Chương 269: Chapter 266 - Changing faith and classes

In the modern era, the Archmage Tyrant was first and foremost, a professor. For those that knew him as the Multiplier Mage and the Mage of Mass Destruction, it was surprising just how quickly an image could change over just a few generations. There were people still alive today that had been in the settler wars. There were even videos of the resplendent Tyrant launching masses of fireballs towards battalions of trialists.

Scenes that made you wonder what went on in Earthers' minds to wage war against the Tyrants for so long. Yet somehow, after two generations, people seemed to have forgotten all of that. All because he acted like one of those ancient wizards in stories. Lord Gerfunct knew him as the arch-teach. The old elf liked to challenge his students in frustrating and sometimes even whimsical ways. People justified his behavior by saying that giving straight answers would inhibit achievements.

Lord Gerfunct would say that it was because his arch-teach secretly disliked being such a public figure. The reason why the young lord knew this was because the Arch-teach was actually quite serious and more forthcoming to his true students. So it was a rare occasion that the Archmage Tyrant spoke honestly to the public. The most famous example being when the [Witches] of the Occult Weavers had caused a hex scare across both worlds.

He had spoken publicly and even gave information regarding hexes and curses to calm the public down… and probably to chastise the [Witches] that had gone amok with their curses as well. His research notes titled: Nature of Hexes and their Countermeasures was still an infamous reminder that the Archmage Tyrant could and would ruin an entire class if they misbehaved. The young Lord Gerfunct wondered if the current atmosphere was similar to then. The Archmage Tyrant had called for a public assembly.

People had reserved seats to come in as remote digital and magical presences. This entire lecture was being recorded and would be posted to both worlds as a public service video. Thousands of adventurers and Realmers of high nobility had come in person. It was the minimum to have been able to reserve a seat here. Oh yes, there was a higher caste of nobility for Realmers. Lords, ladies, kings and queens. They had existed before most had been wiped out—or worse, assimilated like the rest of the plebian Realmers.

Lord Gerfunct was distinctly aware that while yes, nobody cared about lineage or status in this cursed modern world, that it still mattered. That his heritage was the reason why he had been given the opportunity to study under and become one of the Archmage Tyrant's… top five hundred personal Realmer students. It was a prestigious position. It was just… There was a hunched over elf sitting next to Lord Gerfunct. He wore ragged robes that looked like they didn't have an ounce of decorum or magical stitching.

The ragged, hunched elf picked his nose and had his foot lounging on the back of the eighth realm adventurer sitting in front of him. The adventurer in front looked like they were sweating, accepting being the elf's footstool. That said a lot. The elf caught the young Lord staring. His one open eye flicked to him and he grinned.

"Got a problem with old one-eyed—hey!" The companion to the elf's side elbowed him." Behave. I don't care what deal you have with her. She's out of commission and I'm the Tyrant now, understand?" The person who had elbowed the male elf was a beautiful raven haired half-elf girl. Possibly Lord Gerfunct's age, or at least he hoped so. The hunched elf—still with one eye closed, grumbled but put his feet back down.

"If it's not one ball and chain, it's the other— Alright! Alright! Don't get your panties in a twist." Lord Gerfunct wondered if these two were father and daughter. They looked nothing alike, but adventurers and their children were often like that. It wasn't abnormal for their children to take most of the features of one parent over another. Earther privilege. Having a high realm parent often meant the children would get the benefits of the unfair Trial System. Still, the half-elf was quite attractive.

It was never wrong to make an acquaintance with another power house. Just as he was about to introduce himself, the door to the Archmage's office opened. Everyone went silent then. Dragonslayers, Realmers, even the talented teens went quiet as Xavien the Archmage Tyrant made his entrance. Xavien had flowing white hair with a magnificent beard to match—even if his face wasn't quite so weathered, his stern expression was enough to make even the oldest elf here to sit up straight.

He wore long dark green robes with crystalline bracers. A gnarled staff on his back and a jeweled wand by his belt. He was in full combat gear—also something that wasn't normal for the Archmage Tyrant. Lord Gerfunct sat up straight as a whisper broke through the silence from the side.

"Five years, no, damnit… give me ten years and I'll pull that fake beard out for all to see." The slightly too-loud muttering made everyone in the vicinity turn to Lord Gerfunct's direction. The damned rude elf had spoken that out loud. They all froze in shock then turned back to the Archmage Tyrant to wait for a response. If the Archmage Tyrant had heard, he made no sign of it. He walked up to the lectern and looked from left to right.

"I have come to talk to tell you all about… faith." No murmurs. Just rapt attention. Xavien just smiled.

"No, I am not here to attempt to convert you into a religion. I believe a tyrant would make a terrible priest." At least half the lecture hall chuckled at that. A joke to break the tension and everyone had forgotten about the rude elf's comments already. The Archmage Tyrant continued.

