《System Dilemma》18. Class Evolution
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Suddenly, the black-shifting figure took the shape of a gigantic middle-aged man. He had red hair, thick eyebrows and his large smile revealed his sharp canines. He wore a red bandana on his head and his arms were crossed. He seemed intimidating and charismatic at the same time.
“Pr... Prometheus! You’re back!” hollered the old man with the thick beard, “It’s been a while since you’ve left us! We have so much to catch up on!”
The red-haired man glowered before reverting to his previous form. He went back to his seat and said,
“Not quite, but you know me as such,” The mysterious figure said, “I guess this should be enough to indicate my position in the matter. Don’t. Play. With. Fire.”
He revealed his divine aura.
Everyone opened their eyes wide, and most of them were unable to utter a single word as the foreign aura overpowered theirs.
“What so special about him!” said the woman, “It’s unbecoming of someone of our stature to support a mortal this early!”
“Are you confirming your support for a Glitcher?” said the thin old man with a serious tone of voice.
The black entity just laughed out loud and disappeared instantaneously, alongside his chair.
*
I went ahead and asked Phaella to teleport me to the three areas that I bought access to. She seemed unconvinced when I told her that I would only look around each area for a while before teleporting to the next.
“Are you sure you want to waste your tutorial points this way?” she said, “It might be wiser for you to teleport to only one area at a time, tutorial points are precious! There is no need to visit each area only for sightseeing!”
“It’s fine, I’m rich anyway.” I said while waving my hand, “There is no time to waste, let’s go to the closest area for now.”
“Alright,” she said, “Just accept the transaction.”
She touched my forehead with her small hands. Suddenly, a system notice appeared.
Transaction in Process: Would you like to proceed?
-This Transaction will cost you 300 tutorial points.
[Agree]
[Decline]
I agreed to the transaction. I closed my eyes as a feeling of disorientation similar to [Zoom]’s struck me.
I looked around as soon as my senses returned to normal.
Large trees surrounded me. I was inside a forest, but the shrubbery was much thicker than the one in the initial area. The air was a bit hard to breathe, and I could see fog about ten meters away from me in all directions.
Vines were dangled from trees and many small puddles were on the ground.
This seems like a rainforest, I thought. It seems like a good environment for creatures that like humidity.
Amphibious creatures and lizards were some of the most prominent creatures in this place. Trolls roamed around occasionally and a tough [Boss] lurked in its depths.
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I walked for a while, trying to remember the forest as much as possible. Phaella raised an eyebrow as she kept following me around, her wings seemed unimpeded by the climate of the area.
“I like this place, but it’s high time we moved along,” I told Phaella, “Next area, let’s go!”
I confirmed the transaction as she touched my forehead once more. The next trip’s cost was four hundred eighty tutorial points.
As soon as we arrived at our destination, I felt amazed by the striking difference between the different areas of the tutorial.
This place was barren. Aside from some scorched trees, there was nothing worth mentioning. The soil’s color was a darker shade of brown, nearly black. The trees were completely black and most of them looked so weak that a strong wind might uproot them.
As if something burned this place completely, I thought. There are even some craters on the ground, reminiscent of whatever caused this destruction.
I explored further into the desolate lands. I was surprised to see some magma flowing from some holes in the ground, there were even some geysers around.
Poor land, I thought. This world is so unfair.
“This is so refreshing!” I said, “This level of perfection is something that I can’t wait to reach! I’ve always dreamed of a work of art like this.”
I had to maintain my crazy image in front of the fairies, things might get complicated if higher-ups take too much interest in me.
“That’s true!” said Phaella, “Some circumstances led to the occurrence of a destructive event, although I’m not clear on the details.”
I was disappointed when the fairy didn’t reveal much information on the matter.
“One more area to visit and we’ll finally be done!” I said, “Hurry up, let’s go!”
I agreed to take the trip as the fairy repeated her usual motions. This trip was the most expensive of all, costing me two thousand tutorial points.
This stings my heart! I thought. Yet, it’s proof of the great distance between this area and the past ones.
I knew some stuff about the nature of this place, so I made sure to close my nostrils before getting teleported. I opened my eyes when the dizziness subsided, only to see an ugly landscape.
The soil underneath my foot was purple, and so was the color of a liquid in a nearby puddle. I couldn’t see beyond ten meters in front of me due to the thick gases. They had a light shade of magenta and they seemed static.
I quickly used [Flame-N-Go] to form a veil of fire that surrounded me, as a measure to prevent the gases from getting closer to me.
I am sure that breathing these gases would bring about many status ailments, I thought. I’ll just use the flames as a temporary solution for now.
