He molded the pieces of the Lich’s soul, attaching them to his own. The process was horrible, not because of the pain, but the concept. There would be no forgiveness for the actions he was doing now. Everything he was doing would be considered among the worst villains in history. He considered stopping and sticking to his morals, but he was afraid and kept going. He didn’t want to die and that thought easily broke through his morals. His resolve was nothing compared to his fears.

  The Lich’s soul didn’t match his, but he saw that there were a few similarities. He pulled on those similarities within himself, tearing the Lich’s soul into smaller pieces until he was left with something he felt like he could use. His arm began to change to heal, but not in the way he expected it to. It remained hard like stone, but golden lines grew over it, spreading across the whole hand as if it were tattooed heavily. Feeling returned to his hand, but the pain didn’t vanish. He was left with a constant ache that was significantly better than earlier.

  Luke just sat there moving his stone-like hand. It almost sounded like it was cracking when he moved it. The pain didn’t grow any better or worse, but it remained in a continuous state. The pain wasn’t unbearable, it was like he had dozens of small cuts on the hand. Taking a deep breath, he considered what he had done, and found his thoughts drifting to places he didn’t want them to. He needed to go after the Lich, finish the trial and go see the others. He moved his arms beneath his chest, and pushed, trying to rise to his feet. A pain spread from his left hand, and he fell to his side. The pain wasn’t all that bad, he just hadn’t expected it.

  The stinging pain in his hand reminded him of his loneliness, though he didn’t know why. There was no connection between the two things, but he couldn’t stop the feeling from filling him. He would feel better with them around. Spending months by himself with nothing to do other than work had shown him just how much time he had been spending with the others. Almost every fun thing he had done in the past few months had been because one of the others pulled him along to do it. Thinking about it, he was like that before meeting them too. He tended to be a hard worker who rarely spent time just relaxing or playing. The only times he had ever done so was when his parents had pulled him away from doing work.

  He put his good hand on the ground, and only pushed himself to a sitting position, only to find that he was no longer within the dungeon. He recognized the location, though it wasn’t what he expected. It wasn’t the exit of the dungeon, but rather it was where he had been when he first arrived. The land he had farmed was gone, and the mansion was nowhere to be found. However, something else was in its place. It was a portal, a way out of the dungeon. He guessed that meant that he succeeded. The Lich hadn’t been able to repair his body like Luke had. That knowledge was somewhat reassuring. Knowing that the trial had ended was a huge relief, and he took a moment to just be glad that he survived. Afterward, he focused inwards ready to accept his new class.

  His consciousness got carried away, and he could see five pillars before him. Briefly, he wondered why there were so many but decided to take it as an additional reward for clearing the trial. He was a little apprehensive of the pillars. Most of them radiated an aura of death that seemed to match the Lich he had met earlier. Taking the creature’s soul was probably influencing his classes. He just hoped that he hadn’t tied himself down to becoming a lich. He had done what he felt was necessary but wondered if he had made the right decision or not. The pillars varied in color, but they were all tinged with a grey aura or section.

  There was one that shined golden and another that was silver. They were at opposite ends from one another, and he wondered if there was some significance to their position. Both of those didn’t feel as ominous as the others. He decided he would check those first, the other three in the center felt like death incarnate. The nearest pillar was the silver one, and he gently drifted towards it. The light had a greying outline that seemed to match the Lich’s soul. He tried ignoring it as he reached toward the pillar.

  Grafted Demi-Lich: Having stolen a part of a Lich’s soul, you gain a fundamental understanding of their abilities. The soul is something to be changed and altered. It is within your power to control and change the souls of others. Become an immortal being that transcends the boundaries of life and death. Warp your healing skills to ones of manipulation and control.

  Luke would be lying if he said that he didn’t expect something along these lines. He had done something that had earned him this class, and he knew it. Even if he ignored the moral implications of choosing this class, there were a handful of other problems that stopped his selection. The class itself would be powerful, but he would lose his role within the group. Plus, he didn’t want to become immortal yet. He wanted to be a few years older. As he thought about it, he realized that he probably wouldn’t have that much of a choice. They had gained a lot of levels quickly, and he would probably reach the next advancement soon enough. The final part that he couldn’t accept was losing his healing skills. They were the basis of everything he wanted to be, and he wouldn’t sacrifice them. The group needed a proper healer, and he wanted to fill that role.

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  He moved onto the golden pillar. It was at the opposite end of the pillars, but he didn’t really want to check the death-coated pillars. They all felt like classes he wouldn’t like, and he just checked the furthest one next. The golden pillar had what seemed like a strand of grey hair. It flowed through the middle of the light, almost as if it were stuck within a river. The information flowed into his mind.

  Grafted Demi-God: Having unnaturally attached the soul of another to yourself, you take upon the burden of carrying the souls of others. Souls corrupted by the unholy powers have only one hope for salvation. Act as a vessel for carrying the souls of the wicked, granting them redemption through your own actions. Gain a portion of their strength as their soul passes through you. Repair people’s souls, by sharing a portion of your own with them. As a God your soul is infinite.

  Warning: This class will remove inherently unholy skills

  His mind paused upon receiving the information. This was the first time he had ever even heard of a class coming with a warning of any kind. He felt like it was something that people would talk about. He wondered what the class meant by removing his unholy skills. Was it in reference to the skills he had stolen from the monsters? He knew that people would see something like that warning as a reason not to take the class, but to him, it was a huge incentive. To lose the skills that made him feel evil was something he never even thought was possible. Even if they had saved him against the Lich, he still thought he would be better off without them. Advancements were always better than their previous state, even if it wasn’t a linear increase.

