Now there was only one thing left to do before moving on. Picking my next class. I hovered over the 'evolution available' with my finger, but I couldn't get myself to actually press it. I didn't even know why, but I was extremely nervous for some reason. I already got one legendary class for certain, what's there to fear now?

  Overcoming my apprehension, I finally tapped it and called up the list of evolutions. I didn't particularly need to actually use my finger, the whole thing was mostly intent-based after all, but it felt fitting for the occasion.

  Without delay, there it was, the screen I had been longing to see for so long that it almost felt unreal to see now.

  [Class evolutions for: T1 Firefly (Uncommon)

  T2 | Volcanomancer (Rare)

  T2 | Firefly II (Rare+)

  T2 | Embodiment of Physical Fire (Epic)

  T2 | Volcanic Leviathan (Epic)

  T2 | Broken Star (Epic+)

  T2 | Omen of Calamity (Legendary) ]

  ...?

  What in all seven hells was supposed to be? I knew that there were more important things to look at in there, but that caught my attention immediately, just because of how absurd it was.

  I racked my brain for some sort of theory about what that could possibly be, but I only drew blanks. It didn't make me want to pick it, but it definitely had me intrigued.

  Okay, before making any hasty decision, let's go through them one by one.

  First one up, [Volcanomancer], a rare grade class with a focus on three affinities. I didn't have to think about this much, but this one was already out. Rare was simply way too low for me, and it was such a general class that it would be incredibly boring to pick, especially when you look at what else is on the table.

  I excluded [Firefly II] for similar reasons. The name alone made it seem like it was constructed as a direct successor for my current [Firefly] class. I did gain the focus on for some reason, but that didn't make it any more desirable. [Firefly] had been an unexpectedly good class to start with, but I needed something different. While the direct upgrade was the class that would keep my abilities on the rails they were on with the most certainty, the other classes wouldn't just simply disregard the path I was on either.

  The next one, [Embodiment of Physical Fire], was of a good enough grade to at least be considered to some extent. However, I was really apprehensive about this class. It seemed extremely hyper-focused on the whole fire thingy, and its name was a bit too cryptic for my liking. What does it mean to embody something? Would my body be permanently converted to some form of living flame if I picked that one? Would I maybe get a skill that temporarily does something like that?

  I didn't know, and that made me very careful. The system did include a 'race' in the status page that served no apparent reason apart from stating the obvious. There had to be some use for that hidden somewhere in the depths of the system. In the end, I still liked being human and all. No matter how small the risk was, I wasn't willing to take it.

  Now, [Volcanic Leviathan] was as tempting as it was scary. While I thought the possibility of that causing me to turn into an actual leviathan to be rather low, I was admittedly scared of the class. Also, what the hell was a aspect? What did it mean for mana to be -aspected? I couldn't come up with anything even remotely logical for that one, no matter how hard I tried.

  It probably wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I really desired either. On top of it all, by now I really hated leviathans for obvious reasons. Scorching my way through the insides of one for probably weeks did not suddenly make me view them in a favorable light.

  Excluding that one as well, there were only two options on the table now, [Broken Star] and [Omen of Calamity]. Speaking of the latter, it was incredibly ominous. While I could make sense of what mana with the aspect might do, I had no idea what or could be used for. All three sounded unreasonably important and strong, not just because they were written in bold text, but also because of the grand meaning behind those words.

  While this class was undoubtedly the legendary one unlocked by the [Slayer of the Leviathan] achievement, I started to doubt whether or not I truly wanted that class. Unlike all the other options, this one seemed almost planted in there, like it didn't belong. It didn't even have anything to do with fire, flames, or heat anymore, which were the cornerstone of my continued existence in this world up to now.

  Still, it was a legendary class! Was it truly right to refrain from picking it just because I had some doubts about its nature?

  I ruminated for a long time, but I came to the conclusion that yes, it is indeed right not to pick it, even if it's probably the strongest class I have available right now. This was a decision that would follow me for the rest of my life, probably the most important decision I ever had to make across both lifetimes. Still, I didn't want to take a class I wasn't absolutely sure about.

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  In the end, I just didn't want to have a class that was called [Omen of Calamity]. It's just not who I am, it doesn't represent me at all. I'm Hanah and not some kind of calamitous omen bearer. Especially not when there was one class that fit me more than any other on this list.

  By now I was already quite certain. My new tier two class would be the epic+ grade class [Broken Star] over the other two. While [Volcanic Leviathan] and [Omen of Calamity] were probably tied to the achievement [Slayer of the Leviathan], this one appeared to rather be tied to my first custom achievement, [Molten Rebirth].

  Unlike some vague omen the legendary class was referring to, I was, by my own recognition, very broken. I was never normal, and even less so after all my experiences in this world. I have grown accustomed to pain in a way that should never be possible for someone as young as me. I was still me and mentally sane, but there was something in me that truly died the day I was thrown down the Abyssal Descent in an attempt to get rid of me for good.