"No, what I am here to lecture you all about is the power of faith. Who here can tell me what faith is?" A hand in the front shot up.

"Yes, Devon?"

"Faith is referred to as the gathering power of the masses. It builds from fervor and quantity towards a singular being until it manifests in reality. First as minor miracles then ramping up all the way to guardian deities." Faith had become a hot topic in recent months. While people had known about faith from the higher Trials, it had never been a power that dragonslayers could actively pursue. At least, until the new Sector arrived with a staggering population of active worshippers.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The Archmage Tyrant nodded." Yes. However if there is one amendment, it's that faith does not have to go to a singular being. Now, who can tell me why it's considered so much more dangerous than any of the other esoteric powers?" That left everyone to look at each other in confusion.

"Come now, why do you think the Tyrants have never pursued power in faith?" A hand went up, one that Lord Gerfunct did not recognize.

"Because you need worshippers?" Another voice called out straight afterwards.

"I'd worship you, Archmage Tyrant!" Everyone laughed at that. The Archmage Tyrant's eyes twinkled with amusement before he chastised the speaker with a stern look. Nobody else would be tempted to interrupt the lesson further with a joke.

"Well, we can see that having worshippers wouldn't have been a problem." He chuckled alongside the rest of the lecture theater.

"No, the reason why we don't use the power of faith is because it is dangerous. More so than any other power. Faith gathers, it builds, and it has no respect for the laws of reality." A hand went up.

"If that's so, why doesn't it ever build up on Earth?"

"Who's to say it didn't? You have to remember, Earth was an incredibly inert world before the Trial System came along. It is quite possible that like mana and qi— faith did manifest itself in tiny, almost imperceptible quantities. In the hearts of men and women, and later in their actions and deeds. It's said that those most devout would often have a sense of euphoria when they experienced sermons. Perhaps, given enough time and more of the faithful, even Earth might have ended up like Sector Thirteen."

Devon had his hand back up.

"Is faith truly that much worse than mana, teacher? Can't mana be just as dangerous? Like Sector Four and its blighted cursed mana."

"Ah, the difference here is the rate of change. Sector Four comes from a world where mana was corrupted from millennia of abuse. Unlike mana, which adapts over time, and qi which has a flow, faith gathers and gathers without end. When it hits the tipping point, the rate of change quickly becomes the difference between cutting a tree down with an axe compared to releasing a [Fireball] on a dry forest."

"Ah."" Exactly. Once it's released, faith becomes easier to countenance by others. When others see miracles, it becomes easier to be just as devout. When we reach that critical mass, the power of faith is enough to bend and even shatter the laws of reality entirely. But remember, when faith is the only thing that dominates the world it means that we are also at the mercy of it. You have heard of entire dragonslayer teams vanishing into thin air?" Everyone looked nervously around at that.

"Icons of faith do not have to be guardian deities. They can be stories of nightmares that we tell children— yes even that childish belief in monsters is faith and can manifest. It all depends on how malleable the world has become—and Sector Thirteen has reached that tipping point." Everyone just stopped at that. Very few of them actually knew about any of this. Not even the dragonslayers in their Trials knew about the dark side of faith dominating the world.

Only the twelfth Trial had been available until now after all. The Archmage Tyrant continued.

"It's said that over half of the disasters in the Greater Cosmos come from faith-based worlds. The greatest problem is that some of these monsters of faith, the hellspawn start to operate on their own laws of reality, making the area they dwell in even more malleable over time. Remember this, faith is not a power to be taken lightly." Hands started shooting up. Even Lord Gerfunct raised his hand before the Archmage Tyrant shook his head.

"I will not answer questions regarding the Greater Cosmos. This is an assembly strictly covering faith and its implications." Most of the hands went down, though one in particular stayed up. The half-elf next to the one-eyed old man. The Tyrant took a slight pause before nodding at her.

"Yes?"

"Then why are you telling everyone this? Isn't it more dangerous to confirm with everyone that faith actually works?" Everyone in the lecture hall turned their heads at that. They then looked back at the Archmage Tyrant in horror. Xavien smiled.

"Well, the answer to that comes in two parts. For one, I hope that studying the workings of faith will help dull its impact. I believe it is difficult to be a true zealot when someone is constantly putting a microscope into every facet of your belief." Everyone nodded agreeably, everyone other than the two sitting next to the young lord. The hunched elf just scoffed.

"Or you just make more informed zealots that know exactly what they're doing." That wasn't a mutter this time. No doubt it was audible to the Archmage Tyrant. Lord Gerfunct leaned away from the mad elf talking as if he knew better than the Archmage. Xavien looked directly at them and Gerfunct's heart skipped a beat. He let out a light sigh.

