There was pressure at the back of Orion’s mind, and he knew that if he allowed it in, he’d start the rank-up process.
After so long working tirelessly in his lab, chasing down creatures he, by all rights, should have kept far away from, it felt strange that it was finally here.
He wanted to do it, to get it over with, and at the same time, he was uneasy. What if the classes I’m offered this time aren’t as good as the last? My achievements as a tier one are remarkable, in my humble opinion, but can they be compared to what I achieved as a tier zero, at least against what my peers did?
Much of his ability to perform outside his weight class came from his extra rank. Usually, members of the major factions would start at D-rank in tier one and move up to C-rank in tier two, except in the worst cases.
Orion would need to jump to B-rank to maintain his superiority, but he didn’t have enough data points to know if he’d be offered it, and he seriously doubted the System would let him halt the process halfway through.
No, once he allowed the rank-up to start, he’d be stuck with whatever he was offered.
But can I afford to wait longer, wasting valuable experience? I could probably maximize my stat gains by developing new spells, but how long would it take to reach two hundred attribute points? Mind is pretty close, at one ninety-two, but Attunement is ten points lower. It could take me a year of dedication to reach two hundred.
And a year was a long time. Time he wouldn’t be able to make the most of.
No, the option to wait was just fool’s gold. It might make his inner perfectionist happier to achieve everything he could while in tier one, but the classes he was likely to choose were more about his scientific skills than just pure stats.
“Congratulations, moonbeam.”
As if wrought from moonlight, Asteria stepped out from behind the statue, a peaceful smile on her lips.
“It wasn’t exactly orthodox,” Pauline said, standing beside her, “but I guess you aren’t an orthodox guy, huh?”
“I’m not,” Orion chuckled. That much, everyone who met him once could tell. Looking back, his efforts to fit in the Sanctum had been quite ineffective and inefficient, but then again, he’d felt trapped and without recourse.
Things were different now.
“So, do I just accept the prompt now?” He asked.
Asteria nodded, “At higher ranks, the process becomes a little more involved, but to reach tier two, that’s all you need to do, yes. The cavern is fully sanctified, and nothing will be able to interfere while I am here. Go on, moonbeam.”
Orion noted her specific wording. It was interesting that no one believed it was possible to interfere with her rank-up, yet she implied it was possible to do so in his case. Was it just a matter of resources committed by the System? Or was there something else?
I guess that will have to wait for later.
Taking a deep breath, Orion let the pressure in and felt the System surround him.
SYSTEM UPDATE
…
..
.
Synaptic pattern detected: “Orion Amadeus Voidwalker.”
Experience being accounted for…
Experience calculated.
…
Class Selection START
His mind felt cottony. It was hard to focus, and he knew that if he gave in to the call of the void, he’d slip away in an instant and wake up with the process already finished.
He didn't know what result that would produce, but he was sure he didn’t want to be a passive recipient of the System’s will when it came to his future.
The more he focused on that, the clearer his mind became, so Orion grasped that defiance with both hands and let it pull him out of the sea of sleepiness.
I will spend years as a tier two. Maybe even decades, though I hope to speed things up. I need to be the one to make this choice.
STATUS
ORION A. VOIDWALKER
Class: Empiricist [C-rank]
Level: 50 [END]
Mind: 192
Attunement: 182
Body: 17
Traits: Mana Manipulation [C-rank]; Verification Principle [C-rank]
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Approved for Class Selection [Aetheric Conduit]
Approved for Class Selection [Weave Architect].
Approved for Class Selection [Field Mechanician].
Approved for Class Selection [Transmutive Savant]
Approved for Class Selection [Luminal Theurge]
Approved for Class Selection [Arcane Artificer]
…
..
.
Unlike his first class selection, the list he was offered had fewer than a hundred entries, which was quite interesting given that it was about ten percent of the last time. If the pattern repeated, he would only be offered fewer than ten options when entering tier three.
What that would mean for tier four, he didn’t know. His mother had been unusually tight-lipped about the whole affair, and he hadn’t pressed too hard, since it was apparently a big religious dogma to let the Mother do her work without interference.
One thing was clear: he could already see a pattern in the offers. Whereas he had been given options for almost every magical field last time, this selection focused on magical classes with a strong emphasis on theory work and Knowledge. As expected, his approach had significantly influenced the choices.
With a silent hum that couldn’t resonate due to the lack of air in the white void he was in now, Orion pulled up the first option, curious to see what had changed.
Approved for Class Selection [Aetheric Conduit] [C-rank]
[Aetheric Conduit]: A disciplined sorcerer who channels and shapes all kinds of mana with high throughput and fine control, converting ambient energies into whatever he needs at the time.
+5 Mind, +5 Attunement. +4 Mind per level, +4 Attunement per level.
Traits: Flux Harmonization [C-rank]: Enhances stability and efficiency during overchanneling or fast-casting, providing greater flexibility for elemental casting.
Mana Manipulation [C-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
That felt like a pretty clear evolution of the basic [Mage] class, but with a greater emphasis on detailed channeling than he would have expected.
Orion wouldn’t pick it. It seemed too broad and wasn’t much of an upgrade anyway, but it was still interesting to read.
Approved for Class Selection [Weave Architect] [C-rank]
[Weave Architect]: A magus who designs spell matrices as structures, whether layered, modular, or extensible, emphasizing reliability and reusability over raw power.
