Amber | Chapter 131. (Patreon)

Chapter 131.

Sorry for the delay, forgot to post it yesterday. Next chapter is about 2/3rds of the way written, so one of these days there'll be a double chapter day. Hopefully today.

Amber was still in a curtain of darkness. She was still in the immaterial void that was the Class Advancement room⁠. Or whatever it actually was. She didn’t have time to ponder about things, because right now she was screaming in pain. She could feel her body tearing apart, the feeling was similar to pulling a muscle but it was present on her entire body. 

And it was damn unbearable. 

She unleashed a guttural scream into the void as she stared at the first notification that came. 

[ You have gained the special class: Accursed Primordial Human ⁠— Cursed Berserker

Vitality +300

Strength +300

Dexterity +300

Endurance +300

Intelligence +300

Wisdom +300 

Natural recovery has increased by 300%.

Body enhancements are 300% more effective.

Wounds heal three times faster out of battle. ]

The body enhancement bonus hadn’t changed from the last class, however the attribute bonus was now almost five times higher than with Cursed Inexorable Berserker. And Amber could feel it, she could feel her core shifting and changing, she could feel her bones shattering and remaking themselves, and her muscles were tearing apart and reforming. 

She didn’t know why, for her stats weren’t changing, but something about her was changing. Something a lot more intrinsic to what she was. 

She screamed, hearing a horrid cracking coming from her being as she was confused. She wasn’t growing stronger, in fact; she couldn’t exactly sense what was changing about her. Nor could she even understand why. 

Did it have to do with the class? Accursed Primordial Human? 

It most definitely does. Amber gritted her teeth as the changes continued, there were cracks, sharp pains, and even she could’ve sworn she felt her core crumble into pieces before it regenerated. But soon enough, it finished and she was left panting into a sweating mess. Her brown hair was covering most of her vision. 

“What the fuck happened…” Amber asked the air, her breaths heavy. 

She took a look at her skills, given the amount of notification, and she noticed something that somewhat shocked her. 

Every single skill that had the word curse, got renamed to ‘accursed’, the only skills that survived the onslaught were her inexorable skills and Quick Dash, which went untouched by the change. She had noticed a few changes before the torturous process of her getting her class started, but she didn’t think it’d be everything. 

Amber took a look at some of her other skills. 

[New Core Skill! You have learned Accursed Reignition⁠ 4th Rank — level 7.

You’ve grown adept to inflicting curses upon your enemies. However, not every enemy bears their curses forever. Now, you can reignite said curses upon your target. This skill can be used every hour. The higher the skill level the lower its cooldown.

You may use Primordial Power to ignore the cooldown of this skill once, this includes the ranks of the skill. You may use Primordial Power or Mana thereafter to trigger the skill.

2nd Rank ⁠— Curses can now be reignited even if they are still present in the target, multiplying the amount of curses on the target by 2 times.

3rd Rank ⁠— Reignited curses come back with twice the intensity, if 2nd Rank is used this effect does not apply.

4th Rank ⁠— If the target is killed by the reignition, the same curses can be reignited on a different target. ] 

The skill remained the same, except for one thing and one thing only; she could now use Essence to forego the cooldown of her skill and its ranks. And since each rank ⁠— that could be activated ⁠— had its own cooldown, she could use Essence a lot. It also seemed that the skill had grown stronger in general. 

Amber took a look at a different skill and it had the same story. 

[New Core Skill! You have learned Accursed Recovery 5th Rank — level 1.

The curses fuel you. You regenerate stamina and health when affected by a curse. The higher the skill level the more effective the skill is.

You may use Primordial Power to ignore the cooldown of this skill once, this includes the ranks of the skill. You may use Primordial Power or Mana thereafter to trigger the skill.

2nd Rank ⁠— Thrice a day, the skill can enter overdrive, doubling its effect for 45 minutes.

3rd Rank ⁠— Curses that hit you will instantly heal you.

4th Rank ⁠— The closer to death you are the more effective the skill becomes.

5th Rank ⁠— Critical injuries are healed with three times the speed and limbs can be reattached with great ease. ]

And even, Quick Dash had been affected.

[Quick Dash 5th Rank — level 1.

Your prayers have been answered and you’ve obtained a proper dash skill after using your bash skill to dash. You may now use it wrongly and bash things instead. Gain a quick burst of speed upon use.

You may use Primordial Power to ignore the cooldown of this skill once, this includes the ranks of the skill. You may use Primordial Power or Mana thereafter to trigger the skill.

2nd Rank ⁠— At a moderate mana cost double the speed of the dash.

3rd Rank ⁠— At a considerable mana cost you may teleport the distance of the enhanced dash.