  I was not willing to be anything that had negative connotations in its name. Also, [Broken Star] objectively wasn't that much worse than [Omen of Calamity] was. While it wasn't truly legendary, epic+ can't be that much worse, can it? Also, while it didn't have three different aspects written in bold text, it at least had one, namely , which was good enough for me.

  Just like for the others, I barely had an idea about what it meant for mana to be aspected to that, but I didn't mind it here. wasn't like or , not at all. It didn't have the ominous vibe that I could palpably feel when staring at the words written in the system text. Instead, it felt almost familiar, like it belonged with me. Like something long-lost that I could finally reunite with, it spoke to me in ways that everything else didn't.

  Finishing this thought, my decision was already final. Without any more hesitation, I chose [Broken Star (Epic+) ].

  ...

  Tiering up felt weird. Extremely weird, in fact. Like someone poured a happy cocktail of comfortable fire down my veins, it was close to what I imagined taking drugs must feel like. If leveling up from level 13 to level 25 felt good, going from level 25 to wherever I was now felt truly ecstatic.

  Everything about me suddenly felt better, more complete than before. Like I finally found the missing piece of the puzzle that made up my existence. This transition marked my true transcendence beyond the bounds of mortality. In tier one, you were bound by things that mattered less the higher you ascended within the tier system.

  As the instructors told us, higher-tier beings needed less sleep, naturally healed faster, had longer lifespans, needed to eat and drink less, and so much more. I already got to experience quite a bit of that through [Photo-Thermic Synthesis], but now it was an inherent part of me.

  As the feeling of liquid ecstasy rushing through me ebbed to a low, I finally got my bearings together. Like popping a bubble that held me trapped, the world suddenly exploded in a fury of colors and sensation. Not all pleasant, especially considering the location I was still in, but more. I could see more nuanced colors, hear the almost silent ambient noise a lot better, distinctly smell the unpleasant scent of scorched leviathan flesh, and a lot of other stuff that would take too long to describe in detail.

  Now came the moment I had been waiting for. I needed to inspect my status and view the new skills my new class granted me. Despite the recurring feelings of nervousness at that thought, I overcame my hesitation and called upon my new status page.

  [Name: Hanah Mayflower

  Race: Human

  Level: 26 (Tier II)

  Mana: 384/1260

  Achievements: [Hero Candidate], [Predator III], [Molten Rebirth], [Slayer of the Leviathan]

  Class: Broken Star (Epic+)

  Active Skills:

  [Celestial Fire Lv. 19]

  [Broken Sky Lv. 1]

  [Regalia: Starfire Corona Lv. 19]

  Passive Skills:

  [Thermal Conversion]

  [Broken Celestial Physiology]

  [Regalia: Starfire Corona Lv. --]

  General Skills:

  [Identify]

  [Heightened Senses Lv. 6]

  [Pain Resistance Lv. 15]

  [Fire Resistance Lv. 7]

  [Mana Sense Lv. 1]

  [Corrosion Resistance Lv. 2]]

  A lot to take in, but okay. First of all, what the hell? I got scammed hard! What do you mean only level 26!? Where did all the experience that I received from the kill of the tier four leviathan go? That thing was level 173, and I had at least a multiplier of x2.25 the moment I killed it if you calculate them additively and disregard the potential of retroactively counting any multipliers received directly through the kill!

  With all of this combined, there is no way that I only got 13 levels! So where the hell is all of my hard-earned experience???

  Of course, nobody answered the question that forcefully escaped my lips in all of my frustration. Damn it. This really sucks, but it isn't the end of the world just yet. Since I'm now tier two with a good class to boot, I should now have a much easier time trying to level up. Just you wait, you stupid wolf! I'm coming for you specifically.

  Okay, putting that aside, let's do the surefire method of going through this systematically. After all, this was a lot of new things to explore. Rushing through this could be detrimental for my development in the future, which makes this the right approach, even if slightly tedious.

  The first thing to note was the mana. I jumped from a maximum of 460 to a maximum of 1260, which makes a net increase of 800. That's quite a considerable amount. After all, it almost tripled the mana I have available. One thing to remark, though, is that tiering up didn't refill my actual mana reserves, it just expanded them. Not much of a problem for me, however. By the time I finish exploring my new abilities, I should be long back to full already.

  Since I'd already seen all of my achievements, the next thing up on the list was identifying my class. While the description had been quite disappointing when I first inspected my old tier one class, I hoped that the system would be a bit more generous when it came to epic classes like my new one.

  [Broken Star (Epic+)

  Pushed beyond what should be possible, something inside of you broke forever. Almost extinguished by the traitor, you only have grown at the core. In the scorching heat, your molten wings were to unfold never. Yet born anew, your light shines brighter than it ever did before.

  Inherently grants: [Fire Affinity], [Celestial Affinity], [Minor Light Affinity]]

  More cryptic riddles, great! Also, is the rhyming a recurring theme now? I didn't particularly mind it, but it served no purpose beyond wanting to sound more mystic, did it?

  Good thing about the affinities, though. While they previously swallowed two of my passive skill slots, they were now part of the class. I had long since lost sight of what affinities I had to what level with all the extras I received from the achievements, but it didn't really seem too important of a thing to know about in the grand scheme of things.