Guild Wars

Garret Marshall, Cyrus Blood, Conner Lord and Henry Jasek sat awkwardly behind a table, surrounded by the shadows of their God Serpents who were kneeling before the man at the head of the table who had manifested the Black Dragon.

"So, four of my generals have arrived before me. Garrett Marshall/Hades, you are the inheritor of Nidhogg, the Dragon God of Devouring. Cyrus Blood/Ghostprotokill, you are the inheritor of Orochi, the Eight-headed Dragon God. Connor Lord/Krona, you are the inheritor of Leviathan, the Behemoth Serpent of the Deep. Finally, Henry Jasek/Nightwalker, you are the inheritor of Jormungandr, the Ragnarok Bringer."

Draco idly flipped a page of the book he was reading, smiling lightly. "So, now that you are here, what do you plan to do?"

The four were deathly still and silent. Hades had come out of curiosity, along with Krona. Nightwalker had come with a bellyful of righteous justice that was unable to escape, and Ghostpro had come here to request the Nuwa inheritor to resurrect his family.

However, none were able to voice out anything in the face of that all encompassing aura that felt like being caught in a  tornado to these four. It took all their power and capacity to not be blown away, much less open their mouths to speak. Draco smiled and continued speaking.

"Just to be clear, I'm not the Draco you're looking for. I'm merely a digital Avatar he created to handle business during his absence. He is currently in the middle of a Unique Quest and will likely only come out in 2 years gametime."

"In the meantime, you should make yourself useful and at least reach Rank 4 before his return. Given your power, all you have to do is go out and kill Rank 2 foes while at Rank 1, then aim for Rank 3 foes while at Rank 2 and so on."

"First things first, your classes are terrible. Go and Class Up immediately, and make sure to flash your bloodline when the AI is scanning you, or she won't give you a custom tailored option."

"That's all, you may leave." The Avatar dismissed them casually, snapping his fingers. Before any of the four could get a word in, they were relocated to the Rank 7 Training Hall.

The four fellows were utterly speechless, for that was not at all how they had pictured things going. Rather than a meeting with the one they were supposed to swear loyalty to, this had felt more like the four of them had been sent to the principal who had ordered them to go to detention without even listening to a word they said.

The four shared looks and unanimously decided not to talk about it. What occurred in that office would surely accompany them to the grave. Each of them entered a Private Room and followed the instructions prepared by Sublime on how to Class Up when they had joined the guild.

The same assessment screen popped up for them, and a list of options appeared. However, following Draco's directives, they only gazed at the Divine Class offered each of them

For Hades;

｢Paragon of Darkness – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 10%

Price: 10,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

｢Heaven's Devourer – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 70%

Price: 1,000,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

For Cyrus;

｢Paragon of Space / Darkness / Fire / Ice / Poison / Speed  – Class  (Editor's Note; This is not one class, but each one was its own choice)

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 10%

Price: 10,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

｢Classmaster – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 70%

Price: 1,000,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

For Krona;

｢Paragon of Water – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 10%

Price: 10,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

｢Sub-Mariner – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 70%

Price: 1,000,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

And finally Nightwalker;

｢Paragon of Destruction – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 0.00000000000000000001%

Price: 10,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

｢Calamity King – Class

Rank: Divine

Success Chance: 70%

Price: 1,000,000,000 platinum per attempt｣

Each of them paid the bill, sponsored by Vita Kingdom and their Guildmaster personally, whisked away from their rooms to their respective trials where they experienced tumultuous events.

.........…..

｢System to Player Announcement

Beginning Heaven's Devourer Class Up Procedure. Standby.｣

Hades appeared in a realm that was visually perfect. It was cloudy, the sun was bright and pure and the world was filled with life and nature. It was the kind of picture perfect area that most assumed heaven would look like.

KA-THUMP!

However, Hades clutched his chest in discomfort as he felt his heart start to accelerate. You see, he was the inheritor of Nidhogg, the Energy Devouring Dragon.