4th Rank ⁠— the teleport cooldown has been halved.

5th Rank ⁠— At the cost of doubling the mana consumption you may teleport a second time after the first teleport.] 

Every single one of her skills had been impacted by the change. It was a qualitative change in her skill set that interlinked every single class skill with Essence. Sure, there were no new skills, but every single skill had gotten a cooldown reset, which made her gulp. It was an insane change, better than what a new skill or two could have offered her. And a moment later, she sensed a new skill available to her within her core. Something she knew how to use. It was reminiscent of Aspect of Crimson and it was called. 

Accursed Knowledge. 

Not only did it allow her skills to be enhanced by Essence, within reason, but it also allowed for something more. Something a lot more important. 

Curses now directly interacted with Essence. 

It was a bit of a cryptic thing, but Amber understood what it meant because she was the one to receive the skill. And what it did, was nothing short of amazing. 

Since it would allow her to make curses with Essence, which meant⁠— creating new curses. And that prospect was absolutely terrifying. Amber found herself giddy on her spot, sweat covering her body and⁠— blood too. Yet she didn’t care. It was just amazing. 

“And this is just the first step to godhood?” 

She couldn’t believe it. At this point her Essence interacted with almost every single skill available to her, and this was just the beginning. It was even hard to comprehend to some extent, because if this was just the beginning, what other things would she get access to? What other things would she be able to do?          

It was something she didn’t have the answers to, but it was also something that made her feel a particular way about things. On one hand it was exciting, on the other hand it was daunting. After all, it just went to show how far away she was from the power gods like Ax’thra wielded. 

Even after so long, she was merely but a step in. That said, she was quite sure this was considered record time for the world. So she was proud of herself. Proud of what she had achieved. And admittedly, she had always been proud.

Amber smiled and closed her eyes, and a moment later, she was shaken awake. 

She stared at the bright sun and at Frei looking at her with wide eyes, and Amber blinked, utterly confused about the sudden shift.

“What?” 

Remmel was looking at her with curiosity while Aveline looked concerned, and Frei looked more relieved than anything as a sigh left her. 

“You really surprised me there, just look around,” Frei said, her eyes closing. 

Amber turned and saw blood. Blood everywhere. She paused, and saw a bloody trail from the carriage all the way to the outside. 

“You just started screaming…” Aveline quietly said. “We thought something bad happened during your advancement, since they normally take a couple of seconds, but you were non-responsive…”

Amber blinked. “Oh, huh.” 

She looked around, and she even saw pieces of her skin yet when she touched her own flesh it felt as tender as ever. Her hair too looked as if it had just been recently washed. Yet she saw clumps here and there. 

“Did my body fall apart or something?” 

“Sort of,” Frei said, shaking her head. “Though I did get a glimpse of your class so I wasn’t too worried.” 

Amber blinked, before frowning, wondering if something had gone wrong. 

“Is it Cursed Berserker now?”

“It was only for a fraction of a second,” Frei clarified. “Don’t worry about it.”

Amber relaxed at that and finally, Remmel grumbled, stomping on the ground to show his annoyance as he spat, “What kind of fucking Class Advancement makes your flesh melt, for fucks sake. At least act concerned.”

“A very good Class Advancement, of course,” Amber grinned at him, making him groan. 

Then Amber, finally decided that she didn’t actually want to explain herself ⁠— nor did she care to do so ⁠— so instead, she teleported to a lake that wasn’t too far away from her. Even though it was about two hundred meters away she had no trouble with sensing it, which was already a new change. 

She had a lot more important things in her mind after all. 

Amber immediately peered down the lake and stared down at herself. Part of her felt unsure if she was even still human, but looking down she felt reassured. Though she immediately paused. Surprise passed through her brain, before she chuckled. 

“Talk about a glow up.” 

Her skin was free of imperfections now, and her jawline looked slightly more defined in an elegant way. The same went for her eyes which seemed clearer, and her features were slightly more symmetrical though not reaching uncanny valley territory. 

“I’m definitely a lot more attractive now,” she said, grinning. 

What kind of woman didn’t like a makeover after all? In spite of how insane she was, she was still someone that liked looking good, though she quickly paused as she admired herself. Because one thing had also changed. A small frown settled on her now prettier face. 

“The scar on my neck is gone.”

She touched it, feeling it around⁠. Then, she turned to look at her body, removing her bloodied armor. All of the minor imperfections on her skin were gone, even the small scars she had gotten back on Earth from her random adventures were no longer present. 

And as she had noted before, her hair was silky as if it had just been washed, which she examined with curiosity. Finally, she met her own eyes and noticed something interesting. There was a glow to them, not figuratively but literally, even if it was hard to notice. 

