Chapter 194: [Hollow Death Knight]

Chapter 194: [Hollow Death Knight]

I opened my eyes, a serene calm washing over me. I had achieved something? Oh, right, my class evolution! The trial! I had succeeded! But how had I done so again?

My memories had been tampered with. When I tried to remember my trial, or even my earlier trials, I only remembered an endless white void accompanied by feelings. Emotions?

The first trial was accompanied by a sense of guilt and impatience. As if I had forgotten about something and quickly needed to set about rectifying it.

The second was by far the most painful, the most disturbing. A mesh of hopelessness, despair and agony. Something told me that I should be glad not to remember the contents of this one.

The third and most recent trial gave me a sense of contentment. As if I had- had made up for something bad I had done, somehow. As if I had found the answer, the solution I had been looking for. A solution, rather. One that made me feel proud.

While this mess of emotions slowly floated to the back of my mind, I wondered whether I would ever receive clear memories of what had happened during the trials. Where before I hadnt remembered anything, now I at least felt emotions paired with the trials. That was an improvement, one that I wasnt certain was worth encouraging.

Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, a system prompt blocked my vision, distracting me from myself and notifying me of a welcome occurrence.

Ding! Class evolution complete!

Assigning class....[Hollow Death Knight]

[Hollow Death Knight]

An exception among [Death Knights], you lack the guidance of a master. As a result, you are left with the burden of finding true purpose by yourself. Like a hollow pit, mana flows into you and transforms into something else entirely. One day, you will find your purpose. When you do, you will be hollow no longer.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Your signature skill is [Dark pursuer]

Gain 30 stat points in each physical stat, 10 stat points in each mental stat and 10 free stat points per level.

I balked at the description of my newly evolved class. Not because of the summary itself, though. No, that drivel was as obnoxious as it had always been and suitably vague to boot. Poetically, the name had come full circle and returned my title of [Death Knight], while pointing out my lack of a master. That didnt bother me much, of course.

What really caught me off guard was my new stat growth. I had expected my stat growth to be doubled, as it usually seemed to do with most of my evolutions. Instead, they had nearly quadrupled! Well, my physical stat growth, anyway. To compensate, my free stat point gain hadnt grown at all, but that was only a small loss considering the flat 30 increase for some of my other stats.

I did some quick calculations to see if I would be able to reach the fabled fifth milestone before my next class evolution after all

[Greater curse resistance](0%)

Tier 4 skill.

Effect, spread and duration of curses are greatly diminished. This skill can be overwhelmed by higher-tiered curses or a great amount of curses spreading simultaneously.

Increase skill tier through use.

The first of the two seemed far less impressive than [Dark Pursuer]. Maybe this was because I hadnt actually tiered up all of my skills before going right for my class advancement. Instead of gaining another groundbreaking skill, I had been given a rather mundane, if effective, one.

While I couldnt help but express my disappointment in the skill inwardly, I also couldnt deny that the skill would have come in handy against the tough armadillos I had faced before coming here. A skill like [Unstable breaking swipe] would have been a godsend. Furthermore, the ability to leave a guaranteed curse mark without needing to leave a wound was also quite convenient. This way, even classers that were a lot more powerful than me wouldnt be able to prevent the mark and suffer the consequences. I suppose the skill would have its uses, eventually. Active, all-purpose skills like it always did.

The second new skill was even less impressive, on paper. It was highly situational, after all. That being said, I welcomed the skill greatly. Resistances were already incredibly rare on their own and my recent encounter with deadly curses had left me shaken. Something about the new addition made me feel more secure. Protected, even. If there was one thing my [Dark embodiment] had trouble dealing with, it would be curses, after all. Covering my bases had always been one of my priorities.

With all of the new additions looked at, I took a moment to reflect. Tiering up without training had been a risky move, but it was necessary. If Emeri and I wanted to survive the coming battle, we would have to pull out all of the stops. Unfortunately, the fact that I had left some skills by the wayside meant that the system had granted me two less inspired skills to work with, though they certainly seemed effective. The system had used my recent hurdles as the foundation for these skills, rather than my new class. That was the price I would have to pay.

Besides, my new fantastic stat growth was more than enough to satisfy me and my new signature skill paired well with what I already had available. Overall, I couldnt say that I regretted my decision. Time would tell if it had been the right one.

I rested for a few more minutes before crawling back out of the cave. Right outside of the entrance I found the familiar form of the dry man hunched over some tomes and drawings that vaguely resembled the fort I had tasked him with enchanting.

Arthur. Forgot something? he asked, noticing my presence.

Huh? What do you mean?

Well, shouldnt you be getting to your trial right about now? Or have you changed your mind? he added lamely, not looking up from his work.

Trial? I just finished it, actually. Why?

This time he did look up, eyes wide in alarm. You finished it?! he asked, incredulous.

I chuckled nervously, not understanding why he spoke so urgently. No need to sound so surprised, old man. Did you not have faith in me, or something?

Child only a few minutes have passed since you stepped inside of that cave for the first time.