Sweat poured from Lloyd’s forehead as he tried to fight off the shivers overrunning his body. Lloyd felt like he had inexplicably become extremely ill, and he didn’t know what to do. Ever since he arrived on the island, Lloyd hadn’t become ill despite the abysmal conditions he’d been in at times, and now that he was sick, he didn’t know how to react.

  It felt as if he was about to throw up his insides, like his body was suddenly deathly allergic to itself. Not wanting to risk being exposed to the elements in such a precarious state, Lloyd was rushing back to the workshop, constantly using enchantments to speed up the journey.

  Ferns rushed past as Lloyd stumbled across the forest at breakneck speeds, his body shaking with violent tremors from an unknown source. Gripping his stomach as he slipped on a log, Lloyd pushed himself up from the mud that was beginning to form all around him as rain began to leak through the forest canopy.

  Ignoring the thick layer of black mud coating his face, Lloyd tried to keep up the pace, gasping for air with each step as his throat threatened to suffocate him. His whole body dripping with sweat, Lloyd burst into his workshop like a home invader as he tried to figure out what to do.

  He turned to the most obvious solution and began circulating mana through his veins in a hope that it would cure his ailment. Mana quickly infiltrated his bloodstream, healing all traces of external injuries but making his internal situation worse.

  Lloyd collapsed on the ground in agony as he gasped for air only to inhale nothing, his body feeling as if it were simultaneously freezing and on fire at the same time. As he lay there motionless below the hides of countless beasts on the ceiling, Lloyd wondered if this was it, was this where his story ended?

  No.

  He wouldn’t die here, to some unknown factor without doing anything to stop it, he would survive. Lloyds body lit up with energy as supercharge ran rampant throughout, he felt more powerful than ever before and slowly began rising to his feet.

  As he got to his knees, Lloyd felt something within him begin to expand before he suddenly fell back down, to the ground coughing up thick black blood across the floor. All the power that had filled his being was sapped away as he lost control of his body, everything shutting down as he entered a state of paralysis.

  The immutable will within him began to wither and die, his determination to overcome this replaced with existential dread as he stared into the puddle of blood in front of him. His mind swirled with thoughts of his inadequacy as he began to wonder what he had done wrong.

  Countless situations flashed before his eyes as he felt his body shutting down, and in not a single one could he begin to comprehend what was happening. Lloyd’s vision started to spin as he began to feel the effects of oxygen loss, until a strangely familiar sight popped up in front of him.

  Floating in front of him Lloyd had his eyes locked onto the skill selection he hadn’t had the chance to look at, and with his current situation, he didn’t have time now either. Lloyd quickly tried to close the screen and get back to his current predicament, but in a twist of events Lloyd was yet to go through he was unable to do so.

  With confusion evident on his face, Lloyd tried again but was unable to close the screen, clearly this was intentional on the systems behalf, so he figured he best take the hint. Lloyd was far from being in a proper state of mind for such a decision, but he felt wise enough to make a choice.

  Out of the five options he was faced with Lloyd saw at least three good candidates, but one of them was a clear standout, which he couldn’t pass up.

  [Plasm beam (Uncommon)] – Unleash a beam of pure plasma upon your foes grinding them to dust before the destructive storm bearing down on them. Shoot out a condensed beam of plasma towards your enemies burning through even the hardest materials with ease. You are unyielding, unstoppable, strike them down with ease, let none survive the storm.

  Lloyd blinked slowly as he read over the new skill, another powerful uncommon by the sounds of it, and he had even picked it over a rare. Not that that was saying much with how badly aligned with his fighting style the rare skill had been, some bullshit about building up electric energy by punching the monster.

  As he skimmed his eyes across the description for a third time, Lloyd began to start misreading words as they warped into a swirling mess before his delirious eyes. As he tried to mumble something about going blind his vision started swimming with strange shapes pulsing between vibrant colours and pure black.

  Lloyd tried and failed to outstretch his arms in panic, before his vision finally gave out and he lost track of his senses. All feeling left his body and Lloyd even failed to process thoughts as his mind was consumed by existential blackness.

  The sense of purest nothingness was something Lloyd was unable to describe as the act of experiencing it was in of itself the act of experiencing nothing to the point he didn’t even know it was happening, he just was. His body lay unmoving, unfeeling, purely unaware, splayed across the floor of the cavern, until it ceased to be.