She leaned closer to her reflection, almost sinking her nose into the water as she peered deep into her eyes. And indeed it was there. Deep within her pupil there was a blue glow, one that seemed to be pulsating. She paused at that. 

“Huh…” 

That was definitely the biggest change by far. And that was enough for her to take a further look at things, because she clearly had changed, and drastically so. 

Amber opened her status for the first time in a long while, and what she saw made her eyes go wide. 

[Name: Amber | Level: 203 | Title: Abyssal Lord 

Class: Accursed Primordial Human (Cursed Berserker) | Unspent Stat Points: 0

Race: Fledgling Primordial Human (Unranked)

Legacy Branch: Crimson Demonic Blood 

Stats: 

Vitality: 1693

Strength: 1566

Dexterity: 1546

Endurance: 925

Intelligence: 923

Wisdom: 1095

Free Core Skill Slots: 1 | Core Skills: 

[Accursed Reignition - 4th Rank Lvl. 7], [Quick Dash - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Accursed Creation - 4th Rank Lvl. 3], [Inexorable Momentum - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Inexorable Body - Lvl. 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Accursed Strength - 4th Rank Lvl. 3], [Accursed Recovery - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Accursed Battery - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Accursed Rage Synergy - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Inexorable Manipulation - 5th Rank Lvl. 1] 

Legacy Branch Skills:

[Crimson Fervor - 3rd Rank Lvl. 1], [Crimson Fuel - 3rd Rank Lvl. 1], [Crimson Venom. Lvl. 10], [Crimson Sense - 2nd Rank Lvl. 7], [Crimson Destruction. - 2nd Rank Lvl. 3], [Crimson Break. - 2nd Rank Lvl. 3], [Crimson Cry. Lvl. 1], [Blood Catalyst. Lvl. 1], [Demonic Frenzy. Lvl. 1]

General Skills: 

[Supernatural Nullification], [Abyssal Channel], [Appraisal. Lvl. 3], [Toxin Resistance ⁠- 4th Rank Lvl. 8], [Elemental Resistance - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Physical Resistance - Lvl. 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Magical Resistance - 5th Rank Lvl. 1], [Sharp Instincts - 4th Rank Lvl. 10], [Quick Recovery - 2nd Rank Lvl. 10].]  

“What the fuck…”

That was her first reaction, almost all her attributes were in the four digits now. And not only that, but she actually wasn’t even human, at least not fully. Hell, she didn’t even know that it was possible to change one’s race via advancements. It also seemed she had gotten an extra Core Skill slot, much to her shock. Which would come insanely useful for her new class skills. 

“Still, what does Unranked even mean?”

No, that didn’t matter right now. She didn’t care too much about learning whatever new thing the System had thrown at her, even if there were a lot of things about her advancement she didn’t understand. Nor did she care to explore her new Legacy Branch skills either. Because right now, all she did; all she felt like doing was marveling at her stats. And so she did, her heart rushing faster and faster by the moment. Her body felt renewed, and more importantly, she still felt like herself. Even though she had changed, she was still Amber. 

A small laugh left her, she just felt great. She felt happy. This time, she felt more than confident to face the Archmage, and she was quite sure that this time, he’d never be able to take her head. 

Amber leaned back and fell on the grass, uncaring for whatever delays to the journey she was causing. 

“Hopefully the path to godhood doesn’t mean I’ll become a lamp,” she said to herself. 

Even if it was a silly idea introduced by Liz it still made her a bit wary. Though maybe if that happened she’d still be able to go back to her original appearance? She didn’t see why that wouldn’t be the case⁠— given gods were all-mighty and all. So, in the end, that wasn’t even a worry. 

A moment later, Amber sensed a disturbance in the mana in the air itself, and she turned her head, seeing Frei teleport. Her elven companion had a weird expression. 

“You know, I never thought your advancement would be that good,” she said after a moment. “Was it a special advancement?”

“It was.” Amber nodded before smiling. “And I’m not even human anymore, isn’t that great?”

Frei’s eyes momentarily widened. “Wait what?” 

Amber laughed at that, but didn’t explain. It was something that she shouldn’t explain. Not to Frei who had an active vow towards the Arcane Council. Instead, she stood up and peered at Frei, who seemed taken aback. 

“What is it?”

“Which school of magic do you follow, Archmage Frei? The Analyst or the Instinctual?”

The member of the Arcane Council paused at her question, a mixture of shock and embarrassment passing through her face. 

“So you went to the magic academy…” 

“So?” Amber prodded.

