AN: I could legitimately end the volume here. After some rewriting, I probably will when it comes to the official release. However, I figure I'll continue the volume out for a few more chapters so you can actually see what all of the stuff that happened in this chapter actually means.

Let's just say that some of you have been waiting for a chapter like this for a while, and others will be like.... Blue boxes... sooo many blue boxes... such info, much nuooo....

Once this webnovel volume reaches the end, I must remind you, there is a hiatus coming of at least one month. I do this with all of my stories now, to allow me to clean them up and work on others.

This story in particular was only promised till the end of volume 1. I do need feed back on how well it works as a story to see if I need more than one month of hiatus.

I should also remind you that this, like all Scott stories for the most part, are parody stories.

Enjoy!

Chapter 21: IAM POWAR!!

The insanity of the moment gave rise to feral glee. Money literally rained down from the sky not too long ago, but something even more wonderful happened as well. Riches from heaven, and a notification of something glorious, coincided beautifully to make Scott ridiculously happy.

Congratulations on overcoming the limitations of base humanity!

We love it when people pushed to the edge rally back. In the spirit of gamesmanship and due to the fact that you have proved quite entertaining. You are now eligible for advancement to tier-two status. While this would cause a non-human to mutate into a more powerful form of life, the rules are different for humans. Instead of mutating; your statistical values, profession, and purchasing power will be increased.

- All currently gathered experience will be converted into evolutionary power.

- All static statistical scores will increase to a minimum of 10. Scores above ten will not change.

- Dynamic statistical scores will have a minimum base of 10.

- Your level will reset to level 1. This will allow you full capacity to utilize your new statistical values for development of dynamic statistical scores.

- Your profession will be upgraded based on gathered experience, and personal choice. Statistical bonuses provided by the new profession will be added to the base scores.

- If you have any acquired titles they will add further bonuses to dynamic scores, and provide initial experience points. You will also receive bonuses to professional choices.

- All injuries will be healed.

- In the spirit of simplification of the purchase lists in stores, every level of a tier-two human will have ten additional levels added. Example: A level two human of the second tier will count as a level twelve human for the purposes of purchasing items.

Scott stared at the screen for a moment, his jaw slack. He needed to start over from level one, but his overall power was going to be obscene compared to before once he regained his lost levels.

Excited as a virgin peeping at a bath house, Scott called up his status information. The system denied him, however. He needed to pick his new profession upgrade before-hand. New calculations needed to be made. A new screen appeared before him, one that gave him pause to think.

Professional Upgrade Time!

You have worked hard and defeated many powerful opponents. You may now choose one of the following career paths.

Change Job – Leave your randomly selected profession behind altogether and choose your own destiny.

- Due to your professional experience, you are allowed to choose a subclass. Select this option after your main class upgrade, if you wish to keep your current career path while acquiring a sub-class. You may also abandon your current profession and choose this option twice.

Arcane Knight – Leave behind the basic abilities of the arcane slayer and focus on melee weapon skills and heavy armor. Magical ability will not be enhanced further. Physical capacity will increase significantly.

Arcane Magus – Leave behind the basic abilities of the arcane slayer, and focus on the power of magic. Physical ability will not be further enhanced. Magical ability will increase significantly.

Elite/Unique Class Upgrade – Due to your professional experience, notoriety, and leadership status, you may choose this option in order to receive a unique profession. You may choose to discard this option upon review of the class that you receive. If you choose this option will lose your capacity to choose a sub-profession unless the unique class is discarded.

"Wow, this is... pretty cool," said Scott. He turned to tell Harley about the situation, but noticed that she was frozen in place, mid-step. It did not take long for him to realize that the whole world was frozen. Rather, it was more likely that he was out of sync with it for the purposes of these upgrades.

"I wondered why it was so quiet..." said Scott. It seemed that he was unable to advance in life until he made his decision. He looked over the options carefully.

There were many options to choose from, but it was hard to tell which would be best at first. On the one hand, magic was the main thing that allowed him to reach his current level. People who lacked it were only able to use specialized physical attacks. On the other hand, he only used magic as a means of bolstering those attacks in the first place.

However, the most obvious choice was the unique class option. There seemed to be no downside to at least choosing to see what he was offered. He chose to see what the system creators wanted to give him for his hard work.

Reviewing recent events... ... ...

Reviewing... ...

Reviewing...

Review Complete!

Due to the following reasons we offer you a unique class:

1. You are a de facto faction leader.

2. You have acquired a high level of professional experience for a tier-one human.

3. You not only engaged in enough combat to reach level ten, but actually acquired enough experience to reach level fourteen prior to class-up.

4. You have made a treaty with a fourth-tier queen of a humanoid lesser dragon species, and are in good standing with her. As such, more intimacy will grant you commander status among her species, and recruitment capacity for lizard men.

All of these actions combined allow us to offer the following unique class: Dragon Warrior

- Your elemental alignment will be chosen for you based on your true inner nature.

- This class can be further upgraded as you increase your racial tier.

- You will lose your current skills. In place of your former abilities you will receive unique skills that automatically grow with your level, but are also capable of growth through training. New skills will appear at certain level intervals.

