Having rushed up back to his room, Alaric stared at the full-body mirror showing his reflection in stunned silence. After the whole process downstairs had completed, it took only a single look down before he sprinted his way up the stairs.
On top of that, a sprint that should've taken at the absolute least fifteen or so seconds for a normal human was done in less than five, and could've certainly been done faster if Alaric had been familiar with his newfound speed.
Looking into the mirror, Alaric could only stare in silence at his new appearance. Although he had no idea if he had changed at all physically, his clothing certainly went through a metamorphosis.
Being replaced with a black mechanical-esque bodysuit that stuck well to his lean yet athletic physique, and despite its mechanical appearance, seemed to be incredible flexible as he could move his limbs without restriction.
Looking closer, you could see that the bodysuit wasn't completely just a metallic black, but seemed to have tiny white specs that made it resemble outer space. The white specs weren't obvious, but certainly weren't invisible.
Aside from the white specs, the bodysuit also had a pair of sharp white glowing eyes that constantly changed shape to match whatever expression Alaric could be making underneath, even if there wasn't a visible mouth.
Aside from the bodysuit, he also had an accessory that contrasted greatly with the black coloured bodysuit.
It came in the form of a semi-transparent hooded white cloak that draped over his left shoulder, with the tips of the cloak slowly fading into complete transparency. The cloak also produced a constant faint but noticeable illumination of white light.
Although the design of his new clothing was rather simplistic overall, it certainly gave off an otherworldly feeling.
"I don't know how I feel about this, maybe it's due to my lack of a mouth..." Alaric held his hand over where his mouth would usually be as he said this. "I wasn't expecting to get an entire costume change."
After admiring himself for a moment, he then opened up the system.
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[RPG Master System]
➣ Store Details
➣ Class Files (Active: File 1): [File 1 - Moon Sovereign]
➣ Mission (Main: 0 | Side: 0)
➣ Inventory (2/100)
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Out of pure curiosity, Alaric decided to deactivate his current Class.
Upon doing so, his body was covered in a pillar of light before it quickly fading away just as quickly as it came. In that short timeframe, Alaric soon found himself back in his casual home and/or sleep wear.
"So, they're like separate character saves in an MMORPG." This was Alaric's basic conclusion as he felt the incredible strength he had just gained completely drain away in an instant after he deactivated the Class. "Though, it seems like I only have one available slot..."
From what he could tell, there was only a slot available for him to have a single Class to his name. Considering it was called 'File 1', there naturally had to be subsequent files afterwards. As to how he'd gain access to said files, he wasn't quite sure.
Whatever the case may be, once he hypothetically did manage to unlock more slots for other potential Classes for him to use, the versatility he had would skyrocket depending on what Classes he could get his hands on.
As for the Moon Sovereign, Alaric had no idea what the finer details of the Class were.
Naturally, he quickly reactivated the Class as the same pillar of light appeared before he reappeared in the armor from earlier before going back into the system to check on the details of the Class.
"Let's see..."
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[Class Details]
➣ Class Name: Moon Sovereign (Legendary)
➣ Class Level: 1/20 - [EXP: 0/50]
➣ Ascension: ★☆☆☆☆
➣ Class Trait: [Lunar Dominion]
➣ Equipment: [Deep Space Bodysuit] [Moonthread Cloak]
Skills:
➣ Active Skills: [Crescent Slash] [Moonlit Walker]
➣ Passive Skills: [Under Moonlit Gaze]
➣ Ultimate Skills: [None]
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"Okay, there's a lot more here than I thought there'd be for a brand new Class." Alaric blinked before muttering in pleasant surprise. "A level one as well, no less..."
For an experienced RPG player like himself, pretty everything on the screen was something he could easily figure out. Be it what the different kinds of skills were, how they most likely functioned, and more.
"Ascension?" Alaric tilted his head a bit after seeing it. "Is this like some Fate type shit or something?"
Instead of purely guessing, Alaric didn't hesitate to open up his Inventory before taking out the guidebook that he'd been rewarded after completing the mission from before. It wasn't anything fancy, at least not to him.
It came in the form of a single-purpose tablet-like rectangular object that when interacted with gave various menu options on its display that lead to different kinds of explanations that the person may need to know.
"Okay..." Alaric silently read through what was on the guidebook. "It really is like Fate then, except with a little more... exploration? Is that the right word?"
In any case, what Alaric had learnt was that the Ascension section was basically a kind of indicator for the stage in which a Class has reached. Taking his Moon Sovereign Class as an example, with only one star filled in, that meant it was in its first stage.
