Chapter 186: Class Creator Upgrade & Template Upgrade Trial Hint

Only half an hour later, Aurelius exited the dilapidated house and watched the silvery shadow behind him flicker before disappearing.

Looking at Selene’s fast pace, he shook his head.

He knew very well that she was in a hurry.

Just as she had said before, she had to go to the Imperial City as soon as possible and investigate her assassination target.

Clearly, she was very impatient to increase her authority level within the Blood Temple.

As for the reason, Aurelius didn’t ask, but he could guess a few things.

Most likely, it had something to do with her mother’s disappearance.

Organizing his thoughts, Aurelius no longer thought about it.

After entering a dark alleyway, he quickly changed his clothes, putting his disguise back into the System Inventory and transforming back into a young noble.

Once he was certain that there was nothing unusual around him, he walked out of the alley.

Then, with brisk steps, he began wandering through the city once more.

The atmosphere of Blood Sun City was still somewhat strange.

The Players had already returned to their world, and the lively streets had become noticeably quieter.

However, Aurelius didn’t pay much attention to this.

While on the way, he summoned his Player Panel.

Immediately, lines of text materialized before his eyes.

...

[Name: Aurelius Sol]

[Template: NPC (Common), Player]

[Title: Rabbit Killer, Fated Hero, The Friend of a Necromancer]

[Class: Forbidden Arcanist]

[Sub-Class: Alchemist — Level 55 {Capped}]

[Sub-Class: Class Creator — Level 19/20 (0/2000)]

[Rank: 3 / Level: 50/60 (0/5100)]

[Base Stats:] Strength: 238, Agility: 226, Intelligence: 421, Vitality: 172, Luck: 40, Spirit: 6000/6000

[Skills: Infinite Fusion Lv. 1, Mutated Demigod’s Physique Lv. 1, Transmutation Lv. 10, Netherworld Seal Lv. 1, Arcane Tower Lv. 1, Spirit Storm Lv. 1...]

[Talents: Arcanist’s Heart Lv. 1, Alchemist’s Touch Lv. 2, Knowledge Library Lv. 1, Divine Intervention, Trade, Arcane Domain Lv. 1, ...]

[Reputation: 17]

[Skill Points: 35]

[EXP: 16,400]

[Relics: Sea God’s Trident (Epic), Dryad’s Scepter (Elite), Blood Crown Fragment (Elite), Mystery Cloak (Epic), Underworld Coffin (Artifact), Inheritance of the Undead Knight, ...]

[Inventory: Origin Mana Seed, Arcanist’s Forbidden Codex, Template Upgrade Opportunity]

...

Every single column had changed, whether it was the skills, Talents, or, above all, the Base Stats.

The latter had almost doubled.

Partly, this was due to the improvements brought by the Base Stats Fruits and his other Skills.

But the more important reason was the increase in his Level.

The Forbidden Arcanist Class had already reached Level 50, increasing by ten Levels since its advancement.

Likewise, the Alchemist Sub-Class had been brought to the current limit, bringing a rapid increase in both Intelligence and Agility.

The only Class that had not benefited much was the Class Creator Sub-Class, which still remained at the limit of Rank 1.

The reason was actually simple.

Unlike the Alchemist Sub-Class, which was relatively easy and cheap to upgrade, the Class Creator Sub-Class had much more stringent requirements in terms of EXP.

Since his main goal was to improve his strength as quickly as possible, Aurelius had set it aside for the time being.

There was simply no reason to waste precious EXP on a Sub-Class that didn’t directly contribute much to his combat strength.

It was only now, when improving the Forbidden Arcanist Class required more than double the Experience, that Aurelius decided to upgrade this mysterious Sub-Class as well.

With a thought, Aurelius clicked on the (+) button beside it.

Immediately, the EXP at the bottom of his Player Panel decreased.

...

[You’ve Leveled Up. Your Class Creator Sub-Class has reached Level 20.]

[Congratulations! Your Class Creator Sub-Class has met the primary requirement to upgrade to Rank 2.]

[Requirements:]

[1. Class Creator Sub-Class reaches Level 20. (?)]

[2. Conduct more than twenty Trades. (?)]

[3. Teach a Class you’ve created to ten people. (?)]

...

"Ding!"

"It has been detected that the Player has met the requirements for advancing to Rank 2!"

"Do you wish to proceed?"

...

Aurelius was caught off guard by the barrage of prompts.

It was truly unexpected.

As far as he knew, Sub-Classes had no requirements for advancing between different Ranks.

