Opening his notifications, he decided to leave the Tsurmirel: Probational Apprenticeship Contract for another time, though he should really take some time to read through it and make sure there weren’t any nasty surprises in it. For now, however, his eyes zeroed in on the notification underneath it, the one titled with Conclusion of the Climb.

  As he opened it, a burst of sound and bright dots of light exploded around him and he jumped in his bed.

  “What the…”

  A window popped up in front of him

  The three dots at the end of the message flashed in and out in order, and Nar took that to mean that his gains were being recalculated in real time.

  Wow… It’s never done that before, he thought, staring at those three little dots. And three more hidden quests? Crystal, those have got to be good gains… And crazy how all of sudden the notifications just casually start talking about the Radiants! For fuck’s sake… Was it really that hard to just explain it all to us from the beginning? And how did we even forget about the existence of 24 other gods?

  He shook his head. Ah… Whatever. I’m out. The past is the past…

  The window flickered in front of him, and new words appeared.

  The window disappeared.

  “Wait!” Nar shouted.

  There was way too much going on in that gains window! What in the Nexus was all that? Class change, massive gains, new attributes, new skills, [NPC] upgraded, and even a new status tab? That had been way too much to take in all at once!

  However, before Nar reached out to do it, the status tab opened by itself.

  Holy…

  The tab before him was at once recognizable as the same status tab he had grown used to, but at the same time, it had become something more.

  What’s all this? He thought, his brain struggling to make sense of what he was seeing.

  In reply, his status was shifted to the right, and a new window popped open.

  You mean I didn’t before? Why in the pile not?

  The window flickered before his outrage could fully mount up, and a new series of lines appeared.

  This time, the window stayed where it was, and Nar finally had time to re-read through it and properly absorb the information presented to him.

  Aggregate level is simple enough. And it makes plenty of sense! I thought I always just started back from level 1!

  He shook his head and exhaled. Would it really have been that much work to let us know about all of this stuff from the start?

  Shaking his head again and taking a deep breath, he considered the rest.

  A rare class? That means that whatever this Champion path is, it has to be strong, right? I mean, considering what happened at the Ceremony, then yeah, I guess it is. Though that warning… Hmmm. No point in thinking about it for now. And then, there it is, DPS/Tank…

  Just like Balink had told him.

  Thinking back to the very beginning, he had requested from the Crystal to be granted a tank/DPS hybrid class, and from that point onwards, he had always considered himself one. That hadn’t been a simple coincidence. He had wanted to put a heavier emphasis on the tanking side of things, to make sure that he would be able to protect his dad on their way up, and ensure that he would get all the benefits of a tank in order to be able to Climb back down on his own.

  However, staring at the flipped order of the roles, he now wondered what that meant.

  Balink said that it was important… Does that mean I ended up becoming more of a DPS than a tank? But how?

  That change made little sense to him.

  Sure, he wasn’t a proper tank like Gad, but for most of the Climb he had served the role of secondary tank much more than he had performed a satisfactory role as a DPS. He had managed to step up and protect the party time and again. In between stopping guardians, deflecting bolts, guarding their rear and even facing off against those massive spiders, his role had always been one of protection first, and damage a very distant second. His DPS had always been lackluster too…

  Until I became an Auramancer… Nar realized. That’s when I got my [Aura Attack].

  And that was also when he had finally gained a way to properly DPS. And by the Crystal, he had brought awe inspiring destruction upon anything that dared to block his path to the surface! Like Gad had told him, he had cut down anything he couldn’t block, dodge or run away from, including a downed Raid Boss… And who knew how many thousands of enemies with it.

  Was that it? Is that why it flipped?

  He rubbed his chin, recalling memories, enemies and fights.

  Truth be told, he had no idea what had happened to cause the change. If anything, he had just balanced his DPS with his aura, not completely flip his path and actions…

  A yawn escaped his body, and he closed the explanatory window.

  I’ll think about it later. Let’s see the rest of my gains…

  [Aura**] had been pushed down to near the bottom of his attribute list, but on his UI, the gray bar now stood above his HP and stamina, perhaps symbolizing its importance for his path.

  Damn… 200 points!

  Now that he knew that aura and aether were just opposite sources of power for a combat class, the sight of all those points, as well as the two attribute modifiers in his [Aura**] filled him with giddy joy rather than angst and resentment.

  “Yes!” he celebrated in a whisper.

