Molleen Wanderson - Human - Ranger - Level 42

Attributes: 103 STR, 237 AGI, 64 END, 53 VIT, 7 INT, 6 CPT, 14 SPW, 2 CHA, 114 PER, 7 WIL

Skills: [Descriptions: OFF]

Inspect (Level 3)

Passive - Bow Familiarity (Level 8)

Charged Arrow (Level 5)

Homing Arrow (Level 2)

Description: An ordinary member of the Hidden Hammers, an undercover force belonging to the Church of Justice in charge of matters that require discretion. She had been honest from childhood to rid herself of unnecessary emotions and do anything to achieve her goal, which in this case is killing you.

If you can find her despite her enchanted clothes that divert attention from her, avoid her arrows and catch her despite her extremely high Agility, her low Endurance will make her fairly easy to kill. It's just a very tough if.

'Damn, why didn't I [Inspect] her as soon as I spotted her? So her ability to avoid attention has something to do with her clothes, and she's from the church... Damn. I don't know why, but they don't want me to win. I doubt they'll just forget it if she doesn't succeed...'

I dodged another arrow, and already expected it to turn towards me as it wasn't empowered, meaning it was homing.

I allowed it to hit my upper arm, which was the toughest part of my body, but suddenly realized I'd gotten hit on the waist by a second one, which was slightly empowered. The head penetrated several centimeters and damaged one of the movement enchantments that allowed me to turn my waist.

'I gotta do something, and quick. I won't be able to get to her with her Agility, and even though they're trying to keep this low-key, they'll probably make a move if they see she can't deal with me.'

My gaze wandered for a moment, and fell at the sight of a meter-tall crystaline structure that I had tried to use once before. It was the Class Crystal, and it was being brought into a pedestal fairly near the arena, probably being prepared in advance for when this round ended.

It was inside of a cage carried by four mysterious people with extremely potent mana. They were wearing white robes with a big golden hammer weaved on the chest part, and sported pointed, white headwear that left no part uncovered except for their eyes.

A few [Inspect]ions told me they were all Battle Priests in their sixties (in levels, I mean), and there were another eight men with equally white but more armor-like attires in a loose circle around them, a few meters away.

They were constantly looking for any threats coming from outside, their hands on their scabnards. They had less of a mana signature, but an indescribable holy aura surrounded them.

[Inspect] told me they were Paladins, all in their high seventies or low eighties, all with physical stats nearing 200, mental ones with almost 3 digits and 5 Class Skills. Terrifying.

Caught in this situation, torn between making a mad rush for the Class Crystal or trying to get the ranger and praying they won't send anyone else, I went over everything I had at my disposal right now.

I had a vial of paralysing poison stored in my arm-storage, but as it required direct ingestion it would do me no good right now.

I was confident my blade could cut down even those high-leveled people, but against the ranger who would easily avoid it or the huge numbers of the Class Crystal caravan, it was practically worthless.

Finally, there were the enchantments I had yet to use. Sense of touch didn't help, obviously.

There was an enchantment in my crotch, but my limited knowledge gave me a fairly good idea of what it did, as it had an 'extension' enchantment and a heating one, and a bunch of connections to the touch enchantment, and if my guess was right it wouldn't do me any good either.

There was also the third enchantment on my forearm (they were really packed in there), but it was a bunch of fire-related enchantments of the aggressive kind, along with a 'release' enchantment. It would also drain about a third of my mana for a single usage.

'Yeah... Only in a life-or-death emergency.'

Finally there were the enchantments that stretched from my shins to my feet, uncomfortably close to where the lightning-induced explosion had happened.

It was a mix of relatively aggressive fire enchantments with stabilising air enchantments. It was a bit scary, but...

'A man's gotta take some risks sometimes.'

I steadily fed mana to both enchantments at the same time, as I unfortunately took an empowered arrow to the gut, allowing the arrowhead to sink in entirely, and prayed inside my head.

'Pease be flight please be flight please be flight please be flight'

Out of my feet came two beams of light, and along with a plume of smoke, I was lifted upwards.