There was no need to perform an Advancement Ritual or Ceremony. The Alchemist Sub-Class, which had been upgraded twice so far, had only confirmed that notion.

Yet the Class Creator Sub-Class seemed to completely go against that rule. Not only were there requirements for its upgrade, but there were also three of them.

The first was fine.

It was practically a pseudo-requirement for all Classes, simply requiring him to reach the necessary Level.

As for the other two, they were quite similar to the Advancement Rituals of the main Classes.

Aurelius was deep in thought.

He had never expected the Class Creator Sub-Class to have such a unique method of advancement.

It was clearly different from the Alchemist Sub-Class.

Subconsciously, he recalled the Class Creator’s description.

...

[Class Creator (Exclusive): A Sub-Class exclusive to those who have created their own Class.]

...

Exclusive...

He hadn’t thought much of it in the past. Or rather, he had no way to confirm what this meant.

But now, he discovered that this Sub-Class might be far more mysterious than he had originally thought.

Of course, no matter what secrets it might hold, it had nothing to do with him at present.

After a brief hesitation, he raised his head to look at the final question and confirmed his choice.

Immediately, the flood of notifications vanished.

Aurelius felt a slight change in the depths of his body, though it quickly disappeared.

The change was so subtle that if he hadn’t been paying attention, he might not have noticed it at all.

It was as though the Class Creator’s advancement had failed.

However, Aurelius knew very well that it hadn’t.

The prompts in his vision were proof of that.

...

"Congratulations! Your Class Creator Sub-Class has advanced to Rank 2."

"Gained: Class Creation Token, Class Creator’s Guide, Template Upgrade Trial Hint."

[You’ve gained: INT +1, LUCK +1]

...

Unlike the Alchemist Sub-Class, which granted Aurelius skills and Talents upon its upgrade, Class Creator was obviously different.

Until this day, there were no abilities other than Trade and Teaching. And judging from this upgrade, it looked like that would remain true for a long time to come.

Even so, Aurelius was not disappointed.

When he looked at the rewards, his eyes couldn’t help but shine.

He was already familiar with the Class Creation Token, being the item he had used to create the Sun Knight Class. As such, he was fully aware of its value and extraordinary nature.

The fact that he could obtain another Class Creation Token meant that he would have another opportunity to create a powerful Class in the future.

As for the other two rewards, although he had never seen them before, he already had some guesses about them.

...

[Class Creator’s Guide: You can consume this item to upgrade one of your Sub-Class—Class Creator’s Talents or Skills.]

...

’Sure enough...’ Aurelius muttered inwardly.

He was quite familiar with this type of Item.

He had already used something similar in the past to upgrade Transmutation and still had the Arcanist’s Forbidden Codex to this day, which allowed him to upgrade a Talent or skill of the Arcanist Class as well.

Without even needing to think about it, Aurelius understood its value.

Trade and Teaching had helped him greatly so far, after all.

Had it not been for these two abilities, he would have never been able to advance to Rank 3 so quickly. Most likely, he would still be a Rank 2 Awakener to this day.

However, despite knowing this, this reward was still not the most important one in Aurelius’ eyes.

With clear anticipation in his eyes, he moved his gaze toward the final reward.

Template Upgrade Trial Hint...

...

[Template Upgrade Trial Hint: You can consume this item to receive a hint regarding the Template Upgrade Trial. Upon use, the Awakener will have twenty-four hours to undergo the Trial.]

...

Aurelius’ guess had been confirmed.

Just like its name suggested, this item could let him obtain a hint for the Template Upgrade Trial.

Although some time had passed, and many things had happened since then, he still hadn’t forgotten the reward he had once obtained.

...

[Template Upgrade Opportunity: You can consume this item to upgrade one of your Templates.]

[Reminder: To complete the upgrade, you’ll have to undergo a Trial.]

...

Until now, Aurelius hadn’t used it, being wary of the dangers the Trial represented.

Since the System reminded him, he knew it was far from simple.

Now that he had advanced to Rank 3, however, he was already planning to make preparations to consume this item.

Yet what he hadn’t expected was that the Player Panel would directly reward him with a hint.

Even though obtaining it meant he would have to undergo the Trial almost immediately, it still gave him twenty-four hours to prepare himself.

Such an amount of time was more than enough to make some necessary preparations.

Almost subconsciously, Aurelius’ footsteps quickened.

Before long, he had left the familiar streets behind him, arriving at a remote part of the city.

But just then...