(Zack)

Stretching, I look at Big S, who's giving me a nervous look, his tail wrapped around his front.

"If there was even a remote possibility of that Ascension Trial happening again," I tell him. "Change it. That was absurd and ridiculous, and I know that I do not want to go through it ever again."

He sighs in annoyance, though it's easy to tell it's not aimed at me, so I look at the notifications in my vision. First, the first one.

Congratulations on Ascension 2! You can now take on Rank 4 Classes. You now have +1 Subclass Slot (+1 additional due to Adventurer Class). Spending Bonus Experience now requires 3x Bonus Experience. +20 to each Stat. +Second Ascension Title.

Looks like he fixed a couple of issues that were in the first one. The extra Bonus Experience needed will be a pain, too. But as things are now, it probably won't matter too much. I want to end this fucking war within two or three months of the battle, not within a year. I plan on driving my Blade of the End right through Alexander's heart.

After dismissing that message, I look at how many Stat Points I can add to my every-fifth Level bonus. I have a total of twenty-three Titles, but this time, I receive two Stat Points to add for every Title above Rank 1.

"Big S?" I ask. "How come Rank 2 and up gives me 2 Stat Points rather than the 1 Stat Point from last time?"

"The way I set up the formula," he answers. "Originally, the plan was to have each Title grant 1 Stat Point to the on-Level bonus, while the total sum of all Ranks of all your Titles was the number of Stat Points you could allocate to your base Stats. But I found while playing around with that when I implemented it that it caused a retroactive add that caused issues and screwed with the test subjects."

Test subjects? If no one's Ascended, who or what did he test this on?

"So instead," he continues. "I changed it so that you earn Stat Points to add to the on-Level bonus based on your Ascension. At Ascension One, they all grant 1 Stat Point. At Ascension Two, all Rank 1 Titles grant 1 Stat Point, all Rank 2 and up grants 2 Stat Points. At Ascension Three, they give 1 Stat Point at Rank 1, 2 Stat Points at Rank 2, and 3 Stat Points at Rank 3 and up. This continues up to Rank 5 giving 5 Stat Points at Ascension 5."

"Ah," I say, looking over what I have.

I have ten Rank 1 Titles and thirteen Rank 2 and higher Titles, giving me a total of 36 Stat Points to add rather than the 23 Stat Points I had expected. That's actually really nice, then. Most are going into Vitality and Wisdom, to boost my Health and Mana. Those are the two most important ones to me right now.

Coming to a decision, I add 12 Vitality, 12 Wisdom, and 2 Stat Points to everything else. That should give me some major boosts for the future, and Health and Mana are going to be extremely important.

With those done, I dismiss that window, then accept my reward of five Primordial Ingots, five Primordial Essence, five Crystal Ingots, and five Crystal Essences, the same as for my First Ascension. I'm glad to note the placeholder message is still there, because it means I have even more to tease Big S about when everything is done.

Heh. I bet Nathan didn't mention it either just to tease him at some point about it. Or because he knows I noticed it and want to tease him about it once he finally notices it and fixes whatever it's supposed to.

Now that all of those are done, I collect all of my items, sending them back into my Inventory or pulling them on. My team knows what I am and what I can do, now. They know I'm not just a strong Adventure, but among the top.

That I am at the top, now, in terms of raw Stats. Only those with greater experience than me can manage to best me among the Adventurers, because of that. People like Nik and his team, and the Fallen Hunters.

Thinking of the Fallen Hunters, I still need to practice their trick with using Barriers to jump around. That can be extremely useful in my fight against the Dragon that's coming up. Something to work on later. Flying around is one thing, but there are still some mobility limitations that can be solved by jumping.

For now, I stretch, then give Big S a cheeky grin.

"You didn't put on your tunic," he says. "Even if you did put on your armor. I take it you're going to try to forge a new Class and acquire the form you had in those visions?"

"Yes," I grin at him.

"Can you do it once I send you back?"

"Send me to the fields," I tell him. "I don't want to disturb my team, they're probably sleeping."

"They are," he chuckles, gesturing with his tail towards the blackness behind me.

I turn and face it, finding a display of my team. They're sleeping on the ground, several blankets put down beneath them for comfort, several more on top of them. Max, Braden, and Gavin are all snuggling against Luca, who fidgets a little, but not much.

"That's adorable."

"He had a nightmare," Big S tells me as I turn back to face him, the display fading. "And when Max tried scolding it, he woke up the team. They decided to all be there for Luca."

"What was Luca's nightmare?" I ask. "Was it of his brother dying again?"

"No," he shakes his head. "It was of him losing the rest of the team while you were doing your Ascension Trial. Was it really that bad?"

"Yes," I answer immediately. "It makes sense, I mean, but I don't think you should ever do that again."

"Alright," he nods, then mutters. "I need to change the Third Ascension Trial, too, in case you manage to reach that before everything ends."

"Alright," I grin at him. "Anything else, before I head to the fields and try to forge a new Class?"

"Yes," he thinks for a few moments. "Alexander may realize something, Zack. Something… that I've hidden from you."

"What's that?" I ask.

"A detail of the vision," he answers. "That you didn't receive."

"Which is?" I ask.

"Something even the one who had it didn't see…"

But if there's another part to the vision, then wouldn't that mean Big S was the one who had it?

"But you said you can't use the power of sight anymore?"