Upon reaching the current stage's level cap, that being 20 for Stage 1, according to the guidebook, the person would then be given the opportunity to choose from a given set of options for evolutions for the Class.
For example, a person's Class may choose to have their Class evolve to focus more on a particular kind of battle style, be it close or ranged combat, support, and more. To put it simply, a Class could evolve into an advanced version that the person chooses upon reaching their current level cap.
After understanding all of that, Alaric then proceeded to check out all of the skills and equipment.
Starting with the equipment, there wasn't really much to say, they didn't seem to be specified to have any particular special effects. Their text after tapping on them only had basic descriptions that he honestly could've come up with on his own.
The skills were the real highlights though.
'Crescent Slash' and 'Moonlit Walker' were rather basic but no doubt very useful skills, especially as a set of starting skills. Compared to them though, it was the skill 'Under Moonlit Gaze' and the class trait 'Lunar Dominion' that made him doubt his eyes.
Moon Sovereign was identified as a Legendary graded Class, which when he skimmed through the guidebook just now, he had come to learn was the highest possible grade a Class could be.
Even then, Alaric couldn't help but feel that 'Under Moonlit Gaze' and 'Lunar Dominion' were a bit too powerful, but maybe that was just him. His Class Trait and Skills were as follows:
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➣ Crescent Slash - [Type: Active] [Cooldown: 5s] [Effect: A powerful slash empowered by lunar energy]
➣ Moonlit Walker - [Type: Active] [Cooldown: 8s] [Effect: Flash up to 10m in any direction by turning into pure moonlight, even through solid objects]
➣ Under Moonlit Gaze - [Type: Passive] [Cooldown: N/A] [Effect: During the night, all physical attributes increase by 500% and Skills have their effects increased by 25%. If under direct exposure to moonlight, the percentage increase becomes 1000% for physical attribute increase and 50% for Skills]
➣ Lunar Dominion - [Type: Class Trait] [Cooldown: 300s] [Effect: Call upon the night as you wish and change the moon to one of the available Moon States to achieve varying effect. This change reverts back to normal after a minute. The Moon States are as follows: Full Moon (Details), Supermoon (Details), Harvest Moon (Details), Blue Moon (Details), Blood Moon (Details)]
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As can be seen from the description of the effect for 'Under Moonlit Gaze', it was incredibly overpowered, but maybe that was just how a Legendary Class could be considered, well... legendary.
"Lunar Dominion, is that description serious? It can't be what I'm thinking, right...?" Alaric was both doubtful yet delighted at the prospect. If this was true, he could literally make it night time whenever he wished, even if only temporary. "That's pretty damn busted."
Especially together with 'Under Moonlit Gaze', the two skills complimented one another brilliantly. The former granted a passive boost in power during the night, and the latter was a key to activating that boost even if it was currently daytime.
The only question that Alaric couldn't help but wonder was whether it literally changed the state of the day and night cycle temporarily for the actual sky, or if it created some kind of perhaps false illusion to mimic night time.
Only one way to find out... but, not for now.
"Overall, this seems to be a pretty damn overpowered Class... not complaining."
Closing Class file, Alaric didn't immediately shut the system down, instead navigating to the Missions tab. While running up, he had noticed that he'd been assigned a new mission, so he naturally wanted to see what was up.
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[Main Mission]
➣ Mission Name: Pioneering A New World
➣ Objective (Tracking: Unavailable): It's time to make the first marks in history of this new coming era. Grant new Classes to 10 individuals (Progress: 0/10)
-
Reward(s):
➣ 150 Store EXP
➣ Tier-1 Class EXP Crystal (Amount: 3)
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"Easier said than done." Alaric immediately voice after reading the objective. "This place has literally no reputation whatsoever. Unless some curious soul decides to gamble on fate, or I do some advertising to get some curiosity sparking, this mission may never get complete."
Ten people didn't sound like a lot, and while he didn't know how much about whether 100,000 mora was a lot or not for the common citizens, he at least knew that it shouldn't be too cheap even if it could only grant a Common or Rare graded Class.
As for advertising, would anyone really believe such nonsense? Even if it was real, no person in their right mind would believe it if he just came up to them and said that he could grant them powers beyond those that wielded Visions.
Of course, he could go for the direct approach...
The only issue being that such a method might stir up some more than unnecessary situations that he'd rather avoid, at least not until he was confident that he was strong enough to protect himself against a majority of threats.
