt anything, which could let him train other people. Worst case, he could complete the manipulation quest by attacking a few trees.
There was a chance that it would let him cheat it further by punching things instead of using his dao. Since his hands weren't as strong as his actual attacks, it should be fine. At least that's what he thought. Regardless, he would need to experiment with it. He doubted the questions were meant to be too challenging to deal with. However, he did assume that he would get future quests. Quests that would be more difficult. He tried to gather information on the skills' purpose or type, but found nothing. He had to push down his irritation at the lack of information. For now, he had other concerns. He had gotten his class, which meant it was time to review his attributes. The first thing he did was put the free points into intelligence, as planned. A choice that had mixed results. He was certainly stronger than before.
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He ruefully shook his head as he reviewed his attributes. He had gotten stronger, but the difference between his Intelligence and the others had grown. Most of which were less than half of its number, which worried him. He wasn't sure if there was a consequence to doing that, but he felt like there should be one. After all, if he had thousands of points in strength while the rest of his body was in the low tens, would he survive? It would be dumb if he ripped himself apart or fell over because his brain got too big. The more rational part of his brain felt that it was unlikely, though. The other upgrades would ensure he could still operate, regardless of how he spent his points.
Of course, he would need to spread them out anyway. If he were too slow to dodge an attack or to land one, he would die. No matter how smart or powerful he was. Fortunately, his levels would provide six into that attribute. Which means he wouldn't need to think about it anymore. At least not for the immediate future. He still didn't have any limited titles, which seemed like a problem. He wasn't sure if he had missed something or if the Network just hadn't provided anything. Either way, he couldn't do anything about it. He summoned the teleportation token from his bag and rolled it in his fingers. His gut told him that this would be his next chance at a limited title. He would be teleported to another tutorial-like situation, where he would compete. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. It would be fun to test himself, but it would also be deadly.
He had managed to avoid killing too many people so far, but his killing intent was a testament to how much killing he had done. He had gotten used to it for the most part, but he didn't like it. He was just about to put the token away when it warmed. The sudden change caused him to freeze, and for a moment, he thought he had imagined it. When the token glowed a deep azure color, he smiled. Excitement surged in the pit of his stomach. He sent a trickle of energy into the token and received a message. One that he and the rest of the world had been waiting for. The "Nystal City" Trial would begin in a week. He tried to get more information about it, but that was it. The token continued to glow. He stared at it for a few more minutes and then placed it in his bag.
Now that they had a date, there was a lot he had to do. He would need to get stones ready to power Nubia's defenses. The trial would take most of Earth's strongest away. Which could be a problem. He doubted most of the new government would go so far, but there would be no one here to stop them from mounting an assault. He also couldn't say the other species would go. If they stayed behind, then humanity could be in trouble. He could go back and forth on what could happen until the world ended again without any real changes. He had to take the leap of faith.
He noted his new fortune and had to admit it was nice having money. He didn't know what he could buy besides pills and the Network shop. He would need to look into the buildings available as well. Things had changed quite a bit since then. For now, he had things to get done. He wanted to unlock a few of those skills before things began, which meant it was time to get back to Ferrel's training. He got his feet, and for the first time since making the choice, he noted how much the room had changed. It was almost completely barren of energy. For a moment, he thought he had damaged the array or the tree, but he hadn't. The energy would recover if he left the room alone. He considered crushing a few stones to help it, but didn't. He was leaving, and he would probably need those later. He left the room, and a few moments later, he was outside. At which point he remembered it was still night. He considered going to see Ferrel anyway, but he decided against it. He didn't want to be an ass, nor did he want to abuse his authority. With his plans gone for now, he decided to head into the mountains. He doubted he would find something worth fighting, but it would help him unlock his quest.
He ignored anything within a mile of Nubia. Those creatures were weak, and he wanted to ensure his people had a suitable training ground. After that point, though, he got to work. He quickly learned the full extent of his changes. He was a whole different person in terms of power. His attacks didn't just kill the weaker beasts but vaporized them. Even his Dao of Rain was enough to crush them. He didn't bother using any of his skills, and the amount of spiritual energy he gained was negligible. Despite all of that, he decided not to continue. He couldn't put his finger on why, but the whole thing bothered him. As if he were in danger. He had expected some unknown monster to target him, but when nothing happened, he decided to leave. As soon as he stopped attacking, the feeling went away. He conducted another experiment outside the mountain and confirmed the same thing. He couldn't kill them anymore. He wasn't sure if it was because he was stronger than they or if it was something else. Though he leaned toward the former. Which was a problem. He found another creature, a squirrel beast with grey metallic fur. He suppressed his killing intent and waited.
The beast attacked him, and then he responded. This time, he didn't get the feeling. He killed the monster, and that was that. He experimented again to confirm, and when he had, he nodded his head. He couldn't just kill things weaker than him. At least not too much weaker. He wasn't sure if that would extend to humans, but it could create a strange situation. Where he couldn't hurt anything on Earth. At which point he would have to leave. He wondered if that could be used offensively. From his experiments, he wasn't punished immediately. It was more of a bad feeling that slowly grew. Part of him wanted to test it out to see if there would be a punishment, but he thought better of it. He didn't want to risk a strong monster spawning in or a bolt of lightning blowing up the mountain. It would be an ignoble end for everything he had worked toward. Fortunately, his work did bear fruit. He had progressed in his quest. Since he couldn't rely on fighting, he decided to turn his attention to something else. He traveled a bit further down until he found a section of stone he thought was thick enough. He carved a gash into it with a wind blade and then leapt into the trees. He didn't stop until he was around three miles away. After that, he turned and began his target practice.
Five hours later, he sat against the trunk of his tree. A splitting headache was the only sign of what he had been doing. At least in this area. He had increased the distance by a mile every hour and found his accuracy was decent up to eight miles. Once he tried to go beyond that, he had to work harder. It wasn't just a matter of perception either. The mental energy he used would bleed off as he formed projectiles. If they had to travel too far, he had to compensate for it, or it would fade. He doubted he would become a sharpshooter anytime soon. He summoned a soul stone from his bag and drained it. He was pretty close to unlocking the first skill, so he might as well stay here until it was done. The third skill would require him to go find something worth fighting for. Either way, it would be fine.