"I can't," he shakes his head. "My power of sight is tied up with the System at all times, Zack. But when I bolstered his power… I had the vision, too, because it was through my power that he had it. And I had an additional part of the vision. What the realization was, Zack. The realization led to Alexander's victory. It led to him entering reality. You would have seen that part as well, but… I may have interfered with your vision to end it before you got to that point."

"Why?" I ask. "If we can find the pair of brothers-"

"I already know who they are," he states. "I've always known, Zack. I've known since I first saw them who they were. That the moment I became aware of them, I knew who the brothers were, and who would lead us to victory or destruction."

"Who?" I ask. "We can work on this! Try to convert the brother of realization to our side and-"

"No," he shakes his head. "I do not worry about it, Zack. Everything that has happened… realization will never happen. Alexander has inadvertently brought about his downfall, unaware of it. That's why I never told you."

But he's feeling guilty over affecting my vision, so he's coming clean, even if it doesn't matter.

"It's alright," I approach him and place a hand on the side of his head. "You were just worried, Big S."

"Yeah," he gives me a weak smile, which looks funny on a dragon.

"Come on," I smile. "Send me back so I can show Alexander who's boss!"

He laughs, and a moment later, I find myself standing on the steps of the Dark Temple in Talorn. This works, too.

Reaching deep inside of me, I close my eyes, feeling for all my power. I feel for the powers of holy and dark within me and bring them together. Adventurer allows me to use them together, but what happens when they are actually together?

That is what I want.

Drawing upon the conflicting powers, I reshape their abilities into a unified force, and I can feel Alexander's unease as I do, his fear, and I delight in it, especially when a notice appears in my vision.

Class Forged: Dark Paladin Title Earned: Class-Maker Calculating Stats... Calculating Description... Calculating Unique Skills... Calculating Absurdity... Aurum has Access, by the way. Forgot to mention that.

I laugh at Big S's notice, then wait for everything to change. It doesn't seem to be able to be dismissed, so I have to wait for it to finish changing over. While I do, I sit down and think over things. I was wondering why there was an extra crystal darkened on his altar, and I suppose giving Aurum Access would explain that.

Class Forged: Dark Paladin Title Earned: Class-Maker Calculating Stats... complete! Calculating Description... complete! Calculating Unique Skills... complete! Calculating Absurdity... complete! Aurum has Access, by the way. Forgot to mention that.

It allows me to dismiss it after that, and I'm able to pull up the information on Dark Paladin. I suppose Big S was trying to figure out a name in a rush because he didn't actually know what I was making. It is a fusion of Cursed Classes and Holy Classes, though.

Even many of its Skills fuse them together. Hellish Blessing is in the list, which is a mixture between Demonic Aura and an Angel Skill. There are two Skills that I'm really looking forward to, however. Well, one of them is a Skill list.

Much like with Demon and Angel, I can take on its various aspects. Its wings, its horn, its tail, its voice, and more.

The requirements for Dark Paladin is a mastered Angel and a mastered Demon Class, which I have, so I take it on.

You are now a Dark Paladin +1 Strength +1 Endurance +2 Vitality +1 Agility +1 Intellect +1 Willpower +1 Wisdom +1 Perception

Nice! I forgot that Rank 4 would be at the point where it gave a total of 9 Stat Points per Level at the start!

Now it's time to acquire my epic wings and my new form! Focusing on the feel of wings stretching out of my back, I tune out the senses that would give me Demon Wings and the ones that would give me Angel Wings while simultaneously reaching for both.

It only takes a few moments before I feel my new wings stretching out of my back as a notice appears in my vision.

New Skill! Eidolon Wings Active Manifest a pair of eidolon wings to fly around. An Eidolon is swift, and can fly at five times the speed at which a human can move. Cost: 5 Mana per second

With my new wings, I focus on their feel, pushing that sense of them through my entire body, much in the same way I did with Demonic Voice for my Demon Form. Having had that form and knowing what it felt like, doing this is quite easy, and it only takes me a few more moments before Eidolon Wings ends and a new Skill appears as I feel my body shift again.

New Skill! Eidolon Form Active Take on the form of an Eidolon to enhance your powers far beyond the norm. Become a being which is neither angelic nor demonic, yet both at the same time. Boost: +25% to all Stats per Level of this Skill Cost: 20 Mana per second (decreases by 1 Mana per second per Level of this Skill)

Nice! This Skill isn't a duration one like Demon Form and Angel Form, but one which is active until either I run out of Mana or I cancel it! That is awesome! And what's more, with either just the wings or in this form, I can fly way, way faster!

Even better, I only need to Level Eidolon Form four times to receive the same bonus I do with Demon Form and would if I took on Angel Form and mastered it. Naturally, that means this is probably going to be a pain in the ass to Master.

Flapping my wings, I soar around Talorn, looking at the pathetic monsters below. I won't even gain Experience fighting here anymore. I suppose something deep like the mines by Praevar or going into Lost Territory will really be the only way to boost things, now.

"Hey, Big S?" I say after adjusting to this form. He doesn't respond. "Think I can handle the second of the three?"

I cancel Eidolon Form and land on a roof, then change into my Armor of the End and equip my Sword of the End and Knife of the End.

"How about now?" I ask.

I find myself in another temple prison, this time facing someone who looks like he could be a brother to Alexander, wearing a tunic, pair of pants, and boots. I draw my sword as he looks startled by my appearance.

"I am the incarnation of hell itself."