The God Serpent could absorb any form of energy, but just like anyone he had his clear preferences regarding his snacks. Nidhogg's favorite energy source was, you guessed it, Life Energy, and this realm was practically carved out of it.

｢Heaven's Devourer – Divine Class Up Procedure

Description: Energy is just a form of existence and reality that is nothing but one part of the whole. In this case, it is your main source of sustenance directly, unlike most other feeble species who require material forms to break down energy. However, there is taking it one step further beyond just devouring energy, to devour the very threads of reality that surround us, to devour essence itself.

Rewards: Divine Class - Heaven's Devourer.｣

Hades looked around and found that the meadow he was in was beginning to brighten up further as fairies and puritanical lifeforms began to spawn, as well as a giant tree that reached into the skies. His heart began to race when he understood what this Class Up quest was likely about.

His mouth began to water as he gazed at the tree which in the eyes of a normal person, was quite majestic and aged, but to Hades' now slitted serpentine vision, looked like a bright beacon of greenish light, overflowing with Life Energy.

And he meant it when he said overflow, because it was literally escaping its confounds and spreading throughout this realm, further increasing the base vitality to the point that just living here would even heal the most sick patient in no time.

｢System to Player Announcement

The objective of the Heaven's Devourer Class Up Procedure has been set.

Player Hades must devour the Essence of Yggdrasil to clear this task.｣

Music to his ears. Hades kicked forward and moved rapidly through the land, using his enhanced physique granted him thanks to the various kills he made. Whenever he devoured a person's energy, he took some of their essence and stats along with it, earning permanent passive boosts to himself.

In other words, if Hades started out at the typical 1 point in all fields for every human, then killing another person would give 1-3 points in different stats depending on various reasons.

So by now, the kind of stats he had accrued was more than enough to make him a monster. Especially since he had absorbed stats from monsters too. It was only unfortunate that he was not yet in a pod, so would have to move to Purgatory Group to check if the things he had absorbed in game could enhance his body in real life.

Hades crossed over most of the realm without being bothered to attack, as most of the various living organisms were too busy being cute and peaceful. He soon reached the base of the gigantic tree, looking up and down it with a strange smile, before he extended both of his arms and climbed the tree rapidly, snaking along like a slithering beast as he sought his target.

There!

Hades found a gap in the bark that created a mini cave of sorts in a random area near the middle. He then clambered within and saw that nothing hiding within, which pleased him.

Hades then blocked the entrance using some random stuff from his inventory, before staying still in the now total darkness and pressing both of his palms onto the tree's bark.

'Nidhogg, how fast can you drain its energy if you don't care about damage to myself?' Hades asked the God Serpent casually.

'Hmm, like a black hole basically. Judging by the energy this tree has and how fast I can absorb at my max, it should take about 5 minutes to empty it out.' Nidhogg replied thoughtfully.

'However, those 5 minutes will be the most painful of your life, as the huge energy will course through your body and rupture your muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and everything over and over while healing them.' Nidhogg added solemnly.

'Pff, even with my enhanced body?" Hades asked with surprise.

'Pah, without your enhanced boy you would die instantly, blown to pieces faster than the Life Energy can heal you.' Nidhogg crushed his hopes right away.

Hades was silent before sighing. 'Imma do it anyway, but there have to be some benefits, right?'

'Of course. I have read your memories and know about those animated shows where the main character endures body destroying pain and heals themselves over and over again. This may be a virtual world, but in a moment you will get to experience it for yourself, continuous destruction and rebuilding will fortify your entire body passively.' Nidhogg explained.

'It doesn't matter whether it's reality, virtual or even fictional, this law holds true. After all, exercise and working out is exactly that, destroying the body and rebuilding it over and over, but that process is slow and less painful.'

Hearing this, Hades no longer waited as he braced himself. 'Do it!'

Nidhogg didn't waste a single second and turned on his suction to the MAX.

BOOOOMM!!!

Hades opened his mouth in a silent scream as huge torrents of greenish Life Energy entered his body from his hands, even blocking out his eyes. He looked like some eldritch being possessing the body of the man, but those rays of emerald light climbing up his arms so fast they formed a blur could not be denied.