  His body was gone, his mind ceased to operate and all traces of him were removed from their place on the ground. Lloyd had simply vanished along with his knowledge of his own existence, until he wasn’t.

  Deep within a void of reality that wasn’t quite real yet was far from fabrication, a singular seed of his existence hatched within the nothingness, blooming outwards across the false reality. It formed his body, his soul, his mind and his sense of being before collapsing in on itself, leaving only the flower it had bloomed behind.

  Lloyd awoke with ragged breaths, taking in the air he so desperately missed as he began to process what was happening. Somehow, he was now upright and clean from the mud and filth that had covered him just moments before, and he couldn’t grasp how that could be.

  Looking around, Lloyds eyes opened wide as comprehension took hold in his mind, he knew this place, he had been here before. Floating in a sea of endless black painted with the colours of the cosmos, Lloyd was trapped in a vastness so large he couldn’t tell if he was moving or not, but something was different.

  It wasn’t here, the white table was missing, along with its occupant. Lloyd looked around hopelessly, desperately trying to find the system in search of an explanation, but it wasn’t here, Lloyd was all alone.

  He fell to his knees in confusion and despair, slamming his fists into the indestructible nothingness he stood upon, desperate for the answers he lacked. As blood began to flow from his knuckles, Lloyd watched in bewilderment as the wounds instantly closed, far faster than was possible even with his huge vitality pool.

  Lloyd sat on the ground staring in confusion as he tried to understand what was happening when a visceral numbness began spreading through his body, followed by a tingling sensation that forced him to his feet. Looking down at his legs where the feeling was strongest, Lloyd stared in mute horror as his leg started to disappear.

  It was as if his legs were turning to dust blowing away in the cosmic wind, and it was spreading, a creeping decay was spreading all through his body. He tried to move, he tried to scream, he tried desperately to comprehend what was happening, but none of it stopped the wave of disintegration climbing across his body.

  The slow agonising process refused to slow, and as it began to eat apart his neck Lloyd had already accepted his fate, there was simply nothing he could do. He already knew that determination alone couldn’t get him out of this situation, and when faced with such overwhelming odds it was hard to feel any to begin with.

  The numbness of oblivion kept on spreading, slowly consuming him until the last atom was blown away into the eternal void before him. And yet, he was still there, Lloyd hadn’t died despite being destroyed down to the last electron.

  Opening his metaphorical eyes and looking down at the empty space where his body should have been, felt hope creep back into him, only to be replaced with confusion. Something was happening, a thin, dark blue layer of what he could only describe as stardust was coalescing below him, gathering into a strange phantasmal form.

  Specs of light danced within the apparition as it rapidly took shape, his shape, forming a ghostly body of light. As the construct came to finality Lloyd felt a strange feeling return, the feeling of control as he was able to manipulate his body again after the agonising hours of restriction as he rotted before his own eyes.

  Despite his ability to move returning, Lloyd was unable to pay it any attention as he looked down at his body. Deep within the phantasmal shape Lloyd could see something, lightning coursing through his body, everywhere and nowhere all at once, parallel to his existence.

  Lloyd opened and closed his mouth over and over again, trying to put his thoughts to words but ultimately falling short. That was until his vision was overtaken by something else, a prompt that he wasn’t sure how to react to.

  F-Grade completed

  Evolution requirements met

  Evolve?

  Yes/No

  What was this about? And what did it mean by an evolution? For a minute Lloyd thought he was becoming delirious again and seeing things, but that wasn’t the case, this was real.

  Seeing no reason to refuse this ‘evolution’ Lloyd hesitantly selected yes, rubbing his phantasmal hands together in nervousness. A sudden jolt shot up Lloyd’s spine as he felt the tingling sensation return, accompanied by particles of dust coalescing around his ghostly body forming what he now realised was his boot.

  Once again, Lloyd was unable to move as this happened only able to sit frozen as a silent observer as his body was rebuilt before his eyes. As he watched, Lloyd furrowed his brow in confusion, something was clearly different, his body wasn’t the same as before.

  Lloyd’s body was coming back differently, the first thing he noticed was that he was taller by at least a few inches. Before Lloyd had been about average height, but now he was confidently taller than the average person by a fair margin.

