AN: While organizing this new stat sheet, I saw an inconsistency so thought I'd address it: apparently I forgot that there's a 25 level threshold for evolutions and then leveled up [Mana Convergence] above that. That "cap" is the same for skills even after evolution and I'd forgotten that. This level cap for skills changes at the highest tiers of power. Once an individual reaches Rank 6, their skill caps are completely removed. Because there are no traditional skill evolutions after Rank 5, a Rank 6 individual can continue to level up their skills well beyond the standard 25-level limit.
But Theodore is not Rank 6. Regardless, I've fixed it in the previous chapters where the skill was mentioned and added a small change that the skill evolved from [Mana Convergence] to [Convergence].
Also, I decided to restructure the status a little cause it was getting a little bloated in the old format.
Lastly, I was on a break to recharge, though I really need to get better at communicating everything beforehand.
But effective immediately, I will be returning to 5 chapters a week schedule, Monday to Friday. With the weekends off.
Thanks for being so awesome.
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B3 | Chapter 74 - Advancing in Rank?
Given how much his skills had leveled up recently, Theodore hadn't been keeping track of them much, but he decided it might be time to do so. Most of his skills had leveled up quite a lot.
Name: Theodore LockheartRace: Human —Rank: E —Level: 10 -> 21
Class: Runic Mage —Rank: Apprentice —Level: 20 -> 24
Skills:Basic Magic Script — Level 15Elemental Mastery — Level 10 -> 16Myriad Tongue — Level 1Basic Rune Creation — Level 22Swordsmanship (Adept) — Level 17Arcane Sight — Level 14 -> 16True Perception — Level 0Psionic Resistance — Level 23Heal — Level 17 -> 24Mana Bolt — Level 16 -> 20Basic Armament — Level 11 -> 17Mana Reinforcement — Level 20 -> 24Mana Manipulation — Level 8 -> 10Rune Inscription — Level 11Convergence — Level 1 -> 7Slime Manipulation — Level 5 -> 6Cloning — Level 13 -> 14Severing Aura — Level 22 -> 23Mind Division — Level 1 -> 3Basic Dimensional Magic — Level 7 -> 8
Spells: [Thermal Lance], [Thermal Release], [Blink], [Dimensional Siphon], [Eclipse], [Kaleidoscope]
Innate Abilities: Sever
Familiar: Opie (Soul Viper) — Level 11 -> 20
Titles: The Unveiled, Aether Forged, Arachnid Bane, Light Touched
Not only his skills had leveled up, but his Class and Race had leveled up as well. Soon he'd be able to advance his Class to the next Rank. Though he had been holding off on his Race for now. He wasn't quite sure if the imbalance would hit him much, though he wanted to experiment.
According to what he knew, he could theoretically level up his Race as much as he wanted. The only restriction was on Class. One could not advance Class to the next Rank unless one's Race was the same Rank the Class was advancing to, or higher.
Theodore Rank E in Race, but an Apprentice in Class. He could advance his Class to the next Rank, and that was what he'd been trying to do back in Holden. With new projects and work in general, though the progress had been slow.
That had changed his mindset a little: he should level up his Race more. After all, there shouldn't be an issue for him. Imbalance was a real issue for most people, but Theodore was strong enough to handle Seraphina's training, so that much shouldn't hurt him.
Thus, that was what he was going to do. Thinking about Julius, he was confident to win, but that would have him revealing more of his skills and spells than he'd like to reveal.
He'd already revealed a lot.
But he could just advance his Race's Rank and be stronger for it. So that was what he was doing. Currently, he was busy in the Hunting Grounds grinding as many levels as possible. And it was working. With his powerful skills, the Hunting Grounds wasn't a challenge anymore.
Unless he got into fights with Rank 5s that is.
He just had to turn to slime every time that happened, because no way in hell was he taking that fight as a measly Rank 2.
And he was Rank 2 even if he could fight Rank 4 or Rank 5 individuals.
To be considered a "full" Rank, an individual generally needed both their Race and Class to have reached that equivalent tier. For example, a true Rank 2 human was someone who has reached both Apprentice in their Class and F-Rank in their Race.
But given that he was an E-Rank in his Race, the imbalance meant that he was practically a Rank 3. Thus it wasn't much difficult to hit one Rank above him easily and defeat Rank 4 opponents. Heck he could even stand his own against Rank 5s, but to truly win he needed to reach Rank 4 in Race so he could comfortably match Rank 5s.
Though he'd heard how the difference between Rank 5 and 6 was a qualitative one, so he wasn't sure how he'd fare against a Rank 6 individual.
His Race and Class were already imbalanced, further skewed by his skills, and he was going to increase that gap.
Regardless, the Hunting Grounds was like a farm, and with Opie by his side, they were tearing through monsters. Throughout his grinding he charged up mana into an attack he kept preparing through [Mind Division]. Be it thermal energy or kinetic energy, mana or aura: it was all in there compressed to the point of being unstable.
His control over the energy was slipping too, which was a first.
He had a hard time containing that energy, and it was a strange experience. But it was an interesting one too. And once he felt like it was at the breaking point he found a nest of beasts, tore through the air, stopped in the sky, and looked at the forest spreading beneath him.
