Chương 171: Chapter 169 - Realm Five Evolution

It was said that the fifth realm threshold was where adventurers went from being merely beyond human to true superhuman. A stage where they could no longer be taken down by conventional means of warfare. [Warriors] turned into [Knights] that could pierce through tanks, [Rogues] became [Assassins] that could move faster than any sharpshooter could track, [Mages] became [Pyromancers] that could turn a battlefield into a sea of flame.

If none of these feats sounded that impressive, then you had to remember that the adventurers Ryan had been dealing with were the elite of the elite. The best that the mature adventuring world could offer. And what happened when the one at the top of those elites went past the threshold? You are now entering a safe zone 30 minutes remaining until you are forcefully ejected from the safe zone Realm 4 -> Realm 5 achieved!

As Ryan entered the impressively furnished room, his body started to go under a complete evolution. This was how the Trial System worked. First the class, then the realm evolution. A body tailor made for whatever class you ended up picking. Ryan couldn't help but admit that there had been a lot of anticipation. While he knew that all his buffs and titles meant that he wouldn't be going through as much of an evolution as normal adventurers, it was still supposed to be a body fit for a Quasi-Legendary class.

That should have meant something. Both his arms physically repaired themselves first. The mangled fingers in his left hand snapping back together and the mana channels repaired. His right arm with many many different fractures repaired under the Trial System's evolution. Though it did not repair the [Arm of the Aura Tyrant] class as he'd been hoping. That was a little depressing, but it should've been overshadowed by his body evolving to match the standards of his new class.

[Warriors] would gain an qi core, [Mages] would get a mage core, [Rogues] would get whatever fit their skillset. Sometimes they would get no core at all. Ryan… got the minimum, at least as far as he could tell, he had no core, no specialized circulatory system. All he did was meet the standards for a fifth realm.

"Did I get scammed? What?" Unfortunately, there was nobody in the safe room to answer him. Just the Trial System moving on and upgrading his skills. S+ achievement rewards All Trial skills increased according to achievement rating! [Resource Overdrive: Aura] (Epic) level 7 -> 11! [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation] (Epic) level 3 -> 8! [Aura Command] (Epic) level 6 -> 10! [Arcane Volatility] (Epic) level 5 -> 9! [Aura Slash] (Rare) level 8 -> 16! [Hastened] (Rare) level 5 -> 12!

[Aura Detection: Fear] (Rare) level 4 -> 11! [Flurry Stab] (Rare) level 2 -> 9! [Dangersense] (Uncommon) level 10 -> 22! His complaints died down as power came with the absurd number of levels. Every level in a skill often provided some minor bonuses towards the relevant stat. Something that was often negligible enough to be disregarded. Not when he had gained as many levels as someone going from the ninth realm to tenth realm with an A grade achievement.

The increase in levels gave him a surge in his physical ability, with most of his aura based levels returning. It had to be noted that an S+ achievement at the fourth realm was nowhere near what should have been given for an A grade achievement for dragonslayers. All of this proved that the Trial System was flawed and lacked a grade above S+. He did note that [Aura Crystallization] hadn't gained a level.

Ryan raised his right arm, staring at the perfectly functional fear-based Epic and the rest of the aura circulatory system. He wasn't sure how to repair a class or if it even was possible. It felt like the concepts were still there, they just weren't a cohesive class. Soulsword upgrading… Ryan summoned his soulsword, or rather, soulhilt into his hand. He felt the familiar workings of the Trial System as it began to work to upgrade his weapon. Aura, magic, and qi were following concepts.

That was what he had missed the last time he had observed this process. Though the concepts were weird… different from what he recognized. They're not like classes or skill concepts? They're more… neutral? The Trial System was moving too fast for him to understand anything more than that, and too many things were happening all at once for him to understand. Broken Shattersword Hilt…

[Major Durability] (Shattered), [Major Aura Imbuement] (shattered), [Celestial Matrix: Sword] (destroyed) Mutating soulsword based on accumulated achievements. S+ achievement detected, multiple S+ tier achievements detected… Estimated weapon durability unsuitable for user… Cannot give [Superior Durability] for a realm five weapon… Recalculating… Personalizing… The blade portion had been completely vaporized during his attack against the Witch Tyrant's soulrot hex.

The Trial System didn't seem to care and started reforming the entirety of the blade. The shattersword was back, the runes written in crystallized aura. Another thing he hadn't realized until now. That was why they were permanent. King Theskar had been right, he had barely scratched the surface of the skill.