  The next thing Lloyd noticed was how his musculature looked, it was much more defined than before. After the extremely demanding tasks Lloyd performed frequently on the island, he was naturally in much better shape than most people, but suddenly everything seemed clearer. It was like all the excess fat was taken away to leave only what was important for him to function.

  When the particles finally covered his head and completed him, Lloyd looked at himself, suddenly realising the immensity of the changes. This so-called evolution had improved him in all the ways he deemed important, and felt much more powerful already, but yet this wasn’t all.

  Lloyd sat down on the invisible ground, starring into space as vibrant nebulas burned an awe-inspiring purple in the background, but he was preoccupied with the prompts the system bombarded him with.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  E-Grade evolution complete

  Evolve class? Yes/No

  Evolve profession? Yes/No

  He had considered the changes to his body to be the extent of this evolution, but apparently that was just the half of it. As he considered which option to pick, Lloyd considered what this would entail. How would his class be improved? It couldn’t really be done in the same manner that his body had changed, so how would it?

  With his mind drawing a blank on how this would turn out, Lloyd accepted the class prompt to see what would happen.

  Plasma archer – Melee is a possibility, but not one that interests you, strike down your enemies with lightning filled projectiles from afar, not giving them a chance to reach you. Stats per level +8 strength, +20 agility, +10 endurance, +5 toughness, +12 vitality, +15 perception, +20 intelligence, +10 wisdom, +8 willpower, +10 free points

  Infusionist – Destructive energy burns within you, compelling you to push forward as you burn that same energy into the minds of your foes, grinding them to ash with your bare hands. Stats per level +15 strength, +15 agility, +15 endurance, +20 toughness, +12 vitality, +5 perception, +20 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +5 willpower, +10 free points

  Lightning born – Lightning flows through your veins, you are lightning, and lighting is destruction. Strike down on your foes with the power of the heavens. Let none survive the storm. Stats per level +10 strength, +15 agility, +8 endurance, +5 toughness, +10 vitality, +10 perception, +35 intelligence, +12 wisdom, +10 willpower, +10 free points

  To say Lloyd’s jaw dropped was an understatement, his chin may as well be six feet under the way he was gawking at the screen in front of him. Three class choices, all of them giving at least four times as many stat points as his lightning mage class.

  It might not be the five choices he was used to when selecting skills, but he could not care less right now. Each and every one of these classes was insurmountably better than his current one in every aspect, no matter what he chose he would be unimaginably more powerful than before.

  Now, the question was, which one was best? All of them were absolutely insane, incomparable to the class choices he got at the start of the integration, but one could still be better than the others.

  With no rarities to guide him, Lloyd had to go in depth, and just like he did with skills, he started at the top and worked his way down. To start, plasma archer, it sounded good on paper, a powerful class that would best suit the ranged approach Lloyd preferred but then came the implications.

  Lloyd was worried that the archer part of the class would influence his skill choices, giving him options that were designed to be used with bows and arrows, something he didn’t want to deal with under any circumstances. Now, this was just speculation, and the archer part might have been a figure of speech, but Lloyd wasn’t keen on taking that risk.

  For his second choice, Lloyd saw the opposite problem, infusionist was as expected all about infusing your enemies with hostile energy, something that was impossible from a distance. The class was certainly more focused on the physical side of the stat page than the other two, but that wasn’t enough to entice Lloyd into the melee.

  It certainly wasn’t a bad choice, and he was sure supercharge would do wonders against his foes when used in such a manner, but he just didn’t want to do that. Lloyd had based his entire fighting style on keeping his foe at a distance, only entering melee when he had a clear advantage or no other choice.

  Even when Lloyd did go into melee, he was using one of the most long-ranged melee weapons available. His halberd was easily longer than he was, and most of the time he could still keep a meter or so between himself and the enemy at all times.

  Because of all these different elements, Lloyd was seriously apprehensive in concern to this class, as it was almost an antithesis to his fighting style. Honestly, Lloyd was surprised it was even on offer because of how different it was to his methods of fighting.

  It was not a hard decision for Lloyd to discard infusionist from his possible class choices, as it was possibly the worst match he could have been given in terms of class. So, now Lloyd was left with a tentative possibility of plasma archer and one class remaining to be evaluated, Lloyd was one step closer to completing his class evolution.

