Zalanir couldn’t believe what he had seen. His heart drummed like he had just punched his ticket to his first Masters final. There was no audience clapping and shouting his name, but it didn’t matter. His throat ached after the tenth or eleventh swallow. Not that he was actually counting—the number was just a guess.

  It was no surprise that he was at max level for D-grade, not after he had massacred everyone. Did the death of the enforcers and hunters count? Had to, considering the number of kill notifications he had, even though they were his allies. Technically, the one who did the killing blow was him, but the true culprit was the soul lion. Did the System take that into account?

  Though even ignoring this complex topic, the fact that he had murdered all the cultists, the Blazethatch Stag, the Shadowfused Bear, and a human level 84 was probably more than enough for the experiences.

  Level 84… who would that be, the prophet or the captain? Had to be the prophet. He had no memory of how that had happened, but the System counted. That was all that mattered.

  Still, reaching the eligibility for the Evolution Quest was one thing—kinda expected—but accidentally completing it already? This thought had never crossed his mind. And he even got the Self-Fulfillment Quest on top of that? What was this luck?

  Unable to hold back his excitement, Zalanir spammed the notification until a new window popped up.

  Self-Fulfillment Quest completed

  You have unlocked evolution options for [Mastery: Magical Apprentice]. Choose wisely, as it will have profound effects on your path and future choices.

  By successfully capturing an A-grade soul of a crocosaurus while being in D-grade, you have outperformed expectations and completed a feat that was rivaled by only a handful of geniuses of the universe.

  The Self-Fulfillment Quest is merely a formality in the wake of your potential. Stride forward with confidence and actualize your potential to the maximum. The universe awaits your arrival.

  Zalanir’s face was already like a forge, capable of vaporizing any water that came in contact. Even he felt a bit sheepish at this much glaze from the System. A genius? The universe was waiting for him?

  Soul Collection. It all started with this skill. Without it, he would have no lantern, and he would have been long dead by the birduomera’s crescent wave already.

  But it wasn’t like he had been handed everything like someone being born at the finishing line. Coming here without even a drop of knowledge about how the world worked, he had, step by step, tried and learned, rinse and repeat day in, day out. He had fought his way through precarious situations, survived, and thrived. He had earned this.

  A genius. He was one when he first crashed onto the Challenger Tour, winning the first two tournaments in domination. It felt good being labeled as such once again.

  A genius. Hahaha. Zalanir stopped the suppression and let it all out, even though it was the middle of the night. He didn’t care.

  From Djaxinz’s talk, there was no doubt that Self-Fulfillment was an incredibly difficult path to pursue, but he had just passed it in flying colors. Only a handful of people were capable of doing that, not just on whatever place or planet he was in, but in the entire damn universe. That was like the equivalent of Rafael Nadal bursting onto the scene and winning four straight French Open titles. A genius among geniuses.

  Crocosaurus? What was this? No idea, but it didn’t matter now. The soul could use whatever name for all he cared.

  Okay, genius. Let’s see what I have won.

  [Mastery: Magical Practitioner] — Uncommon: Upon building a solid magical foundation, it is time to practice advanced magic. Continue to experiment, for the path forward might not always be clear in sight. Increases all magical prowess by 10%.

  On level-up: +5 Intelligence, +5 Mystique, +4 Spirit, +2 Constitution, +2 Awareness, +2 Free Point.

  [Mastery: Templar] — Rare: There is a beauty in rhythmic combat. Not only an expert in unloading magical bombardment in a burst, you also have a repertoire of defensive options to control the pace of the battle. Increases defense by 10% and magical prowess by 5%.

  On level-up: +4 Intelligence, +4 Mystique, +3 Endurance, +3 Constitution, +3 Awareness, +3 Spirit, +3 Free Point.

  [Mastery: Feathery Arcanist] — Rare: Arcane is an abstract concept that differs from one to another, never truly identical, yet pursued by every mage for its flexibility and signature combinations. A Feathery Arcanist draws inspiration from natural volant species to build up their arsenal of swift, unseen, yet deadly magical attacks. Increases magical prowess of subsequent attacks on the same target by 2%, up to a maximum of 20%.

  On level-up: +5 Dexterity, +5 Intelligence, +4 Awareness, +3 Constitution, +2 Mystique, +2 Spirit, +2 Free Point.

  [Mastery: Prodigious Performer] — Epic: Everyone can practice arts, but starting out with true talent is the privilege of only but a few. Unpredictability mixed with planning and effort can birth the best performances. Sharpens your senses, polishes your craft, and fills your path with wonders. Increases all stats by 5%.

  On level-up: +6 Mystique, +5 Awareness, +3 Endurance, +3 Constitution, +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Spirit, +2 Free Point.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Oh, wow! Zalanir gulped. This selection of new mastery was ten times more interesting compared to his first choice. Was all the evolution section this exciting? And he would have three other chances at B, A and god-grade? Chef’s kiss.

  From all the previous System’s offerings, whether they were masteries, skills, or modifications, the last option was always of the highest rarity, and here he had finally understood the position of epic in the rarity hierarchy.

  As far as he had known of this, epic was the best, then came rare, uncommon, and common. There was no way the System would insert another category in the middle of those four, as that would be confusing as hell. Though was there anything beyond epic? There had to be.

  There was also the exception of the unique affix, as he didn’t know where to rank it. Was it better or worse than epic? He had the universal unique with Soul Collection and a racial unique with Pure Magical Energy, which suggested that unique wasn’t a single rigid category. With all the prefixes to it, seemed like it had a wide range of applications, so it was hard to compare it to epic. Universal unique had to be the best, but racial unique was hard to get a grip on. He would need to find more about this in this city then.