  The class had other things that interested him as well. From what he could gather, the class would be centered around working with souls. He would probably get attacks that targeted it though not in the same way as his old skills. Plus, it mentioned that his soul would become infinite and that sounded useful. If Lich’s and other beings could target his soul, having one that could handle the strain would be amazing. It felt like it would prepare him well if he ever fought against a Lich again. He had a feeling that he would eventually get that fight too. He realized that he had already convinced himself to pick the class, but he wasn’t going to make such a rash decision and went to check on the other three.

  There was one reason he didn’t want to the class though. It would set him up to become a god, and he wasn’t sure if that was something he wanted. This choice would make him something that he couldn’t understand. He didn’t even know that getting something like this was possible. Sure, the others had guessed that it could happen, but he didn’t fully believe it. He had more traditional beliefs, that the gods were predestined. It wasn’t something that someone could stumble onto. Yet here he was with that very option before. Was this predestined? It certainly didn’t feel like it, but he couldn’t know.

  The other pillar beside him shone with a pale grey color throughout. It didn’t seem to hide at all the aura of death it was producing. Still, he gave the class the benefit of the doubt and approached it.

  Death Wrought Arbiter: A enemy of death, you have emersed yourself within its stench. It coats you like a cloak. The aura of death affects all around you. Bring about the death of your enemies, while knowing when your friends are near the edge as well. Take from them their death and carry it onto another. Death is a skill of balance, and you will maintain the equilibrium. To save one from the call of death is to condemn another.

  Luke frowned at the class. What had he done to earn something like this? He could only think of Red. He had saved her from death but had never considered what that would mean for something abstract like the balance of life. A class centered around keeping order didn’t sound all that bad, but he didn’t like the idea of trading others' lives for his friends. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do something like that, it was rather that he knew that he would. If he had the opportunity to bring them back or prevent their deaths by killing another, he would succumb to that temptation. His friends might hate him for it, but he knew that he would make that sacrifice every time.

  No, this was not a class he could pick. It would turn him into something he didn’t want to be. Luke knew that he was a very selfish person, and his first concern was always to those closest to him. This class would give him an excuse to take that idea to an extreme. He moved on to the next one, not really sure he would get something better than the Demi-God class.

  This pillar was white with black stripes and looked almost like some kind of candy. He barely felt anything from the pillar and wondered if that meant anything. People have speculated on what the pillars could reveal about the classes, and he knew that it was a common belief that the stronger classes would feel stronger. The pillars on the edges certainly felt powerful, but it was simply too hard to know. He reached for the pillar, nonetheless.

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  Chapter 198: Options

  Name: Mash Stellumbra           Class: Chimeric Vagabond

  Level: 100 → 102

  Health: 3000 / 3000

  Energy: 3560 / 3560

  Fortitude: 300

  Endurance: 186

  Strength: 250

  Agility: 252

  Intelligence: 221

  Wisdom: 110

  Charisma: 100

  Free Stats: 0 → 20

  Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation →Chimeric Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Chimeric Reconstruction, Vagabond’s Path, Chimeric Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Chimera’s Constitution, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, A Touch of Nothingness, Golden Body

  Hunt: You have gone beyond your limits when fighting enemies and devouring their power. Go beyond your limits. Continue current fight even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina. Continues until either you or your enemies are dead.

  Current Bonus: +100% stats

  Inhuman Hibernation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique, your inhuman body morphing it to fit your corrupted nature. Hibernating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, healing most wounds.

  Current Rate: +200% recovery

  Thunder-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations. Lightning has tempered your wood, and it thrums with the power of thunder.

  Monstrous Transformation → Chimeric Transformation: Transform your body taking on aspects of those which you have consumed. Control which aspects to take and combine them to create the perfect form. Greatly increased energy consumption when combining forms.

  Thunder-wood Imitation: Form imitations of creatures you have consumed, imitating some of their bodily functions through your wood.

  Chimeric Reconstruction: Consume what you kill for more than just stats. Steal their flesh to repair your own. Their blood becomes yours. Your enemies are nothing more than your medicine.

  Vagabond’s Path (unique): Having chosen the path of the vagabond, you have freed yourself from your own world. An explorer at heart, you laugh as you leap between worlds. Open portals to worlds you have already been. Once per cycle of the moon create a portal to a random world. Create a world of your own, portal to personal world granted.

  Draconic Domain → Chimeric Domain (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana and life in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana and life. Your presence suffuses the space, weakens the magic and strength of enemies beneath you. They cower beneath your might.

  Current Range: 23 → 53 feet

  Adaptable Monster Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body, fusion with a monster has given you access to its potential. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy. Your monstrous body is better able to handle the changes to your core.

  Current Bonus: +75% efficiency

  Wooden Body (Passive): You can connect with the wood that you are touching. By expending your energy, you bring your creations to life as another one of your limbs.

  Monstrous Humanity → Chimera’s Constitution (Passive): Giving up your humanity has improved your body, improving your physical control, natural defenses, animalistic intuition, and mana control. No longer a human in any sense, you are no longer bound by that which limits them. You have created your own race, improving your rate of growth.

  Mimic’s Avarice (Passive): Devour your enemy in battle to temporarily raise your stats. The fresher the victim the stronger the bonus. Gain full benefits even when consuming through your magic. Absorbs some properties of those you devour alive. Removes the negative effects of things you consume.

  A Touch of Nothingness: Belonging to no race or group, you have embraced the nothingness that is a part of everything. You are free, and automatically resist others' attempts to bind you. Constantly emit the aura of nothingness within your domain. Your allies will gain some of the freedom you possess. Enemies weaker than yourself will slowly lose that which makes them whole.

  Golden Body (Passive): Having stolen the techniques of another world, your body evolves beyond its old limitations. However, even this transformation is incomplete. Seek out the next Step and truly make this power your own.

  Trial of the True Body: 5 / 100