“Analyst,” Frei said, after a sigh. “Do ya want me to teach ya or something?”

Amber grinned. “Yep, but there is something I need help with, given I didn’t get to memorize all the runes in existence and I still kinda suck at redacting them.” 

With her new body, surely the things that weren’t possible before would be possible. And she wanted to go all in with them. So, given she had one of the most prestigious minds in the world of magic by her side, there was no way she wouldn’t make use of that opportunity.

“You see, I need you to make a full schematic of runes for bodily enhancement.”

Frei frowned. “For your armor? You do know that it’ll be wiped as soon as you break it unless we change the base of the item right? Not only that but the efficiency of the transfer will be quite poor, it’s just going to be a waste of resources.”

“Not for my armor.” Amber shook her head. “I mean for my body, or more specifically for my bones, since my flesh is a bit too exposed.”

At that, the elf paused. “Your… bones?” 

“Well, I figure I should be resistant enough as a base material.” Amber shrugged. “Given my advancement and all, that said, there are a few changes you’ll need to make to the runes; or a few rules you’ll have to break.”

Amber smiled and Frei seemed a lot more taken aback. Which was odd to her, surely the idea of self mutilation for power wasn’t that strange to her, right? Frei had leveled up her resistances via asking others to hit her, so Amber didn’t see why it was that strange. 

“That’s… I don’t know if I recommend that…”

“Just help me with it, we’ll do it together,” Amber reassured. “I’ve been wanting to do it since I got the idea, so don’t worry.” 

She walked past the very awkward Frei, and pondered for a second and looked towards the elf, turning rather serious. 

“By the way, how do you think I’d do in a spar against you now?”

“A spar?” Frei frowned, thinking before closing her eyes. “It’d be a hard battle but I’d still win, that said there is no doubt in my mind that most level 300s would lose to you at this point.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right.” Frei sighed. “Which is abnormal to think about given every advancement makes one stronger and stronger. I hear that a level 350 stands absolutely no chance against someone that is level 400.”

Amber nodded at that. It certainly made sense. Each of her advancements were snowballing into each other, and so it only made sense that as one climbed the ladder the more qualitative they were. 

That said, her goals were far beyond level 400, or level 500, so she didn’t find the idea daunting at all. If anything, it just made her a lot more eager to push her limits and defy what is considered normal. 

That said, Amber had things to do. She was now a wanted criminal inside of the Sacred Forest, so first things first she had to send a message to King Octavius in order to not get Cytel in trouble. Remmel could definitely help with that. 

Second top priority things were; finding out more about her new limits and also gaining a full understanding of what her advancement gave her, because it wasn’t as simple as it seemed. There was also looking into her Legacy Branch, since she had neglected to do that. And lastly, there was getting further away from the Sacred Forest. Thankfully, she believed she could do all of those things at once. 

And finally, while it was the least pressing thing, it was also the most important thing in the long term. And that was, figuring out what her next goal was. Something as abstract as enhancing her body, or reaching level 250 wasn’t going to cut it, not without a concrete end goal. 

A frown settled on her face. Like killing the Demon of Genesis. 

“Is the Demon of Genesis only level 300?” Amber asked Frei. 

If it was that level, then maybe she didn’t even need to grow stronger. Maybe she could kill it and finally kill Oracle as well, finally vindicating herself. Amber gritted her teeth at that. 

Frei paused for a moment before closing her eyes, seemingly resolving herself. 

“No, I’ve dug for information since I told you about it,” she said simply. “I’m sorry for not updating you on it.” 

“Right, what is his level?” Amber didn’t feel like the apology was needed.

Frei met her gaze. “As of a week ago, the Demon of Genesis is confirmed to be level 377 by the Saints of Truth, who sold the information.” 

Amber frowned. “Are the Saints of Truth killing it?”

“More like keeping it at bay…” Frei said awkwardly. “There is no doubt in my mind that if you tried to kill it, you’d become their target too.” 

Amber remembered Frei had mentioned something about that, but she thought that the circumstances would have changed at this point. So I have to be at least level 250 for this, if not 300. Which means that I definitely have to grow stronger. 

Amber turned around, smiling. 

She had to get even better with Essence, get her advancement⁠— and more importantly get Frei to help her with her body enchanting plans. 

Things that previously were problems in the past, weren’t problems anymore. And even if she still had looming problems, now she felt more confident than ever. Because now, she had taken her first step towards godhood. 

While it probably only got harder from here, she welcomed it. That said, she couldn’t bask in her happiness all day ⁠— as much as she wanted to. 

I have things to do after all. Problems to deal with, and things to look into. She grinned. 

And so, Amber set off. All with the main and primary goal of growing stronger.