Ding!
[You have slain ‘Guardian Ape lv250’, gained 18,400,000 EXP!]
[+7,000,000 Execution Bonus!]
And so in total… Stark got around 25,400,000 experience points from this battle, a number so big that Stark couldn’t even believe it at first, looking at the panel for more than a minute before finally snapping back to reality.
“Impressive…”
“I liked it.”
“Pfft…”
All the apostles spoke, giving their own opinions: some were mad, others excited for their upcoming battle.
But… there was no denying that ALL of them were surprised though.
Stark looked up, and he saw that the three [Crimson Moons] above were staring at him, their eyes widened in shock by what the human had just done: he had just defeated an immortal being, or at least a semi-immortal.
Many among them considered themselves as immortals, especially those in the third line, and so seeing that another monster with infinite HP could be defeated so easily by simply using your head was terrifying: because doesn’t that mean that there is also a way to defeat them if Stark found the guardian ape’s weakness in less than two minutes?
“I’m out of here.”
“See ya…”
“Need better skills…”
And so gradually, one by one, each of them left, and by the end of it all, the only one left was the [Godless Demon], who was still looking at Stark, the only one not surprised by this entire ordeal in fact.
“Hm…” he thought for a few seconds, “Very well, we’ll play for a bit longer, chosen one.”
~FWISH~
And so he disappeared too, leaving behind only darkness.
“The next time we play is when you die, asshole,” Stark replied while smirking.
Because even though he went through a lot, even though he knew even more was coming, he still didn’t despair.
If the world, if all these monsters were against him, then by simply using his strength he would crush them all, and build his own safe place.
Stark hadn’t had the opportunity to use [Banish] since he could definitely sense that the ape’s aura would be too much for the skill, meaning that there a chance he would lose.
He also didn’t have the chance to use [EGO] either.
[EGO Meter: 90/100]
Though that was because the EGO meter wasn’t full.
“Does the meter stay in place even if I don’t do anything?” he asked.
[Yes, it stays at 90 for an indefinite amount of time, only resetting when you use it.]
This was great news.
But now… Stark needed to move to the real stuff: the reward of all his struggles.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Your level has increased to level 72, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Your level has increased to level 73, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
.
.
[Your level has increased to level 77, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats]
[Experience: 4,029,300/4,400,000]
[Skill Points: 24 Available!]
Yet again, not that it was surprising, the amount of skill points per level increased to four instead of three once he passed the level 75 threshold.
For the first time ever though, Stark wasn’t given any skill for his struggles, since, you know, it was one skill every 10 level now.
He did receive other panels, though.
Ding!
[Level 75 reached, you can now break through to ‘Gold-Tier’ to increase your skill level limit!]
Very good, this meant he would yet again increase in rank, something needed if he wanted to be able to assign his skill points more efficiently and thus increase his important skills to fight the apostles and domination trial.
[Level 75 reached: you can now spin the class wheel again!]
And of course, the most important perk of all was also there.
But first, he wanted to use his skills points.
Yes, you shouldn’t usually do this when you were bounded to get a new skill from your next class or even the fact that the limit would increase, but right now this was only 24 skill points, meaning that it wasn’t much.
‘Maybe I should think of buying some skill stones…’ they are used to increase your skill limit without leveling up.
And now you might say: pfft~, then it just means that people can use them infinitely to level up over and over, becoming overpowered.
But there are two penalties when doing that a lot: first of all you wouldn’t be used to all your skills, meaning that you wouldn’t be ready for battle in comparison to someone who repeatedly used the skills for months.
And second… every [Skill Stone], even those at the highest of quality, have a small chance to break and cause a skill to go back to level 1, resetting all its perks, so yeah.
In the end, it didn’t matter, though, and so Stark checked out his skill list to decide.
[Skills:] Spatial Inventory; Class Wheel; Perception; Domination lv25; Focus lv25; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv25; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv5; Heaven’s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Manipulation lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv25; Wielding Cross lv10; Crimson Healing lv1; The Void; Banish
So many possibilities, yet so little skill points to distribute.
“Alright,” he nodded.
Ding! Ding!
[You have upgraded ‘Aura Smash’ to level 25!]
[You have upgraded ‘Crimson Spears’ to level 10!]
[You have upgraded ‘Crimson Ball Transmission’ to level 5!]
He decided to use the skills he used the most, as what was the point of leveling up those that he hadn’t used at all?
To be honest, Stark already a few skills that he now called the “BIG ONES”: they were the skills that he NEEDED to upgrade and use at every rift, no matter what.
And as you might already guess, they were the following: Domination and Focus, though these are passive, Aura Smash, Clone Frenzy, Invincible Dodge, Crimson Spears, Crimson Ball Transmission, Crimson Purification and Wielding Cross.
These were the skills he would always use in rifts, or the “BIG ONES” in that regard.
‘New perks,’ Stark excitedly thought as he looked at the panels that appeared before him.
…
[Skill: Crimson Spears lv10]
[New Perk: Spear Block]
[Description: Essentially, these spears could only be used as attacks and projectiles to enemies, dealing good and piercing damage to them, but now, you can order up to three spears to spin around, and with the right timing they can block one attack each, though remember that if the attack is too powerful, the spears will break and you will still be hit!]
…
‘Oh…’ so it served as some other kind of shield, interesting.
…
[Skill: Crimson Ball Transmission lv5]
[New Perk: More balls]
[Description: You get two crimson balls instead of one, that’s all, you can throw both at the same time, and when you snap your fingers think about the one you want to teleport at, making it easier to trick enemies.]
…
An even better perk!
He hadn’t believed it at first, but crimson ball transmission quickly became a favorite because of all its different usages, and getting another ball could only be good.
And so, Stark moved on to the final perk, the one he had been waiting for the most.
[You now have a choice, Host.]
Before him appeared the same panel that did when he upgraded [Crimson Purification], when he got the legendary perk that helped him, or when he got the choice for an [EPIC] perk for [Crimson Purification].
[Since you used 10 stat points on ‘Aura Smash’, you can choose to either: get two normal perks, or get an EPIC one!]
[So, which do you choose?]
And below it appeared two panels.
[Two normal perks] or [One EPIC Perk]
Stark understood how this system worked by now: one upgrade is equal to a normal perk, two upgrades at once was an epic perk and three was a legendary perk.
Was there the possibility to get a mythical or godly perk if he upgraded a skill from 1 to its max instantly, though?
“Epic,” he made his choice, since these perks were always so much better than normal ones.
…
[Skill: Aura Smash lv25]
[New Perk: Aura Storm (EPIC)]
[Description: The amount of crimson fists you can use went up to 5, and so now, by merging all 5 of them around you, you create a small storm of energy around you, which will pull in nearby enemies and slam them into the ground, dealing massive damage to them. The storm will also slow down enemies caught within it, making it easier for you to follow up with other attacks.]
…
“!!!!” Stark’s eyes actually widened.
This might not seem much, but if he could now summon five fists, and it took all five to cast [Aura Storm], then doesn’t that essentially mean that it’s a straight-up much better version than [Aura Smash Merge], which used up three fists to create a giant one?
“Oh well, that’s… great,” though this almost meant that he would need to master it, as trying to use it without trying could result in it exploding in his face.
And so, Stark finally moved on to the final and most important panel of all.
[Class Wheel available!]
“Class Wheel!” he mumbled, and the colorful wheel appeared before him.
“Alright, let’s do this,” it was time to get a new class, one he had been waiting for after realizing how powerful the merge between exorcist and domination was, and surely this class could only be a bonus to his stats and skills, even if he used it less, much like [Alchemist].