"The other reason is to give a warning to those attempting to gather power through faith. Not only are you actively contributing to the destruction of reality, but the more you attempt to use it. The more you will find yourself changing with the beliefs that are being thrust upon you. Unlike skills and classes, there is no separation between faith and power. Understand that before you take the plunge. You have been warned." From the Archmage Tyrant it sounded like a threat.

One issued to all adventurers that had returned to Sector Thirteen to find towns they could take over. However, if you were close enough to where he was staring at, then you would see that he was looking at only one person in particular. The half-elf girl that had asked the question. She had been biting her nail nervously, then she muttered under her breath, so quietly that the young Lord barely heard it.

"I know that already." Gerfunct wasn't stupid, these two knew the Archmage Tyrant. For them to act the way they did, they had to be dragonslayers. The problem was that neither of them matched descriptions of dragonslayers Gerfunct knew of. Illusions? Disguises? Hidden dragonslayers? Devon's hand went up once again.

"Sorry, what's the difference between the influence of a class and something like the influence of faith? I mean, this sounds similar to the warning for those picking demonic classes. To not let the class influence us. [Witches] and [Barbarians] often get the same warning. Is this something similar?" The Archmage Tyrant turned his attention to the over-eager student.

"The difference is that we know how a class might change us. We experience their concepts through the class orb and the Trial System keeps the class separate from us—no matter how close it is, it is always separate. At least, until you master it or accept its influence wholly. There is nothing like that for faith. There are no guard rails, only the overwhelming influence of what others believe you to be. I do not believe anyone in The Realm is capable of being unshakeable under the fervent faith of millions."

The Archmage Tyrant considered it for a moment.

"Well, maybe nobody other than the Passive Tyrant." Everyone chuckled at that. —— Time Chamber. Seventy-seven days used. Fifty days in solitude. If it was the Ryan before the Sixth Trial, he would have gone insane. The Ryan of now was of course, probably a little insane but he had not gone insane. What really was insane was how long he could focus now. The Sixth Trial had changed everything for him. True purpose and guiding principles helped his way.

"Probably." Being alone still wasn't easy for him. But he did have a lot of perspective shifting to experience. [Class Change: The Rogue Adventurer] Exploration, cunning, seeker. [Class Change: Juggernaut] Unrelenting, inexhaustible, unstoppable. [Class Change: Hero] Icon, fate, self-sacrifice, hope. [Class Change: Dread Phantom] Death, sin, fear, undead. [Class Change: Veilpiercer Assassin] Perception, piercing, killer. [Class Change: Arcane Saboteur] Mana, ruin, an agent of change.

[Class Change: Conceptual Neophyte] Concepts, learning, experimentation, naive. [Class Change: The Aura Tyrant] Aura, control, ruler. It had taken so much time until he distilled each class into the basics—into the very fundamental concepts that might have originated from the creator. It had been difficult to navigate each of these changes. Multiple [Conceptual Meditations] had been required for each one and even then, Ryan wasn't certain everything was correct. But he did have enough to be confident.

He had the image of the creator of the Trial System in his mind, the way that he had pulled his own aura and isolated the individual concepts within. Ryan could do something similar now. He pulled the [Arcane Saboteur] class crystal away from him and then dropped it on the ground. It clattered away, a simple crystal with endless, ruinous depths. Ryan closed his eyes and— [Aura Command: Aura Resonance] Mana, ruin, an agent of change. Shingggg- The crystal began to resonate.

It vibrated on the ground as if he was doing a class resonance directly. With [Aura Command] and [Conceptual Meditation], the crystal could resonate without him touching it. That was his solution to Pinkie's problem. Theoretically, it was easier than ripping someone else's concepts out. Put this crystal next to the core of her aura and hope she found something in the crystal that wanted to resonate with. Then activate [Class Change] on his end. It should work.

Pinkie had been a [Shapeshifter], one who had been under the thumb of the Witch Tyrant. She rebelled and was prideful and destructive as a dragon. Both the [Arcane Saboteur] and Pinkie were alike in that they took a sick delight in causing destruction and chaos. She could see it and it might reignite her will to live. The only thing that was making him hesitate was the transfer of memories.

He had seen what happened when you resonated with another class crystal and—Pinkie could gain his class—see his memories and well— If she got to experience one of the things he kept from her then there was a good chance she would eat him. Frankly, it was a gamble. If he succeeded in changing her class, would the [Shapeshifter] be back to being herself, or be more like him or be more like the [Arcane Saboteur]? Or something in between? A morbid part of him wanted to see it.

"Maybe I really have gone insane." Pop.

"Oh wait, I'm still resonating with the [Arcane Saboteur], whoops." Nah, I'm not crazy.