Shattersword (Soulbound, R5, Max R8) Enchantments: [Major Durability], [Major Aura Imbuement], [Celestial Matrix: Sword], [Major Regeneration: Aura], [Moderate Volatile Mana Imbuement] You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The Shattersword of the Aura Tyrant. Matched to the user's realm. This blade has been mutated according to the achievements of the user.

The shattered fragments of the blade are capable of breaking apart and forming into a larger sword depending on the control and quantity of the user's aura. Recalling the sword will recall all fragments. The blade will regenerate over time using the user's excess aura. Will explode imperfect mana structures on contact.

"Wait, does that mean the sword will blow up any mana construct that it cuts through?" Ryan slapped his forehead at the 'improvement'. While the major regeneration enchantment was nice and a physical blade would make up for a lack of [Aura Crystallization], [Volatile Mana Imbuement] was possibly the worst enchantment for a melee weapon. It was one of the problems with soulweapons being upgraded with the Trial System. It didn't always choose the most useful enchantments.

It was why even if you had soulweapons and soularmour that [Blacksmiths] were essential. Then again, maybe it wasn't all bad. He could just chuck pieces of his blade at people.

"Wait, that's no better than a volatile knife." Deflated once more, he plopped himself down on one of the lounging recliners in the safe zone. A fifth realm safe zone came with even more amenities than before. Namely—a fantastic burger. Ryan bit in, then blinked. It tasted almost as good as the burgers Seffara had made before. He snapped up a large cup and downed it in one. Almost like lemonade. It reminded him of Seffara's cooking. Ryan decided to move on.

Final Realm Four achievement rating: S+ Due to your achievement rating, you may choose two different rewards to receive amongst the following S tier rewards: - An additional Trial skill slot - A chance at a mutation on any maxed skill below the Epic rarity - An additional Trial skill point allocation - Upgrade to an existing piece of equipment - New equipment, randomized but given an option to select out of ten. - Experience and practice of any single skill in a dilated time chamber. - Guidance from the Manager.

For a moment, Ryan was really tempted to use one of his rewards to have 'guidance from the Manager'. It would be incredibly petty… and now that the Manager had time to slow down its abode, it'd probably be prepared for him. He decided to check the skill options instead. Trial Skill slots: 5/6 Available Trial Skills: - [Class Change] (Epic) - [A Ruinous Insight] (Epic) - [Conceptual Meditation] (Epic) - [All Against me!] (Epic) - [Ruinous Mockery] (Epic) - [Parallel Cognition] (Epic) - [Fearless Cutdown] (Epic) - [Combat Art: Lu Baizhen's Infinite Requiem of Shattered Fists] (Epic) - [Cleaving Riptide Spin] (Epic) He immediately went to the top skill and clicked the description. The only skill that had ever been classed rarer than [A Ruinous Insight] had been [Resource Overload]. This had to be good. [Class Change] (Epic, Active, Passive) The [Conceptual Metamorph] switches classes as easily as putting on a new coat.

You have started to walk this path but only in its periphery. Learn to embody a single class wholly and gain its insights and advantages. Embodies a class with the concepts available to you. Switching to a different class will incur a cooldown depending on the rarity of the class. Note: Does not provide skills, does not change your physical body.

"Then what the hell does it do?" Ryan shouted at the Trial System screen. It wasn't that he didn't think concepts weren't useful or anything. He'd witnessed first hand just how much Pinkie had been debuffed when [Dragonslayers] started to resonate with their concepts. It was just that in the end, they couldn't truly take her down until the heavy hitters came in with stats and skills to back it up. Still, despite his misgivings, the skill was at the top of his skill list.

It was probably the cornerstone skill of the [Conceptual Metamorph]. Something that he would have to take or learn if he wanted a deeper understanding of the class itself. It wasn't like the Realmnet would have any advice for him. Ryan bit the bullet and picked the skill. You have selected [Class Change]! [Class Change] level 0 -> 1 Trial Skill slots: 6/6 [Class Change: Rebel] The world changed. Now he was looking at the rules and the ideas differently, everything was designed for those at the top and… that was it?

That couldn't be right. Ryan didn't feel much different at all. Of course he knew the Witch Tyrant had changed the world to suit her needs. Surely there had to be some other benefit. … Ten minutes later. Ryan had his head in his hands.

