Chapter 18: No more mortal
"Yes!" Aurelian muttered, rereading the description. A path that allowed him to walk all roads while committing to none.
It sounded like something pulled straight from a fantasy novel, something reserved for the protagonist.
As he considered the uniqueness of the class, memories flickered through his mind of how the others worked.
If he had gone with the warrior class, all level attributes he gained would naturally be allocated to strength and stats that mostly focused on physique.
Mage the same, only this time it was stats like intelligence. It even went so far as to restrict equipment and skills, where people who were not of that class couldn't equip or use them.
And now that he looked at it closer, he couldn't help but think that maybe this was a cheat on its own.
His awakening continued as he delved deep into his thoughts, which brought a frown to his face.
For a concept with such reality-altering consequences, it would be expected for it to at least come with changes, pain, or streams of energy flooding his body...but nothing.
A notification soon graced his vision:
[You have broken the limits that shackle you and have become a Classless One. Ascend to power unbounded.]
Smirking at it, he glanced at the universal system he had now come to call, curious as to how it would respond to this… glitch.
Which it didn't. It still provided the five options. Guessing it didn't sense any changes, and about to shift mental gears, a slew of notifications rang from his Supreme Records.
<Ding! The host has slain a level 1 Goblin Demon! 10 dungeon points awarded!>
<Ding! The host has slain a level 1 Goblin Demon! 10 dungeon points awarded!>
<Ding! The host has slain a level 1 Goblin Demon! 10 dungeon points awarded!>
"What the fuck?" Curious, and now fully entranced, Aurelian breathed. "System records." And sure enough, it popped up in front of him.
Only this time, a bit… different.
Supreme Records
Name: Aurelian Draegor
Title: The @£#&'* of Lust
Class: The Classless One
Talents: F-rank Regeneration, S-rank
Phantom Blades
Level 1: (30/100 Dungeon points)
Rank: F
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Agility: 4
Endurance: 6
Constitution: 7
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 8
Willpower: 9
Toughness: 6
Luck: Null
Unallocated attribute points: 5
The first Supreme Record: Talent Replication
Weekly Slots: 2/3
The Supreme Record will evolve as the @£#&'* of Lust grows in power.
More records will awaken once your mortal vessel grows strong enough to house them.
***
"Perfect, it worked!" He smirked, eyeing the unallocated attributes tab.
If it were before, the system would have allocated all of them mostly to his strength and endurance, and to have any significant gain he would have to slay multiple monsters for the strength to accumulate to something formidable.
But now wasn't the time to brute-force his way through everything. Reviewing the fight, it wouldn't be wrong to assume he had relied mostly on his talent to slay the monsters.
And to do that, he had mostly focused on mental aspects, as that was where the talent leaned towards.
Following that train of thought, if he wanted to improve his combat ability, he would have to focus on that.
Nodding at his logic, he issued a mental command, and almost immediately the blank attributes dropped to zero while his intelligence rose by five, bringing it up to thirteen.
The reaction was instant as he felt it. Warm streams of energy surged into his head. He could feel a cool sensation flooding his senses before it finally faded, and as it did his previously closed eyes snapped open as he processed the changes.
A soothing sense of clarity lingered across his mind. His thought process felt faster, and something he didn't think he would ever say slipped out of his lips: "I think I just got smarter."
But most importantly, he snapped his fingers and with it, three spectral blades coalesced beside him.
"Sweet," Aurelian muttered, glancing at their bluish ethereal frames. Besides the number he could conjure increasing, he could feel their durability had improved. "Time for round two," he smirked, his figure drifting deeper into the dungeon.
No more mortal, but far more dangerous. A hunter, a classless hunter at that.
***
Elsewhere in the dungeon.
"Argggh! Do something, Drano!" A dark-haired youth yelled, his gaze fixed on the two greenish monstrosities before them.
The other youth, lean and sporting blonde hair, spluttered, "Activate Earth Spikes!"
The ground below trembled before earthen projections rose, sinking deep into the beasts' flesh, not enough to kill them but enough to slow down their movements.
"You're up, Alaric!" the blonde-haired guy snapped, his chest heaving up and down.
Drained a bit after utilizing his talent, beads of sweat dripped from his face. His C-rank earthen manipulation was taking a huge toll on him.
Inhaling sharply, he turned to his companion, or whatever he was. He cursed, remembering how all of them had been dispatched randomly after entering the dungeon, making forming groups beforehand pointless.
But the guy beside him wasn't that bad...
"Argh, what the fuck are you doing?!" he suddenly snapped, eyeing the retreating figure. This was their chance to finish them off… and he was running?
"I'm sorry, mate, they're too tough. We can't take them all by ourselves!"
"Get back here, you coward! They're level one goblins, goddamnit! And you can't outrun them with those twig legs!"
He tried to increase the distance between them, but the two buggers kept coming. He couldn't keep this up much longer.
His lips twitched as he heard the echo of the last words of the retreating figure: "I don't have to outrun them, I just have to run faster than you."
Drano's stomach dropped as rage bubbled in his chest. "You better hope I die, because if I live, I'll find you and fucking kill you!"
He forced his battered body to move, shame burning hotter than fear. A C-rank, fleeing for his life… from level one beasts
***
"Disgusting little things," a black-haired maiden hissed, her lips curling as she faced a goblin charging at her.
She reached inward, grasping her awakened talent. "Activate Ice Frost."
The temperature in the room suddenly shifted, dropping dangerously. The charging goblin, just about to swipe its club, slowed in motion before blue veins spread across its surface, and in mere seconds it stood completely frozen.
Nodding at her work of art, the girl approached the beast, then with a sudden strike from her foot, the frozen beast shattered into pieces of ice.
"Nice," she smirked, eyes glinting. In her mind, the image of a certain young man surfaced, someone who deserved the same fate.
Shaking the thought, she glanced at the hovering prompt. The system awaited her class selection.
And when she chose, the world would learn what she already knew. Aurora was not to be trifled with. Not by monsters nor by mortals.