Jay stumbled through the streets of the forgotten town, feeling dead.

The power he had gained from his classes evolving was enough to win him the fight against Blood, but the sudden change to his existence couldn't be written off, with him walking away from it without harm.

Jay coughed out a piece of flesh. That's part of your right lung, isn't it?

Yep. It just got healed though. My body seems to be changing.

Jay opened up the status for one of his classes.

Amber Form-Opal Shape

All class skills removed and replaced.

New skills:

Opal Defense: Your skin, flesh, and bones are as hard as magical opal, if not harder. Influenced by defensive stats.

Refract: Bend light through your body.

Weaponmaster-Warrior of the Lone Star

Skills Changed:

Hook of Thought-Chains of Fading Light: Launch twilight chains that hook onto anything you can comprehend.

Thoughtcleave-Soulcleave

Thoughtshield-Starscape: Truly see your enemies, without falsehood or trickery.

Weapon mastery: Removed

Skill gained:

Let the Lone Star Shine Eternal Calamity Upon the World

Jay did a quick take-back on the last skill. It was not one to be used lightly.

Deep Walker-Deep Protector

Water Bullet-Depths Bullet:Can be rapid-fired. Launch a piece of the crushing depths at your enemies.

Summon Water: Summon and control water

Crush-Forceful Intent:Control small amounts of momentum.

Summon the Ocean- Defend the Ocean, and it Defends You

It was a bit annoying to not have any description on the red skills, but that was fine. The system was telling him not to use them lightly, and the warning was welcome. However, why did it have to take one of his most-used skills in return?

Collector-Tax Collector

Eyes of the Collector-Watch Them Slowly Die

Collect Their Strength-An Eye For An Eye

Collect-Levy:Impose a tax on them that slowly sucks away at their lifeforce until fulfilled. After the tax is fulfilled, they will be returned all of the stolen lifeforce, with interest. The interest comes from you.

Two red skills? That was new.

Child of Summer Blossoms-Ward of Fallen Leaves

Seasonal Embrace(New season added):

Autumn:

Slow down, but increase your defense.

Skill added:

Windswept Leaf

Commander-Dominator

Marching Song-Controlling Song:Speak within their minds.

Lead From the Front-Shatter Their Defenses:Be at the front of every charge.

Jay nodded. This was pretty good, as he'd seen before. The blood beast hadn't held a chance. Windswept Leaf had gotten him out from under its bulk, then Summon water had done the rest.

Through all of this, he continued walking, hoping to eventually reach someplace he could return to his world. Houses clustered around him, none of them seeming to be inhabited, just as the ones that had been destroyed by the blood beast. What was this place? Amon? Seen anyone yet?

No, laddie! Mighty suspicious, if ye ask me!

Amon. Are you trying to adopt a pirate accent?

...No?

Jay sighed, leaving her to her antics. After a moment, silver liquid flowed out of his hand, creating a walking stick he could use. Quickly checking his resources, Jay released a blast of The Harsh, Lifegiving Sun at the highest power he could manage, his wounds quickly closing. Amon started sucking the cane back into his body, but when Jay started leaning on walls, the flow stopped, the liquid reforming. Thankfully grabbing the cane, Jay continued walking.

He may not be injured anymore, but damn, was he tired.

Diamond tilted his head, staring at what, to others, seemed like a wall. It wasn't just any wall, though. It was an illusionary wall. It was where he was going to make his new portal. He'd lost contact with his clone as soon as it had gone through. He hadn't put much power into it, so it was expected that it would fall as soon as it met an opponent with any sort of power, but immediately?

That was a problem.

Diamond looked at the clone behind him and it gave him a thumbs up. It would deal with all the paperwork back here and he could go save them. If something back here happened, the council was on its own.

Saluting the clone, Diamond walked through the wall.

No need for runes when your illusions convince space itself.

A vast metropolis sprawled in front of him, many of the creatures of Striaster's race staring directly at his entering body. "Boss?," one said, his language easily understandable, though Diamond could tell it wasn't any spoken on his world, "Didn't we kill him already?"

The one Diamond assumed was the 'boss' held up a hand, flames burning on the end. "Let's just kill him again. No one disturbs our queen's peace."

By now, Diamond had managed to locate Jay. He was relatively far away to the east. Turning, he walked off, entirely unconcerned about the force around him. Pushing through the circle of guards, too surprised to stop him, he more closely examine the city. There were massive buildings everywhere, tall enough to poke through the clouds. Smaller buildings dotted the area as well, all of them... advanced, if he could say so.

But they were also destroyed. There was a giant compound close to him, and he could feel the long-dead runes of a portal sketched there. Looking into the sky, Diamond found a perfectly healthy star. He assumed that the original population had left the world for some reason, though he couldn't gather why. They had a good star, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was the Zarlans?

Casually breaking the arm of the 'boss', who tried to punch him, Diamond flew towards the compound. There were answers to be found.

As soon as he entered the gates, he realized why they had left. There was a massive crater in the center of the courtyard, everywhere else coated with traces of blood from ancient foes. The spirits still swirled around here, the might of the attacks from the past affecting them in some way.

He looked around some more, but found nothing, deciding to walk out. There would be time for more investigation after he found the boy-what was that?

Diamond turned. There was a corpse a few feet under the ground. Two, actually, though one was in better condition than the other. He found the one in better condition first, a hole through his neck, still with a look of surprise on his face. Diamond looked over the body, seeing something that chilled him. The corpse bore an insignia.

A brand on his arm. A werewolf howling at the moon, standing in a pile of corpses. The insignia of the Hunters branch of the Monsters as Men.

Diamond instantly incinerated the corpse, moving onto the next. He dragged it out, laying it on the floor. This one had its ribs caved in, with a giant hole where its heart could be.

Analyzing the wound, Diamond realized that the corpse was the one responsible for the crater. It had detonated its own heart. He quickly searched it, but found no brands. This one was not part of the Monsters. Sighing in relief, Diamond sat back. How long had it been since the battle?

Given the traces of blood... around a hundred years. The corpses would normally have decomposed, only bones remaining, but the crater was proof of how strong they were.

Diamond stood up, looking at the face of the unburnt corpse.

It was yet a child.