Please note: These skills are impossible to obtain without this unique class. Growth skills such as this are also exceedingly rare and will be impossible to acquire through other means outside of quests and rare item drops. Such quests and items will not be generated for any human below the third-tier.

"Damn, that sounds awesome, but it's a big risk." Scott frowned at the unique class offered. On the one hand, it had the word dragon in it. That automatically increased its cool factor. On the other, his skills would only be revealed to him at certain level-based intervals. On an imaginary third hand, the idea of skills that grow stronger as he leveled up or practiced them seemed like a powerful thing. Every other skill he knew of pretty much had a pre-set capacity.

"It seems kind of broken..." he said initially. It made no sense for the administrators of the apocalypse to favor someone to this extent. However, he realized something not long after he made that statement.

In most turn-based tactical games there were essentially two types of characters. There were the common characters that shared the exact same basic skill-set per specific unit type. Usually they even looked identical. However, there were also the leader units, or the main storyline characters. These unique characters often had similar abilities to the common characters, but also held unique powers.

Common characters could be beloved units, but they rarely had the chance to be anything but a normal soldier or wizard. The storyline characters, or unique characters, were considered important to the plot and possessed exceptional ability.

It was impossible to field an entire army of storyline characters, but if enough of them were involved then individual battles could be played using only those characters in some games. Scott immediately realized the hierarchy this world would fall into in the future.

The non-player characters would either disappear, or end up as common people. They would do the scutwork of farming, cleaning, maybe kitchen work or perhaps other sorts of less savory work.

The second class of citizens would be the common professional characters, the people who were all soldiers or mages. They could pick and choose from ordinary skills, and if strong enough they might unlock the occasional growth skill after surviving long enough to reach the third tier.

The new royalty, perhaps even the new gods of this world, would be the third group. They would be people who held unique classes, were important to the ongoing story of the world so to speak.

"Dammit, I don't really have a choice at all. Do I?" Scott glared hatefully at the option before him. If he was right, and he chose to be anything other than the unique class offered, he was basically cutting his own throat when it came to dealing with people who did choose to be important storyline characters.

Scott took a deep breath then slowly released it. "Fine. Thank you for your consideration. I accept my new path as a Dragon Warrior."

The moment that he spoke those fateful words, a distant rumble echoed through the air. He looked up and saw storm clouds gathering on the horizon. He wanted to move closer to the shopping arcade, but he was firmly rooted in place. The system would not allow him to move.

Words, golden letters that shined brightly in his mind's eye, appeared inside his head. A soft voice whispered, "Speak now, these words, and become a true incarnation of power in this world..."

There was no sense of coercion, but neither was there hesitation. Scott immediately spoke the words aloud. "I am the flash of light that illuminates the darkest of nights."

Lightning snaked its way through the gathering storm clouds even as they continued their movement in his direction. Soon, they were directly overhead. Angry dark things roiling in the heavens above, pregnant with unspent rain... They were ever in motion, those clouds, but also there was a strange sense of tension. It was as though the storm was waiting for something.

More words appeared within Scott's mind. He spoke them as soon as they appeared, and then more words arose to take their place. "I am the howling wind which no stronghold may withstand!"

A horrible howling sound, an ungodly roar akin to a train flying down its tracks at a speed far beyond its proper pace, ripped through the air. The clouds above began to rotate dangerously.

"I am the fierce outcry of the heavens, given life in the form of man..." shouted out Scott.

The voice reappeared and urged him to change his name for the next part. A quick list of acceptable terms was provided, as his current name was not epic enough. Working through the list quickly, Scott chose the least ridiculous sounding one from the rapidly crafted mental list and screamed it out to try and overcome the howling of the wind. "I am Scott Stormbringer! I am power!"

Mr. Iam Power barely had a moment after screaming his enthusiastic lungs out before a brilliant strike of lightning crashed down atop him. His body jerked spastically and then began to smoke profusely. His jaw hung open wide, but to the surprise of anyone who might have been allowed to watch, he did not die. Instead, the tornado brewing overhead suddenly formed a funnel and whirled its way down to those open pork chops he called a mouth.

Bizarrely, the tornadic event entered his open mouth and continued to flow into him. Such a thing should have torn him apart. Instead, it filled him with some extraordinary indefinable force. The entirety of that hideous storm cloud entered him.

The noise, the epic show of wind and fury, it stopped immediately. Scott collapsed to the ground, a charred wreck of the man he once was.

His items, all of his armor and equipment items save for the ring he acquired in the very beginning were completely destroyed. Though his ring was changed in a strange way. The stone turned from red to vibrant blue. The money he'd collected, and his consumable items such as the bloodstones, were also left intact.

The lightning burned him terribly, destroyed all of his directly usable combat equipment. For anyone else it would be the end. However, for him it was only the beginning. The lengthy prologue was over. The true tale of Scott Stormbringer would soon begin.

The ruination that was his flesh began to heal at an impossible rate. Tiny arcs of lightning rose up from his body, just before his body itself rose into the air. The arcs of electricity grew ever more powerful as he hovered in the air. Soon, they were like the legs of a spider made of pure lightning.