  Moving onto the final class, Lloyd was both unsure what to think but also very interested by its cryptic description. The class’s description was very much a whole bunch of flavour text and hyperbole, but it still seemed very interesting.

  Not to mention, it had the most appealing stat spread by far, lightning born was purely focused on the mental stats, having only five to twelve in most stats but a whopping thirty-five in intelligence. That was seven times more than his current intelligence gain, and with the overall stat count being five times his current gain, that made it was proportionally better by around thirty percent.

  With the class hyper specialising on his ideal stats, Lloyd was very interested in this option especially because of a little detail that was sticking out to him. Entangled in the flavour text Lloyd spotted it once again, let none survive the storm, it was always there when he unlocked a powerful skill, or made a particularly strong item, and now it had shown its face once again.

  As if the amazing stats hadn’t been reason enough, Lloyd felt this was intentional, almost like a sign telling him to pick it. Sitting among the ethereal cosmic clouds, Lloyd’s mind was rushing as he considered whether or not he should trust this ubiquitous motif.

  On the one hand, it was a common sign that something was going to be good, but at the same time, it was a pretty morbid saying. It was like a promise that everything he encountered would be killed by his lightning, something he wasn’t sure how to feel about.

  After a long while of deliberation, Lloyd made up his mind and let the promise of power overcome his discomfort with the motif. Immediately, Lloyd felt excitement fill his body as he imagined how big of a change the new class would bring.

  With his imagination running wild, Lloyd almost forgot that this wasn’t it, there was still more to come. Eager to see what would await him in his profession evolution, Lloyd opened the prompts screen with haste.

  Not wasting any time Lloyd immediately dove into the profession selection and began reading.

  Rune brand – Your runes invoke truth in the things you make, bring meaning from your works and reveal the mysteries within by way of your inscriptions. Leave your mark on your every work, staining your crafts with truth and power. Stats per level +8 strength, +15 endurance, +20 toughness, +15 vitality, +25 perception, +15 intelligence, +12 wisdom, +10 free points

  Monstrous craftsman – Monsters bar every step of your journey, and as you bring them down, they only serve to push you higher, their bodies becoming fuel for your path as you incorporate them into both your defence and offence. Stats per level +10 strength, +5 agility, +15 endurance, +12 toughness, +15 vitality, +20 perception, +15 intelligence, +12 wisdom, +8 willpower, +10 free points

  Bestial weaponsmith – Tear down your enemies without mercy, show now weakness as you expose theirs before making it one of your strengths. Your enemies become their own bane, their materials going into your arsenal as you fight progressively stronger foes. Stats per level +12 strength, +5 agility, +18 endurance, +15 toughness, +16 vitality, +15 perception, +10 intelligence, +10 wisdom, +8 willpower, +10 free points

  Once again, Lloyd was very interested, all of them had great stat distributions, shoring up his physical stats whilst also giving him some useful mental ones, something his current profession lacked. Asides from giving him some more mana utility, Lloyd had the added benefit of getting to choose his profession, as he hadn’t gotten a choice in the matter this time, whereas he’d just been given one back in the guildhall.

  Readying himself for the difficult selection process, Lloyd went further in depth when reading through the descriptions. Starting at the top as per usual, Lloyd found the very enticing option of rune brand, it was a profession focused mainly on the engraving process, one which added a lot to his works.

  With how much this part of the process influenced how his crafts turned out, a class that specialised in it did seem like a good option, and it was definitely a good choice. If he found a way to make engraving more effective, like he had for the bonding agent with herbs, this would be amazing.

  Unfortunately, Lloyd was yet to discover a method that could do this, and that did effect how he viewed it, as it could only help so much for the time being. With a clear downside to its efficacy in of Lloyds inability to properly utilise it, he was a bit annoyed, as it took away from a very interesting profession.

  He did have to remember, this was only a temporary issue, Lloyd was certain that there was a way and he did have skill that served as a gateway to this idea. Adaptable affinities would gradually increase how well his engravings worked the more he did them, and although he was yet to see any meaningful growth, Lloyd could see the potential growing.

  At this point Lloyd had began to get a grasp of the timeframes the tutorial was operating on, and the few weeks he’d had the skill for was nothing. It would likely be years before Lloyd saw any meaningful growth in regard to the adaptable affinities’ skill, but the difference it would be making by then would be immense.