  That had always been what he had wanted, even if with aether instead of aura. And it meant that he now had a great source of power to fight with and continue building his path with. It may not be magic, but considering that Mul’s affinity was one of fire, it would probably work in the same way, right?

  Speaking of affinity, it was disappointing not to have unlocked it, but there were plenty of gains, a class change, new and upgraded skills, not to mention the whole apprenticeship with the Scimitar!

  All in all, everything had gone great for him! Beyond great even!

  It was hard not to dread that he was merely dreaming, still laying down in that thing that he could now scarcely call a bed, back home in his dark cubeplant.

  He chuckled to himself. I’m not dreaming. I could never even dream about any of this… Thank the Crystal. Or else, I’d be questioning my own sanity…

  And pushing that unpleasant thought aside, Nar ran his eyes through the attributes before him.

  The gains were substantial, and at a glance, and considering the significant bonus points in brackets, it looked as though they further solidified his path as a fast, mobile and agile fighter, with a lot of survivability being granted to him through his [Instinct], [NPC], [Reflex], and movement and sense attributes, rather than through [Constitution] and [Toughness], as it was for Gad. He still had to avoid being hit, rather than simply taking it head on and shrugging it off, but the way his path was going, it was only going to get harder and harder to actually hit him.

  The [Senses of the Champion] aren’t as good as the [Aura Senses 2] I had, though. Hmmm, maybe that will upgrade. It's still at level 1 after all… And [Might] and [Endurance] gains are always very good. But…

  His eyes fell on the two [???] unknown attributes.

  At 33 and 21 points respectively, those were some substantial points for attributes which he still didn’t know what they were or did. With one of them at 33 points, it made it the third highest attribute in his status, after [Aura**] and [Speed]!

  How do I still not know what they are? He wondered. Was the whole Climb plus that insane Ceremony not enough to unlock them? What in the pile do I need to do?

  He knew instinctively that none of them were [Toughness], as he had once hoped for, and he knew of no other attributes that they could be.

  The thought of the unknown requirements to unlock those two attributes caused a little knot to form in his stomach. He had gone through some pretty insane situations, and if none of them had been enough to unlock those two attributes for him, then what would be?

  Ugh… Let’s just forget about it for now. Never mind the many things I’m putting aside for now… Uh, let me see… Ah yes! New attributes!

  As he focused on them, a window popped open as expected.

  Attribute modifier bonus? Oh yeah… There was something about it. But what is…

  Another window popped open before he even finished his thought.

  So that means that neither [Dexterity] or [Accuracy] have bonuses then… And I shouldn't have any bonuses on [Awareness] or [Perception], because I only have modifiers on my [Aura]. Eh… The descriptions also seem a lot better for these skills. Maybe I now have access to better descriptions for all attributes? Maybe I should check… Wait! Hold on!

  He sat up in his bed.

  Why does [Awareness] and [Perception] have the Attribute Modifier Bonus showing as “blocked”?

  The words in the most recent window changed.

  It’s doing what? He nearly shouted, his jaw dropping open. Show me that skill!

  What is going on here…

  If he understood it right, then that passive skill would block him from gaining any attribute modifiers on any attributes other than his [Aura]!

  That’s fucking insane!

  Even when he had wanted aether, he had never sought to have all of his five attribute modifiers dumped into it!

  He had originally wanted them in [Strength] and [Constitution], and slowly had changed his mind to perhaps his [Speed] or [Instinct], or even [NPC], as unlikely as it was given how few points he had in that particular attribute.

  I’m closest to [Speed]... Does that mean that I really can’t get the modifier on it? On anything else?

  Sure, his aura was the source of his power, the thing upon which his entire class, path and plans hinged on, but what did that mean for him?

  The first modifier gives plus 1 point per point gained. The second gives 0.8, then the third 0.6, the fourth 0.4 and then 0.2 for the last one. If I were to combine it all together… Crystal! That would be a plus 3 points per point gained in [Aura]! What in the pile am I supposed to do with so much damned [Aura]?

  He stared at his [The Aspiring Champion] skill description.

  Commitment? Just what kind of path is this? And is it deciding for me what my main combat attributes are as well?

  The Crystal, or the System, or one of the Radiants for all he knew, had decided that this was the path he had asked for, but as it stood, it made no sense to Nar. What kind of path had he just stumbled upon? One that demanded absolute commitment to his aura like that?

  Just then, a horror filled scream pierced the silence that hung heavy over their room.