  This was only his second time getting something of epic rarity — though he didn’t count the Creeping Despair status effect as a positive. So this mastery was such a big win. He was actually tempted to pick the last one right away and be done with this section, but its wording made him stop for a second. He had time, after all, so no need to rush this.

  The epic rarity showed its worth straight away with superior stats per level-up: 27 attributes compared to 23 each from both rare options, which was already huge. Djaxinz had mentioned C-grade ranged from level 50 to 149, so four extra stat points per level equaled 400 additional points in total compared to the other options. That was a massive difference — his current total stat count was only 588, not counting the two free points he would allocate once everything was done.

  And it didn’t stop at 400 either, because of the modification of the 5% increase in total stats, which was an extra 20 on top of it. It was a big number. The bonuses for Templar and Feathery Arcanist were more specific, which could be good or bad—he didn’t know. But there was no way an overall percentage boost would be a wrong choice. 5% could not be much for now, but down the line, it would be huge.

  As for the description of the mastery, it gave absolutely nothing away. It was nice being praised by the System once again as a prodigy, but the actual name of the mastery was such a vague term. What was a performer? Did the System offer this to him because of his career in tennis? Could be. He had reached world number two and won a Grand Slam under the gaze of thousands of live spectators and millions watching online, so it would be a solid assessment.

  Though, heck, how did the System know all of this? It was his life on Earth, and there was no System there. Did it scan his memories?

  A particular thought made him quiver, even though the night wasn’t cold at all. What if there was a hack, or even worse, what if the System malfunctioned and operated on its own? It did look like a super server being built by someone to govern the world, but he wasn’t sure. Was it like that, or was the System something like physics that affected everything? Nah, this was going too far. He was just a mere D-grade who soon would be a C-grade. It was foolish to worry about such things when there were behemoths out there who were a thousand times stronger than him.

  A performer. What would be his means of combat? The mastery gave all stats when leveling up, so looked like this was a jack of all trades type of mastery. The gain on Mystique was huge, though, so magical attack it was.

  As for the other choices, the first one was a total fraud, just a natural progression to his current Magical Apprentice mastery that perhaps any mages would get when evolved. Zalanir erased it from his assessment right from the beginning.

  Templar and Feathery Arcanist, on the other hand, were both really good and could make a case for their own.

  It wasn’t hard to conclude that the reason the System offered the Templar mastery was because of his fighting style with Energy Barrier and especially the salvo modification on Adaptability Bolt. He wasn’t a traditional backline mage who unleashed hell on the enemies; he fought at mid-range, operated independently, and could hold his ground without the need for a tank.

  Being a glass cannon who would be doomed the moment the enemy managed to close the gap was too limiting of a fighting style. The cultist archer was a prime example. How that archer went from a menace when having the other three melee fighters pinning Zalanir down at the valley to being a headless chicken the moment Zalanir closed in in the lair was such a huge contrast. He didn’t want to become one like that.

  The Templar solved the problem by empowering his current style up to details such as doing damage in a burst and retreating while waiting for the cooldown to pass. The bonuses to defense and magical prowess were also spot on to what he needed.

  The same applied to the Feathery Arcanist mastery as well, though in a different aspect of his current style. The references to volant species had to be related to his sound and air bolts that he kept on making to attack enemies. Except for earth bolts for their penetrative nature, the air and sound variants just provided too much utility in terms of being fast, hard to detect, and the brief staggering effect.

  With the bonus looking to turn him into a rapid-fire cannon to utilize its effect to the maximum, he would likely continue to develop his magical affinities in the realms of sound and air. The part about the concept of arcane was also interesting and made him curious as to what combination or affinities he would get offered if he followed this line of evolution. Being light and quick like a bird was a concept he found hard to ignore.

  But was he really going to ignore Prodigious Performer? Templar and Feathery Arcanist were two distinct styles building onto two separated concepts, which in a sense were also a limitation on their own.

  What if he was swarmed by enemies in all directions that the cooldown between the two bursts of the Templar mastery was too long? Would his defense hold?

  What if he needed a heavy attack to punch through the defense of the enemy, as in the case of the sturdy snail that he had killed in the valley, and none of the light-weight attacks of the Feathery Arcanist could substitute?

  He could very well be overthinking himself here, or he was just talking himself into picking Prodigious Performer, but there was no doubt that this mastery gave him the choice to stay flexible. C-grade was still relatively new in the grand scheme of things, so he would prefer to have more time before settling into a concrete style, similar to how he had done with his full-on offensive gameplay in tennis. If not for the time he spent at an earlier age practicing dropshot or defensive slices to change up the rhythm of the battle, he doubted his hype-aggressive approach would see that much success as he had gotten.

  After double-checking everything one last time, Zalanir confirmed the choice. Prodigious Performer it is.

  An inflow of energy poured into his body, coursing through every fiber of his being before dissolving into his muscles and skin.

  After pausing to collect himself, Zalanir pulled up the notifications again. If he remembered correctly, there was a new skill among them—

  Congratulations! You have successfully evolved from [Mastery: Magical Apprentice] to [Prodigious Performer]

  You have gained the skill [Live for the crowd] — Rare

  You have unlocked the second mastery. Choose wisely, as it will have profound effects on your path and future choices.

  Warning: You can opt not to select the second mastery. Doing so would increase the stats gained on level-up from the first mastery. The actual number depends on the rarity of the first mastery and the highest rarity option in the second mastery offering.

  Warning: The action is irreversible.

  What the hell?

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