  If Lloyd could use this skill and potentially improve it or find skills and techniques that synergised with it, Lloyd would find much more success with this profession. Anyway, Lloyd had spent long enough on rune brand, and he needed to compare it with the others before he made any important decisions.

  For his second option, Lloyd had the choice of monstrous craftsman, it was a simple profession, effectively a sequel to his current class. The main differences were just that it specced into mental stats as well as physical ones, and that it called the creatures monsters instead of beasts.

  This matter of wording was likely just referring to the ramp up in power Lloyd was seeing as the foes he faced became more powerful. Although Lloyd did see the description as an apt one, as it was hard to think of the high levelled creatures he fought as anything but monsters at this point.

  With the profession being so close to the one he was using now, Lloyd didn’t have many other thoughts on the matter so decided to move onto the next one for the time being. For his third and final option, Lloyd was met with bestial weaponsmith the profession Lloyd was most surprised to see available to him.

  When he though about it, it only got stranger, as Lloyd had only made two weapons so far, three if you counted the spear from the first day, which was barely anything to the twelve or so armour pieces he had made. It was honestly insane that he had actually gotten this from just two weapon crafts, he would have expected almost any other element of the process to be personified before this one, but here it was.

  Looking closer, Lloyd had to say it seemed a lot more physically based than the others in terms of stats, which was interesting, but that didn’t outweigh the main caveat. It only focused on weapons, as Lloyd had already explored, he made a lot less weaponry than he did armour, and he was taking that into consideration for this decision.

  Lloyd didn’t want to specialise in something that was such a minor part of his profession, so Lloyd eventually decided that this one wasn’t for him. With one option removed from his choice pool, Lloyd was left with two professions to choose from, both of which he liked.

  Option one, rune brand, a profession that specialised in engraving and runes in general, something that could bode well for him if he managed to better utilise adaptable affinities. On the other hand, Lloyd had monstrous craftsman, a direct upgrade to his current class that was just better all around, serving as a jack of all trades with no real specialties.

  The rune brand seemed like a better choice, it gave him something to specialise in whilst maintaining the ability to work on armour. Well, it sounded better at first. First and foremost, Lloyd made armour, the inscriptions and runes were just a means to empower it, the same way bonding agents were.

  Lloyd had decided to work towards a profession related to armoury because it was what he was good at. He had a natural talent when it came to making armour from beast hides, and he had moved to take full advantage of that all the way back in the guild hall.

  The idea of him abandoning such a well-fitting profession archetype in order to better a single part of the process started to sound dumber each time the thought about it. With this in the back of his mind, Lloyd made a decision and chose monstrous craftsman, continuing down the path he’d already began laying.

  Disregarding the profession that had almost led him astray, Lloyd selected monstrous craftsman, confirming what he had already set out to do. As he felt a small ripple in his mind from his profession being replaced, Lloyd opened his status to see what had changed.

  status

  Name: Lloyd Tethys

  Race: Human (E) – lvl 25

  Class: lightning born – lvl 25

  Profession: monstrous craftsman – lvl 25

  Health points (HP) 647/655

  Mana points (MP) 1323/1495

  Stamina points (SP) 498/500

  Stats

  Strength – 293

  Agility – 147

  Endurance – 200

  Toughness – 179

  Vitality – 262

  Perception – 203

  Intelligence – 299

  Wisdom – 235

  Willpower – 174

  Free points – 0

  Lloyd scanned the stat page satisfied, noting that he hadn’t gotten the enhanced stats from his evolved class and profession yet, but quickly refocused on a second look. How much mana? Lloyd had long since figured out the formula between intelligence and mana, but something was off now, like really off.

  Without explanation the amount of mana per intelligence point had doubled, likely having something to do with his evolution, but it was still a surprise. As he went over his stat page again, Lloyd began getting excited, imagining what he could do with such a large mana pool.

  Lloyd laid down on his back, gazing into the vast cosmic skies as they cast deep purple shadows across the void. As he sat there, he began to imagine what came next, letting go of his mind as he stared into the heavens.

  —————--

  Peering across the infinite void, a silent observer gazed upon the young human suspended in evolution. It had reached the first milestone already? Interesting, though not entirely unexpected.