His body was restored to perfect health in the process of the overly dramatic and far too detailed power-up sequence. He awoke from his dream-like state then took stock of what happened.

Scott looked around, his eyes half-open as though he were only partially conscious. After a moment, however, those eyes widened.

"Holy mother of fuck!" exclaimed Scott. "Did all of that just happen?"

It did seem a bit excessive as a power-up sequence, if one considered the fact that all he'd done to acquire that power was make a few selections based on the screens he'd seen. Sure, he'd built up to that throughout his entire adventure to date. Still, that sort of thing was the type of scene one expected to happen on top of a mountain after beating one of the dark lord's demon generals, or something.

Class-up Complete!

Congratulations on acquiring your unique class! No one else in your region will be able to acquire the Dragon Warrior class so long as you live. The power of the storm is now yours. Please be advised that despite your grand rebirth into the world as a unique profession, your ability to express the power of the storm is limited by your level, your will, and your training. You can still be killed quite easily at the moment, even by common monsters.

Be sure to train! We do not like wasting unique resources and event sequences on failed storylines...

Due to your status as a leader with a unique class, you are granted two further abilities.

- Bestow: You now have no further need for professional experience, though you may acquire it. Your class is permanently set on the upgrade path of [Dragon Warrior]. You may use this leadership ability to bestow your professional experience to a subordinate.

If the one gifted with that experience is a player, it may help them achieve elite class status. Elite classes are similar to unique classes in that they acquire a few growth skills and have superior statistical scores to common classes. However, there is no region lock. Anyone who has developed the pre-requisites may choose to develop into such a profession.

If the one gifted with that experience is a non-player subordinate, you may give them a Big Book of Professions. This will allow them to receive a randomly selected trade class. Upon reaching level ten in that class, and breaking the level ten limit, they will be able to upgrade their profession and choose a secondary class. They will be able to use both trade classes equally, however, despite the secondary class definition.

- Commanding Presence: Your presence in a battle will automatically increase the dynamic statistical capacity of all allied units by ten percent. Multi-unit tactics may now be developed and employed.

Warning: In order for these new abilities to be granted, you must consolidate your titles. Please choose from the list provided in order to determine a title that properly fits your status as a commander.

Upon reading all of that information, he realized that his original assessment was incorrect. There would not be three classes of humans in this world, but five. There would be the classless NPCs and the NPCs with trade classes. Then there would be the common players, elite players, and unique players. Though, even common players with growth skills could be quite dangerous opponents.

Scott read through the list of title consolidation choices then laughed when he saw one that was perfect. The others were of varying use, ranging from stupid to not bad. The one he chose felt tailor made for him, however.

The announcer cried out suddenly, "Let it be known, that the Dragon Warrior Scott Stormbringer shall hence forth be addressed as Lord Badass on all official documentation."

"Damn straight," said Scott with another laugh. Things were definitely looking up!

All of the rapid advancement business seemed to be at an end, but before the world restarted, Scott was finally able to see his new status.

Scott Stormbringer

Title: Lord Badass

Age: 20

Profession: Dragon Warrior

[Level: 1]

[HP: 170[180/180]

[MP: 170[190/190]

[SP: 170][180/180]

COMBAT

[Attack: 27[][Arcane Attack: 27[31]

[Defense: 27[][Arcane Defense: 27[29]

[Evasion: 27][Arcane Evasion: 27[28]

ABILITIES

[Strength: 20][Agility: 20][Vitality: 20]

[Durability: 20][Reflexes: 20][Arcane: 20]

[Intellect: 20][Charisma: 20][Luck: 20]

MANEUVERING

[Speed: 30]

[Counter: 30]

[Movement: 32]

[Jump: 24]

[Load: 220]

"Holy..." Scott stared at his new ability scores and slowly shook his head. He knew that he would be stronger, but his unique class was ridiculous. Just reaching level ten and classing up would increase anyone's stats by at least ten as a base, but his specific class granted him ten more points. Somehow, he doubted anything but an elite class would be unable to provide similar.

"Starting over at level one... I'm still stronger in a lot of ways than art level ten before... Damn..." Even a common class-up would have improved stats, though it would take a few levels to regain the lost hit points. Scott was no different in that regard. At level ten his hit points, stamina, and mana were higher. His mana was higher at level seven, barely. But by the time he was level ten again, his dynamic stats would be ridiculously high compared to before.

"Fuck me sideways, no wonder second tier and better monsters were so fucking hard... Even with shit gear that hobgoblin nearly beat me."

Scott frowned then shook his head from side-to-side quickly. "Then there was that big third-tier bastard earlier... There's no way he was just second-tier. Big or not, there's no way he should have been that damage resistant at second tier..."

He slapped himself on the forehead. "How the fuck did I even survive that?"

Scott made a decision right then, right there. "If this is the power of a second-tier elite monster, most of my people are gonna have to be the same... Elite at least."

His people needed elite gear, elite classes, elite training, and an elite mind-set. Anything less would leave them all dead in a blast crater somewhere.