"YES! It's flight baby! I'm Iron Man!"

'Oops, I said that out loud.'

I saw the 12 escorts of the crystals looking in my direction with incredulity, and made a split-second decision.

'I know it's stupid, foolish, and may very well make me lose my body with nothing to show for it, bit it might be the only way I'll be able to get stronger in a reasonable time. I'm tired of playing it safe.'

And so I started to fly (or tumble in the air, really, as I wasn't used to it at all) over the water and towards the cage that held the Class Crystal.

Admittedly, flying like this wasn't very fast and burnt through mana like crazy, bit since I only needed to cover about 20 meters I got there before the twelve could get in formation to protect the cage.

I reached the bars as the four Battle Priests hurriedly tried to rid themselves of their cumbersome ceremonial outfits to fight me physically, since their magic was only good for healing.

Unfortunately for me, the Paladins were faster, having quickly gotten over their shock like the trained professionals they were.

As I thrust my hand inside the cage, they closed the distance as they charged a Skill on their swords, and as they swung down from a few meters away eight crescents of blindingly hot light came towards me at extremely high speeds.

This was the skill they acquired at level 70, Searing Light Slash.

I immediately realised, if even one of those reached my core, I was a goner. Even if they didn't, each one was probably strong enough to lop off an arm or a leg. There was just no point using the enchantments that protected my core, as I would be turned into a pile of burnt rubble either way.

The moment before I was completely blinded, my hand touched the Crystal from my earlier momentum, and a system screen with a list filled with options appeared.

Several gray, some green, a handful of blue, a couple of purple, and—

My finger weakly touched the option at the very end, which was glowing brilliant yellow. I had already given up, but I still instinctively clicked it.

Perhaps it was my years of gaming having ingrained into me to always pick up legendaries first thing.

'Well, my soul will survive, and now that I have a class, I could continue to level up while in that form...'

The first slash reached my back, and from my mana sense, I knew it'd left a deep, burnt gash across it.

...

But no more damage came. My eyes could see the slashes reaching me and exploding into blinding light, but some sort of invisible barrier made them unable to reach me.

It was no mana shield, nor was it something physical. If anything, it reminded me slightly of the underworld's ceiling that had collapsed with the arrival of The System.

It was an unbreakable law.

A screen appeared in front of me.

Congratulations, you have chosen a class!

You have unlocked the hidden attribute: Perception

Since it is a Legendary Class, it will give you 7 pre-assigned stat points per level: 3 in Soul Power, 2 in Perception, 1 in Intelligence and 1 in Capacity.

Due to Soul Power being maxed, the 3 points will be instead given as assignable stat points.

Due to Perception being locked, the 2 points will be instead given as assignable stat points.

You can now level up further, and have acquired your first class skill!

Please check your Status for details.

I read the screen in front of me, and in that moment, it clicked.

'So that's it, huh, no external influences can affect someone who is gaining a class.'

I took the moment before the intense light around me dissipated to reactivate the flight enchantments, and was already going up by the time they realised that I'd somehow survived.

Joyful beyond belief, I shouted, once out of striking distance,

"See ya later ya FREAKING LOSERS!!!"

And I flew away into the blue sky, laughing boisterously all the while.

I was laughing because of my blessed luck, my excitement for the future, but most importantly, because I needed an outlet. I needed to vent.

I had been holding my feelings in, and this trigger was enough to blow the dam open.

Everyone I had ever known was dead, gone, all because I wasn't brave enough, strong enough to find a way to meet them again.

And yet here I was, doing wacky things and laughing at my own stupid jokes just to keep myself sane, since I had no one to share my feelings with.

And here I was, risking everything for the fleeting hope of once again becoming what I once was, except this time I would have nobody. Even if I reached my goal, nothing would change.

To be honest, I wanted to cry. But I couldn't. I feared I would never stop if I started.

So I laughed.

I laughed thunderously.

I laughed so much my voice used up all my mana and I fell to the ground, sinking into the dirt.

But inside my mind, I was still laughing. I was laughing maniacally.