Chương 125: Challenge Class

They got back to The Pearl without Vivi turning the ride into another networking opportunity, which already made the return trip better than the racetrack. The moment they entered the suite, Meno disappeared into the bedroom, stripped out of the suit, and changed into loose clothes. Vivi, unfortunately, showed no sign of leaving. She settled near the table with her phone and laptop as though the suite had become her office, while Meno went straight to his computer and opened Veyrath's website.

He needed to see progress before boredom pushed him far enough down the second-account rabbit hole to make the suspension worse. There was progress: a fresh patch notice occupied the front page, and Meno opened it immediately. [BeadGuard Patch 6 Applied] [1] Essence-based class modification is now disabled for players below Level 100. Any previously acquired Essence is retained. [2] Naraltan access is suspended due to a catastrophic Zone Calamity bug cascade. Reopening condition: World First Level 100 achievement.

[3] All Naraltan anchors, return points, Stormpaths, and travel effects are disabled until reopening. [4] Maximum Attack Speed cap calculation has been fixed. Equipment swaps, hand-state changes, animation overrides, and input-layer effects can no longer bypass the global cap. [5] Invocations have been removed. Raid bosses may no longer be summoned into the open world. This does not apply to special quests or zone events. [6] All World First-related gold-loss-on-death reduction buffs have been removed.

[7] Players above level 60 now lose 1, 000 gold on death. [Faction Balance, PvP, Professions] [8] Faction selection requirements have been removed. Players may now join a faction at any level. [9] Factions are no longer hostile by default and players may now attack members of their own faction. Same-faction PvP causes double Karma loss for the aggressor, regardless of level. [10] Previously earned Karma has been converted into Reputation.

Karma now functions as a separate reward track, and all players start at 0 Karma. Items previously gated by Karma now require Reputation instead. [11] Changing factions now removes all Reputation. The one-time free faction change provided by this patch does not remove Reputation. [12] All Faction Quartermasters now sell items for gold. Karma can no longer be spent at Faction Quartermasters. [13] Sunring Concord boss trophies can now be converted into gold.

[14] Veil Court faction bonus changed: Quests provide 100% increased gold and Reputation. [15] Grave Crown faction bonus changed: PvP kills steal 200% increased gold. [16] Grave Crown's delayed-death faction effect has been removed. [17] Repeated PvP kill protection has been removed. [18] Resurrection Shrines now provide PvP protection. Players who repeatedly die in PvP near a Resurrection Shrine may request reinforcements from elite faction NPCs.

[19] PvP kills now grant +1 Karma or -10 Karma, depending on PvP conditions. [20] Attacking a same or higher-level player no longer causes negative Karma. [21] Killing a lower-level player now causes negative Karma for the aggressor, regardless of faction. [22] Using lower-level characters as defensive shields to force negative Karma onto opponents will result in severe Karma penalties, determined case by case. [23] High negative Karma may trigger a global bounty.

Completing a global bounty against a player will result in that player receiving a jail sentence. [24] Negative Karma may now be reduced by paying a gold fine, with the cost depending on severity. Gold fines do not cancel active bounties or active jail sentences. [25] Negative Karma reward-track bonuses and rewards have been increased. [26] Professions may now be changed at any major city Profession Hall. Meno reached the bottom and leaned back in his chair.

"Fantastic. AI basically fixed the whole cascading mess at once, then put my name on it. BeadGuard again, really? The faction imbalance and PvP thing had nothing to do with me." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Vivi looked up from her phone.

"What is it?"

"Got patched. Naraltan's gone. I keep Essence, but I can't use it. Faction mess sorted, Red Bastion is no longer absolutely broken, vendors sell faction gear for gold behind Reputation gates, and everybody gets a free faction change. Karma turned into Reputation, and Karma is now a separate PvP thing with global bounties and jail. Factions aren't permanently hostile anymore, so you can attack people from the same faction now."

Meno scrolled upward again, increasingly unimpressed with how much of the notice seemed personally aimed at him.

"And the AI deleted my World First buffs and Invocation."

"That sounds good," Vivi said.

"You don't want people saying you have an unfair advantage. You got them through an exploit after all. Also, it let you keep the gear, which is the most important part." Meno was not sure he felt quite as positive about it, but the logic was reasonable. Losing a little less gold on death had never mattered much, and removing raid-boss summons from the open world was probably healthy for everyone who did not enjoy watching cities disappear. The Essence restriction hurt much more.

He had spent an enormous amount of time building his class around the assumption that Essence remained a usable progression path, and now Solar had placed the entire system behind Level 100 while politely allowing him to keep the resource he could no longer spend. Vivi moved closer to the monitor and started reading through the faction section herself.

"I like these changes. It was annoying how I couldn't attack people from the same faction when they were messing with my quests." Meno looked at her.

"Wait. You actually play?"