+5 Mind, +5 Attunement. +4 Mind per level, +4 Attunement per level.
Traits: Spell Architecture [C-rank]: Blueprint, cache, and reuse complex matrices with reduced error and drift.
Mana Manipulation [C-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
Again, nothing to write home about. Orion was pretty sure this class option came from his experiments with crystal refraction, even before the CC came to be.
He would definitely have considered it if it had been offered last time, but while it would be a good choice for any tier two mage, it felt too restrictive.
He was definitely a methodical caster, choosing to add complexity to his spells to cover every detail rather than relying solely on Intent, but Orion was self-aware enough to realize it wouldn’t completely suit him.
[Gamma Ray] definitely wasn’t born from a cool, level-headed decision. I am a careful caster, and I like giving structure to the formless, but that’s not all I am, even if it wasn’t too low in rank for my tastes.
Approved for Class Selection [Transmutive Savant] [C-rank]
[Transmutive Savant]: An alchemical expert focusing on phase, property, and essence changes, executing precise and dependable transformations within strict limits.
+5 Mind, +5 Attunement. +4 Mind per level, +4 Attunement per level.
Traits: Transmutation Praxis [C-rank]: Resist impurity drift; gain finer control over mass/energy exchange and catalysts.
Reagent Insight [C-rank]: Instinctively parse reagent lineages and interactions.
Mana Manipulation [C-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
Now, this was interesting. Not quite good enough to be chosen, but still very interesting.
First of all, Orion hadn’t come across a class choice that offered him three traits yet. There was nothing particularly special about it, unless he wanted to dedicate his life to alchemy like Yue, but the difference with previous classes indicated that, even within the same rank, some classes were clearly better than others.
Approved for Class Selection [Thaumic Analyst] [C-rank]
[Thaumic Analyst]: A diagnostic mage who analyzes phenomena in real-time, optimizing mid-cast adjustments and countermeasures against opposing magics.
+5 Mind, +5 Attunement. +4 Mind per level, +4 Attunement per level.
Traits: Analytic Casting [C-rank]: Allows for real-time parameter estimation and on-the-fly correction of spells, incorporating new data with greater ease.
Mana Manipulation [C-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
The last C-rank option was another mage-build, clearly developed from his experiments with metamagic. He was confident this would make managing the headaches [Slow] he was causing himself much easier, but ultimately it wasn’t worth it, given the options below.
Now for the stuff I can actually consider. It turns out I was worried for nothing.
Approved for Class Selection [Causal Epistemologist] [B-rank]
[Causal Epistemologist]: A scientist-mage who maps and adjusts cause-and-effect within their work; designs experiments into spells and spells into experiments, aiming to control and understand every aspect of the magical process while acknowledging their own limitations. Truth is an ever-changing process, yet it must be pursued at all times.
+10 Mind, +10 Attunement+10 Body. +8 Mind per level, +8 Attunement per level, +1 Body per level.
Traits: Hypotheticism [B-rank]: Bias is undesirable but unavoidable. Strive to attain the greatest accuracy possible.
Falsifiability Criterion [B-rank]: A miracle, when fully understood, is not truly a miracle.
Mana Manipulation [B-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
Now this. This was something.
Orion might not have had his physical body, but he did a very good job of licking his chops.
[Causal Epistemologist] was his own [Empiricist] evolution, and interestingly, it seemed to loosely follow the philosophical history of Earth, especially with the rise of postpositivism.
But that was only secondary to what this class promised. [Falsifiability Criterion] had to be some kind of offensive evolution of [Verification Principle].
He would need to test it to be certain, but he could tell it was designed to let him disrupt magic he fully understood, reminding him of his efforts with [Null Light].
That was something few mages could claim, but it was aided by the first trait, [Hypotheticism]. That was a more direct evolution of [Verification Principle], likely designed to protect him from the multiple instances in which his mind almost exploded while trying to grasp concepts he had no right to understand.
With it, he could push the limits of what his meat-suit was capable of. Though it might mean less confidence in higher concepts, it would still be more than he had now.
I actually believe this evolution stemmed from my effort to gather information from mom’s rank up. It’s much more recent than I thought, but it’s good to know that it wasn’t completely pointless, beyond the data I collected.
That led him to the second option, one he could tell would have been offered to him the moment after he completed the CC.
Approved for Class Selection [Metalogician] [B-rank]
[Metalogician]: An architect of consistency engines and proof-driven magic; avoids contradictions, leverages Lawful shortcuts, and unravels paradoxes, aiming to codify even the greatest mysteries.
+10 Mind, +10 Attunement+10 Body. +8 Mind per level, +8 Attunement per level, +1 Body per level.
Traits: Axiomatic Engine [B-rank]: Enforce consistency constraints across multiple layers; improve compatibility with logic foci.
Crystalline Casting [B-rank]: Derives effective spellforms from fundamental laws; allows for greater control, increased dexterity, and less chaos when casting through a crystal focus.
Mana Manipulation [B-rank]: The ability to interact with Mana, to impose one’s will upon the World.
This was clearly a hybrid class designed to optimize his battle style, using metamagic and crystal foci to achieve feats beyond his imagination.
It would make him great. He knew that even without the extra attributes, the traits this class provided were enough to make him stand out from everyone else.
However, he also knew it would box him in. He would have to follow the path set for him or risk losing everything, as the Traits were very specific.
There was, however, one last option he could choose.