I didn’t have the necessary items to combat such an environment, so I had to improvise. The fires obstructed my vision, so I didn’t see my surroundings clearly.
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I’ll have to extinguish the flames, I thought. I need to have a clear memory of this place to be able to [Zoom] into it later on.
I walked around for a bit after deactivating my skill, when a system notice appeared.
Host is suffering from a status ailment: [Poison]!
Nice, I thought. I’ll have to cure this soon.
I tried to take in as many details about the area as I could. I saw a small creature that seemed to be made of grime, yet it had large yellow eyes and a maw the size of my hand. It crawled around the place, before stopping in front of a small puddle. It drank all the liquid that was in it, before resuming its journey.
Suddenly, a strong oppressive aura filled the place. I felt that something was looking at me from beyond the purple gases.
Just like that last time when those two died, I thought. I am surprised that [Boss] of this area managed to find me this fast.
“How about we go back to the safe room for now?” said Phaella while her hands kept fidgeting, “A dangerous thing is lurking around.”
“It’s okay,” I replied, “You can leave if you’d like, I can go back on my own.”
She shrugged her little shoulders and disappeared from her location.
I used [Zoom] and swiftly left the area, my destination being the humid forest.
The [Poison] already took away thirty Health Points from me, I thought. I better find some monsters to kill and level up quickly.
I moved around for a while. Monsters were sparse, but I was able to manage. I saw a green snake on the ground in less than a minute of walking. It was similar to a ball python but its body was three meters long.
I examined it from afar.
[Gren Snek] (Uncommon)
Level: 15
This should be easy, I thought.
I used [Shadow Assimilation] to hide my presence, and used it to teleport from my current shadow to another that was just behind that creature.
I kept my presence hidden as I appeared behind it.
“[It’s fine!]” I tried to keep my voice as low as possible, but the creature noticed my presence.
Shitty class, I thought. Why do I have to shout the names of skills to activate them…
I didn’t give it any time to react as I swiftly charged toward it. I stomped on its head with my right foot. It didn’t stand a chance against my current stats, as each of my physical stats was enhanced by one hundred and thirty eight points.
600° Kelvin flames are very tolerable at this point, I thought. I don’t think that I would need to switch off my flames any time soon.
[Gren Snek] (Uncommon) (Level: 15) defeated! Host earned 82000 EXP.
-Host levelled up x1!
-Host reached Level 21! 4 MAG, 4 END, and 8 free stat points acquired.
-Host is cured of a status ailment: [Poison]!
-Host gained tutorial points!
Finally, I can rest easy with that ailment gone, I thought. Weird, it doesn’t say the exact amount of tutorial points that I earned?
I didn’t hear such a thing from adventurers in my past life, but I didn’t ask them about such a detail either.
In my past life, I had one thousand tutorial points by the end of the second phase. I wasn’t strong enough to explore the areas of the third phase either, so I just spent the remaining days in the tutorial sitting in the safe room and sobbing like a child.
I decided to focus on exploring the area further. It didn’t take me too long to find three creatures similar to the first one that I killed
I used a similar strategy to the one that I used against the first one to kill them. The EXP that I got brought me to level twenty-two.
Three levels to go, I thought.
As I was running in the forest, I saw two trolls sitting on the ground close to each other. They were twice my height, but it wasn’t that impressive for creatures like them. I examined them to check their current levels.
[Troll] (Uncommon)
Level: 32
[Troll] (Uncommon)
Level: 33
Their levels are so low! They must be adolescents playing around, I thought, but I won’t let them run away!
I grinned like a fool as I used my [Shadow Assimilation] skill to reach them unnoticed. As soon as I was behind them, I laughed and shouted. “[Kill them before they spread!]”
A heat wave engulfed the area surrounding me. The grass and the trees caught fire and they quickly turned to ash.
However, the trolls only got their outer skin burned. They seemed badly damaged, but they could still move around easily.
Their regeneration is more fearsome than what the rumors make it to be! I thought.
I decided to finish them off before they regenerated completely. I set myself on fire and swiftly crushed their skulls with strong punches. The extra stat points in my STR allowed my bare fist to destroy their bones despite the strong constitution of these creatures.
Some system screens appeared in front of me
[Troll] (Uncommon) (Level: 32) defeated! Host earned 312000 EXP.
[Troll] (Uncommon) (Level: 33) defeated! Host earned 365000 EXP.
-Host levelled up x3!
-Host reached Level 25! 12 MAG, 12 END, and 24 free stat points acquired.
[Flame-N-Go] levelled up x1! It reached level 10.
[It’s fine!] levelled up x1! It reached level 9.
Fucking finally, I thought. I hope this class evolution increases my fire affinity.
[Class Evolution Conditions met!]
Please choose a class from the following options:
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