The massive hole in the ground was honestly the grossest thing he had ever seen in his life. It was like the earth had a giant, festering wound and it was just crawling with these weird, twitching legs that kept poking out from the shadows. The nest was huge and deep and it felt like it went down forever into the dark and he could hear this wet, clicking sound coming from the bottom that made his skin crawl in disgust.
It was a sound akin to scraping nails on a blackboard and it grated on his nerves. It was a total nightmare of a place and the air coming out of it was humid and disgusting and he just knew there were hundreds of those beasts down there waiting to eat anything that fell in.
And Theodore was hovering right above it there in the sky, his arms shaking because the ball of energy he was holding was getting way too heavy and it was vibrating with so much power that it felt like his skin was going to peel off.
Theodore had been cramming mana and aura and kinetic energy into this thing for what felt like hours using [Mind Division] to keep the whole mess from blowing up in his face and it was honestly a miracle he hadn't lost a limb yet.
The ball of doom version 2.0 was glowing with this unstable white light. He took a deep breath and felt the strain in his chest and then he just let the thing drop towards that gaping hole in the dirt.
But then he decided it needed a little something extra to really make it pop and so he reached for it and flooded the ball with as much of his purple fire as he could handle. Then, he [Blinked] to the distance just in case things went wrong.
The white light turned into this nasty, bruised violet color and the sphere started to bulge and warp like it was a living thing that wanted to scream and he knew it was at the absolute breaking point.
It fell fast and it looked like a falling star disappearing into the dark of the nest. For a second there was just total silence. He held his breath and watched the mouth of the cave. Did it fail—
The ground just seemed to suck inward like the earth was taking a huge gasp of air. That was the implosion and it was weirdly quiet but then a second later the entire forest started to shake and a massive pillar of purple flames came roaring out of the hole like a volcano had just been born right under his feet. A moment later the sound hit and trees nearby flattened against the ground instantly.
The sound was deafening.
It was this deep, guttural roar that vibrated in the bones. Chunks of rock and scorched monster parts flew everywhere and the heat was so intense he had to absorb it to protect himself even though he was way up in the air.
The purple fire ravaged through the underground tunnels and the ground glowed through the cracks as the energy just kept going and going and it didn't seem to want to stop. Theodore was actually surprised at how long the destruction lasted because he could hear the sounds of collapsing stone and the muffled shrieks of hundreds of monsters being turned into ash.
He just hovered there in the air and blinked a few times because he hadn't expected the purple fire to react that way with the compressed kinetic and thermal energy. It was honestly a bit terrifying to see what he'd actually created.
The fire eventually started to die down. The smoke was thick and black and it filled the sky with this soot that quickly started to cover him in it. But he didn't care because his vision was focused on the notifications.
They were stacking up but he saw the ones from earlier today when he was just grinding the smaller stuff leading into the later big ones at the bottom that would've taken a long time to grind as they were the last few levels.
Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 21 > Lvl 22!
Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 22 > Lvl 23!
Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 23 > Lvl 24!
Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 24 > Lvl 25!
Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 25 > Lvl MAX!
Your race, [Human(E)], has evolved! – E > D!
Staring at that last line he felt this weird surge of heat go through his entire body. It felt like his blood was turning into liquid gold for a second and his muscles felt tighter and stronger. His senses just dialed up to eleven as well.
He was a Rank D human now and he also immediately noticed the imbalance people kept talking about.
…But he could handle it.
He didn't if it was just him but it seemed way too easy to handle.
He felt this huge grin spreading across his face. Okay, wow, he really didn't think that would be that effective and he felt like he could probably take on the whole world right then because the power boost was just insane. But then the adrenaline wore off and he calmed down, feeling lighter. And the world felt normal again.
Suddenly, everything was still. It was a weird kind of stillness that felt… wrong. And then a massive, earth-shaking screech that sounded like metal being ground against metal coming from deep inside the forest.
He turned his head toward the sound just in time for the ground to just explode upward toward him. Flying away, dodging, he kept his eyes down there as dirt and trees went flying into the air like they were toys. A huge and disgusting centipede drilled out of the earth and towered over him. It had hundreds of legs that were sharp like scythes and they were clicking against each other as it leveled its "gaze" onto him.
He didn't even know if it had eyes but he felt it looking at him and then this mountain of pressure just slammed down on his shoulders just as [Mind Division] went into overdrive, allowing him a moment to think in a slowed state of time.
He almost fell out of the sky. It was like the air had turned into stone.
He could barely breathe because the intent coming off this thing was so heavy and predatory that he paled, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He realized right then that this was a seriously strong beast and it was way beyond anything he had fought today or could fight.
Maybe this thing was Rank 5 or even higher because the sheer presence of it was making him second guess doing what he'd done. But then again, he couldn't change what he'd done.
He felt like an ant standing in front of a boot.
Did his big explosion wake up the boss of the entire area? Goddamnit. It was definitely not happy about its house being turned into a purple furnace.
Blinking, he didn't even stop to think about being brave or trying out his new Rank D powers because he knew he was outclassed and he just wanted to be anywhere else but here. He used [Blink] and reappeared a hundred feet away and then he just turned and started running away as fast as his mana would carry him.
He didn't look back but he could hear the ground shattering behind him as the massive bug started to chase him.
Fuck.
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