It all happened the previous day.
The moment Rey left the KariBlanc Group's building with Noah, he got a congratulatory message from the System.
[Congratulations! You Have Advanced To A New Class]
'E-eh?!' Rey was initially startled by the whole thing, but since he was wearing a mask, no one could see the stupefied expression he made.
He was honestly very grateful for that.
'What is this, though…?'
Only the user of a System could see or interact with their respective System Messages. As such, despite being out in the open like this, only Rey could see the notification before him.
[Congratulations! Your Class 'Enigma' has been advanced to 'Elite Enigma' due to the wealth and strength you possess]
'A Class called Enigma?'
It was the first that Rey had heard of it, but since he was in the middle of the street—right within the Black Market—Rey thought it would be better to let the matter go for the moment.
'I'll check it out once I return to my room…'
And so he did.
Once he got back to his room, Rey opened his Status Window, and just as the System promised… his Class had changed!
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Rey Skylar.
- Race: Human (Otherworlder)
- Class: Elite Enigma (B-Tier)
- Level: 19 (99.19% EXP)
- Life Force: 22 (+10)
- Mana Level: 65 (+10)
- Combat Ability: 30 (+10)
- Stat Points: 10
- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): Nil
- Alignment: Neutral
[Additional Information]
You are a mystery to the world. While the underworld trembles in your presence, those on the surface do not understand your true strength
[End Of Information]
'W-Whoa! This can't be real!'
That was Rey's exact reaction when he looked through his Status Window.
'10 Stat Points added to each of my Stats? I'd have to Level Up ten times to get that number of Stat Points!'
That meant, despite him being a Level 19, he was as strong as a Level 29 Commoner!
'Or could it be that I'm using my Commoner Stat as a metric? This might be what's normal for the others with better Stats…'
The [Commoner] Class was F-Tier. It had no benefits, and was simply a sort of default Stat.
As such, he got the minimum Stat Points after Leveling Up, and he had no perks attached to his abilities.
It was sort of like earning minimum wage—no benefits, and just enough to survive.
'So this is what a B-Tier Class can do, huh? I wonder if the extra stats will keep rising the more I level up…'
Rey was excited for sure.
However, he wasn't done exploring the changes that had occurred to his Status Window.
He specifically tapped the name [Elite Enigma], so he could get more information about the Class.
… He wasn't disappointed.
[Class Information]
- Name: Elite Enigma
- Tier: B-Tier
- Cause: You have become a mystery—a man of many faces who actively lives dual lives. You belong to both darkness and light, and you are perceived too differently by the denizens of the world.
Are you weak? Are you strong? There doesn't seem to be a consensus on that.
[Class Privileges]
~ 10+ Base Stats addition for all your major Stat Areas
~ 1+ subsequent Stat Point for every Level Up
~ Natural Mask Effect can be activated (You can keep a poker face or make your reactions appear exactly as you intend, regardless of circumstances)
~ Naturally suppresses the effects of any 'Appraisal' cast on you. (If the Appraisal is weaker than this Effect, you can influence its results)
[End Of Information]
'Four different privileges? That's insane!'
Rey was beginning to get curious about the privileges that those with better Classes possessed.
'If a B-Tier has four privileges, then an A-Tier should have… five privileges?'
C-Tier would have three.
D-Tier would have two.
E-Tier would have one.
And then, F-Tier naturally had none.
Rey thought about Adonis and his Hero Class, estimating that he would have at least six privileges.
'That's insane. I honestly still can't wrap my head around this…'
The advantage of having a solid Class was slowly consuming Rey.
He hadn't yet asked anyone about details of their Class, because he didn't want to feel like he was missing out.
Having a better Class was mostly out of his control, so he didn't want to compound the issue or be distracted by such things.
However, with his new discovery, Rey felt something rise up within him.
'I need to get a higher Class! Somehow…'
Classes were influenced by a person's state of affairs, but it seemed like one had to reach a certain threshold for it to reflect.
Rey didn't know what the threshold was, so he couldn't make a rough estimate of what he had to achieve to advance.
This wasn't the same as Leveling Up at all.
'And there's also the fact that I don't really know what else I can do that'll trigger my path to advancing to a higher Class.'
The best thing Rey could think of was simply to keep doing what he was doing.
He had to double down on his actions.
'Keep my other life a secret. Operate in mysteries, ensuring the perceptions of those around me grow stronger…'
The polarizing views of both sides would probably influence how his Class would be perceived from this point onward.
Rey also guessed that the more people knew him for either being very strong or very weak, the more his Class would advance.
"That seems fair. Yeah… I should focus on that!"
Once he settled on that, Rey stole one last glance at his [Class Details].
"These are really good effects, though…" He mumbled.
He could affect Appraisals by either nullifying them or even altering their results.
That would come in handy.
'I'm only Level 19, so I probably shouldn't expect to be invincible against all Appraisals…'
If someone like Lucielle personally cast a Spell of that nature, Rey had to consider the possibility that he was toast.
'I wonder about that Oculus thing, though. Would it be able to detect my new Class?'
Rey knew the most likely answer was "Yes."
If the Oculus could detect people like Adonis, who had [The Hero]—an S-Tier Class—why wouldn't it be able to detect his own meager B-Tier Class?
That item was definitely stronger than his ability to resist Appraisals.
'I don't imagine that we won't encounter the Oculus again…'
If Rey had to guess, he would say that there would come a time where students were brought before the Oculus again to see if they had advanced a Class.
'It will be… problematic… if my new Class is found out.'
That would clearly show everyone that he was hiding something. Plus, if it was revealed to be a B-Tier Class, then he would no longer be perceived as a weak Extra.
What would then happen to his Class?
'Will I lose my Class? That would be bad…'
He hadn't done any research about Classes, but from what he read about the natural order of society, it was indeed possible for people to lose Classes.
Fallen Nobles who once had respectable Classes ended up losing them, taking on weaker Classes instead.
The same happened to merchants who went bankrupt, or warriors who lost their abilities to fight.
Classes reflected a person's current state, so Rey surmised that if that were to change for him… he would probably lose what he just got.
"I can't allow that!" He said to himself resolutely.
He found nothing wrong with the current state of things, and he wasn't willing to change the status quo.
'I just have to get stronger! Strong enough to resist the Oculus when the moment arrives.'
Once he had that thought engraved in mind, Rey finally took his shower and went to the library to meet Alicia, eventually apologizing and giving her the gift he got from KariBlanc
The rest of night went smoothly after all that.
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