"Yeah. Veil Court. Mostly questing, and I'm only Level 40. Just entered the slog phase." Questing was difficult to respect, but banning questing for his employees would probably be considered too rude. Meno decided not to comment. Vivi continued reading before he could say something unnecessary.

"Love that gold buff for Veil Court. Grave Crown stealing two-hundred precent increased gold is a bit much, isn't it?"

"Not really. Above level sixty, that's three thousand gold per kill. BrineSaint was doing around fifty thousand per hour from bounties, and Red Bastion double bounty and junk gold wasn't nerfed." She moved farther down the list.

"Repeated kill protection removed, shrine PvP protection, and elite NPC reinforcements if you're farmed near a shrine. That sounds dangerous."

"Kill protection was completely griefing Grave Crown players. It used to be once per hour, which is basically zero gold if somebody stayed in the same area." Meno reread the reinforcement wording.

"Don't know about the NPC thing, but maybe this finally stops everyone automatically joining Red Bastion."

"Yes, but why is it also buffing negative Karma rewards?" Vivi asked.

"Does it want people running around griefing lower-level players and committing crimes?"

"No clue. Probably wants to keep it interesting. Drama is usually good content." Meno paused.

"As long as you aren't the one being farmed." He had spent enough time reading. What mattered was whether his account still existed in a usable state. Meno climbed into the capsule before Vivi could object, sealed it, and attempted to log into Veyrath. A new system message replaced the suspension notice. [Account Review Complete] Exploit classification: unresolved. Competitive penalty converted into Challenge Class offer. Accept: Suspension lifted. Current class sealed until Level 80.

Progress to Level 80 using the assigned Challenge Class. At Level 80, choose whether to restore your sealed class. All currently equipped gear will be sealed. Equivalent-rarity replacement starter gear will be supplied for the Challenge Class. If your sealed class is restored, sealed gear will be returned. Decline: Account suspension remains active for 7 days. Challenge Class Offered: Titan evolved class, generated based on personal achievements, activity history, Swing Master Infernal, and Titan Subclass.

Titan Subclass retained. Meno read the message twice, switched the capsule off, and climbed back out feeling simultaneously relieved and annoyed. Vivi looked up immediately.

"So?"

"Technically unbanned." Her expression changed.

"What does that mean?"

"It wants me to choose between staying banned for seven days or accepting some Challenge Class it's going to create on the spot. I have to use that until level eighty, then I get the option to restore Swing Master Infernal and my old equipment." Vivi stared at him for a moment.

"That's weird. Sounds like bait." Meno sat down again.

"It can't delete Swing Master because a lot of other people play it now thanks to you," Vivi continued, already turning the problem into a PR campaign.

"But the AI isn't really worried about everybody else. It just wants to take the class away from you by giving you an offer you obviously won't refuse. I recommend declining. We can run a social campaign around this and force Feltforge to back down."

"You don't get it. You can't force them. That is not a thing."

"That's absolutely a thing."

"You can sue them into oblivion and they still won't do anything." Vivi frowned.

"That's not how the law works."

"Doesn't matter. I'm not suing Feltforge. That's that."

"Why?" She leaned against the table.

"It's a good way to rally your supporters and keep them engaged. Injustice sells." Meno could not explain the actual reason. He could not tell Vivi that Feltforge's own people had less control over Veyrath than she assumed. Even hinting at his relationship with Morlando was more dangerous than whatever Solar planned to do to his class.

"Because I'm not getting into a legal battle with a trillionaire," he said.

"Do you get it?" Vivi watched him long enough that Meno wondered if she believed the answer. Eventually, she shrugged.

"Fine. I know you're going to accept it anyway. You can't sit idle for a week."

"I might be able to reach eighty in a week and take my class back. There's no point declining." Meno looked toward the capsule again.

"A week is forever. I have zero desire to host a talk show on stream for a week. I want to play." He was surprised by how little losing Swing Master Infernal bothered him once he said it aloud. The Essence restriction had already ruined the progression strategy he had been building around, and after watching Thorn struggle with the class during the Titan Trial, Meno had been thinking about its weaknesses more than its strengths anyway.

"I'm pretty over Swing Master Infernal for now," he added.

"If the Challenge Class is good, maybe this is better."

"What if it gives you something terrible that you can't progress with?"

"It said it's giving me a Titan evolved class based on my achievements. Solar is sneaky, but it doesn't usually lie about wording like that." Meno folded his arms.

"Anything with Titan in it is usually really good, and I think I can make any class work." Vivi laughed.

"What?"

"What about a healer?" Meno stared at her.

"Don't need to go that far. That would be an obvious scam."

"You sure?" Meno looked at the capsule again, because Vivi had managed to make him nervous. There was no way. Probably. Meno started his stream, climbed back into the capsule, and sealed it around himself with considerably less confidence than he had possessed before Vivi opened her mouth. A healer. There was no way Solar was that evil.