"Even if the requirement is only ten, this might turn into a long term mission..." Alaric sighed to himself before deactivating his Class, returning to his usual appearance. "For now though, I should go and... familiarize myself."
Glancing towards the window, Alaric narrowed his eyes slightly before a small smile appeared on his face.
____________
The drastic change in scenery was certainly an interesting experience, it was as if he had travelled to an entirely different country in an instant. Well, that was indeed the case, but it was a seriously bizarre feeling.
He was now dressed in some casual modern day clothing, consisting of a light-grey t-shirt, sleek long black pants, and a pair of black and white running shoes. As for any accessories, aside from his phone that he had in his pocket, that was it.
As Alaric walked through the streets of Liyue Harbour, he admired all of the sights and even greeted a few people that he happened to pass by. It was very early in the morning, so there didn't seem to be too many people around and about.
Those who were looked to all be people getting ready to start the day, be it taking a casual stroll like him or were setting up their businesses. Although perhaps a bit too early to say, this city seemed to be quite the peaceful establishment.
'Right, the mission rewarded me with a million mora, should I look for something to eat?' Alaric thought to himself as he gently tapped his stomach. 'I'm not too hungry, but breakfast is pretty important. Something light...'
As for whether he could afford it, he doubted a million mora wouldn't be able to cover it... at least he sure as hell hoped it wouldn't be an issue. A bowl of noodles or whatever was sold here didn't cost more than that, surely.
"This place looks good."
Looking up at the relatively small but clean restaurant, Alaric nodded before walking towards it. He could see through the open view leading into what he assumed was most likely the kitchen, there was a middle-aged man busy doing whatever it was he was doing.
"Hey there, are you perhaps open yet?"
"Of course! Please take a seat and have a look through our menu."
Nodding his head, Alaric did just that as he looked around at the currently empty establishment. With many options to choose from, he simply decided to take a seat at one of the smaller tables no doubt for lone customers or smaller groups.
Although the wooden chairs weren't exactly the greatest, it wasn't near uncomfortable enough that he'd make a complaint. On each table there was already a menu ready, to which he picked it up and began casually skimming through.
The menu wasn't exactly the greatest in terms of quality, being a number of somewhat crude paper connected together to form the menu, and the writing inside looked to all be hand written. It was neat handwriting though, so that was fine.
'Oh? There are quite a lot of options, mainly Chinese cuisine, no surprise there.' Alaric muttered as he read over the options. 'Seems like my worries were unnecessary, most of these items don't even go over a thousand mora.'
Those items were the small casual options, as for full meals that could really stuff you, they all seemed to range upwards of around 1,500 to 3,000 mora at most. With his million mora budget, it seems he could order with confidence.
'I just hope I don't get sick...'
While he didn't want to doubt the chef's skills, he came from an entirely different world, humans in this world may have evolved to adapt to certain foods.
He also came from a country that had relatively high regulations for food safety standards, so considering the level of advancement in this world according to his knowledge, he was a bit on edge. At the very least, he hoped the food safety standards were better than certain countries he knew of.
"Hm? Oh, there was another customer?"
Alaric hadn't really looked around, but hearing how quiet it was, he had assumed no one was here to eat yet. Only after sitting down did he soon notice that there seemed to be someone eating in an isolated corner of the restaurant.
It was a bit on the dark side, so he couldn't make them out fully, but the person seemed to be a female with a slender but well-proportioned figure. Their clothing was, to say the least, exotic in nature and looked extremely expensive.
They also had light blue hair, styled in a way he couldn't quite see clearly, though whatever accessory they had on their head still eluded him. Was it some kind of hat? They do kind of look like horns from where he was, so were they real?
Whatever the case, Alaric found himself dumbfounded when he saw what she was eating.
In front of the female was a bowl with a tower of a salad, it looked like it might topple over if even a tiny gust of wind brushed against it. Could that person really eat all of that? For someone like Alaric who didn't eat that much, the idea of eating that whole salad sounded impossible.
'She looks pretty skinny, maybe the people of this world have a high metabolism or something...' Alaric couldn't help but wonder after seeing the scene. 'Damn, she really is getting through that behemoth.'
Not wanting to be caught staring, Alaric was about to put his attention back on the menu, only to stop when he saw someone walking over to the female he'd seen. The person was a young girl a few years younger than himself, and she looked familiar, but that wasn't what was important!
It was the plate of salad that the girl was holding that caught his attention, the plate in which was then placed down onto the table that the other female was currently eating at. Seeing this, Alaric went into stunned silence.
"...Eh~?"