"I got scammed." Not only did [Class Change] provide no tangible benefits whatsoever, but it didn't change his perspective at all. Maybe it would provide a little bit of benefit against unjust rulers, but he very much doubted that a mere [Rebel] would do anything but get stomped out by the concept of a [Tyrant]. There was another, bigger problem with the [Class Change] as well. As far as he could tell, the Epic rarity skill couldn't simulate Epic rarity classes.

That, or Ryan had already embodied the two Epic classes he actually had the concepts for. Wait a second… Ryan took out one of the class crystals from his pocket. It was about as long as his index finger while being only a little thicker. The color was shifting slightly, a prismatic glitter of iridescent crimson. He held it in his hand and closed his eyes. Somewhere amongst the scattered concepts, his arm began to resonate. – One day later, in Sector five… A screeching giant blue crow dove from the sky.

Though that wasn't what the hooded figure on the ground was staring at. He turned around and surprised the [Mage] that had been trying to sneak up on him while she was invisible.

"Hello Gamielle." Gamielle kicked the air.

"Damned leveled zones. I even had to use Cerul to track you down." The two hadn't spoken since they'd parted ways in Sector Three. Despite having only been a month, it felt like an age had gone by. Gamielle looked at him up and down, then wrinkled her nose.

"Ew, what did you do to your arm?" She wasn't looking at the broken class arm at his right, she was staring at the mana core of the [Arcane Saboteur]. Ryan raised"It's pretty cool huh? A little gift from One-Eyed Rick." Gamielle huffed at the name but seemed to care more about his arm." Yuck, gross is what it is. Why would you take away the path of magic for yourself like that?"

"You know why."

"Is that why both your new classes feel like it's designed to kill me?" The hooded figure was silent for a moment.

"I tried to kill the Manager."

"Oh?" At first Gamielle didn't have much of a reaction then she saw his expression. It took her a moment, but she understood what he'd meant.

"Ohhhhh. Damnit Ryan, has anyone else told you that you're both too smart and too stupid for your own good?"

"A silly old orc might have told me that once or twice, yeah." They were silent again. Cerul the Cerulean Crow had landed and was impatiently hopping about, waiting for its turn to yell at him.

"You know Ryan, I don't think it's a good idea for you to specialize so much just to defeat my mother. I mean, you should understand that she's always watching. Even if you do pick classes and skills that counter hers, she'll see it coming." The [Veilpiercer Assassin] simply smiled, his clothes and robes covering a crystal that had been tightly strapped to his right arm.

"Yeah, but someone's got to do it anyway." … They talked for a while, Gamielle catching him up on the latest details in The Realm. The vast majority of adventurers were on a full retreat from Sector Thirteen. It wasn't that the environment was necessarily more dangerous than some of the other higher Sectors, it was that it was far, far too unpredictable. Dragonslayers were simply falling off the map. Adventurers with safety lives disappearing or coming back with stories of incomprehensible challenges.

And the most unnerving thing of all. A new esoteric energy source, one that was slowly seeping into the neighboring sectors.

"Faith."

"Is that what's surrounding you? Why you're so shiny?"

"Argh, I'm a [Mage] not a [Priest] Shoo! Shoo!" Gamielle waved at the air, trying to disperse the gathering energy with little effect.

"I think mom's leading the Realmers of Sector Thirteen to worship her. Probably why she killed their deities and closed off all the cities from other adventurers."

"Not so different from the Obsidian Sect then."

"Hey!" Gamielle raised a magical fist, then eyed both of Ryan's classes and thought better of it.

"Hmph." Ryan chuckled. When the silence lingered and Cerul started hopping up, screeching at him, he threw the Trial System golem heart at it. It squawked, dodged, then stared at it. Suspicious that it hadn't exploded in its face.

"An apology gift. The System description says that it'll provide benefits for monsters." Cerul narrowed his eyes at him then sniffed it and then started pecking away at it. Once it was satisfied, it threw the whole thing high into the air. Cerul left the ground, flying towards it with its beak wide open in a game of self throw and eat.

"Hey Gamielle?"

"Hm?"

"Can you check up on Seffara for me? She hasn't been on Earth and her friend thinks something went wrong on her end." Gamielle blinked.

"Oh. Oh no, you haven't gone back to Earth yet?"

"No? I wanted to get you to check up on her before going back. Why? What happened?"

"Ryan, Seffara's challenging the Tenth Trial."

"What?!"