While his externals looked strange and magical, his internals were frightening. Everything was constantly exploding them being reformed, exploding them being reformed, whether was organs, delicate blood vessels, even his precious nerves and bones.

By the time a minute came to pass, Hades was already delirious from the pain and barely holding on. All he cared about was to remain conscious so Nidhogg could work, so thats what he did, cling on to consciousness.

It's funny, 5 minutes was normally such a short time to him when you asked him to do something he liked, like hanging out with his male friends or causing some trouble. If you told him he had only 5 minutes to do so, it would feel like seconds passed.

But here, these same 5 minutes felt like 5 eternities to him. It was so intense that he wondered if the AI had purposefully slowed down time or something.

2 minutes… 3 minutes…

Around this time, the entire tree shook, and a strange call was heard. It sounded like someone steeping on a wooden floor in an old mansion, or rubbing two pieces of smooth wood together.

Now, Hades did not speak tree, but he could tell that this was a scream for help. And oh, did the realm respond. Hades felt the tremor of the earth as hundreds of species living in this forest rushed towards the center madly.

It was so powerful that he was completely distracted from his pain and rather spooked by the sequence of events. However, this was why he didn't foolishly stand at the base of the tree and press his hand on it, because he had predicted that the tree would retaliate somehow.

Hence, he had opted to hide in this hole and covered it up, which should hopefully buy him enough time as the army of helpers searched for him.

4 minutes… 4 minutes 30 seconds….

They had covered the base of the tree and were rushing up. It seemed that rather than search slowly they were just going to flood its entire surface and rip apart the assailant.

It was a strategy that only worked because their numbers were precisely enough to do so. In the last 15 seconds, Hades felt far less pain and was able to sense the monsters reaching his area on the tree.

In the last 10 seconds, they passed over where he was and kept going higher. In the last 5 seconds, one of them seemed to realize that what was covering the hole was not bark, and began attacking the debris in the way.

By the time the monster's action alerted the other, the flow of green light into Hades came to a stop as the tree screamed in a tone that all living species here could hear.

Hades' heart was chilled as it sounded like a toddler's death throes, and he almost canceled the suction. However, Nidhogg kept firm while shaking the effect off Hades.

'Its an organic species, but its not a child. It just does that as a last ditch mechanism to secure its life. Most mammalian species care about the young of their race, so they would hesitate like you did. If the tree is left with even one drop of life left, it can eventually recover back to perfection.' Nidhogg explained calmly, knowing it was not Hades' fault.

Hades was chilled by this, and realized that he would have to become much more versed in the traits of living organism when near death to avoid such things.

SMACK!

His hands were forcibly blown off the place he pressed them down like someone had pushed him back and his external features returned to normal. Where he had pressed upon the tree was glowing with dark black energy that created blight on the bark which was rapidly spreading.

At this time, Hades was ejected from the Life Energy filled realm and returned to the private room. It must be said that he did not gain a single lick of that Life Energy for himself nor Nidhogg. It seems that AI had absorbed it through them rather for reasons he did not know.

｢System to Player Announcement

Calculating potential stat allocation… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

Drafting potential class skills… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

Assessing current player physique… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

Inspecting class equipment… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

Corroborating possible techniques… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

Predicting potential class paths… ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

New class analysis complete. Display?

Y/N ｣

Hades breathed out lightly in th success of his mission, now curious about what he got and whether it was worth it.

｢Heaven's Devourer - Divine Class

Skills: Black Hole (Passive), Infinite Absorption (Passive), Energy Devour (Active), Energy Conversion (Active).

Starting Stats: Str 70, Dex 70, End 70, Int 70, Spr 90, Cha 50, Lck 70

Exp gain rate: 10%

Rank up difficulty: 50%

Class weapons: All.

Class skills: Any Darkness.｣

｢Black Hole – Passive skill

Effect: The user possesses a black hole within their body that allows them to store an infinite amount of any type of energy and retrieve it at will.｣

｢Infinite Absorption  – Passive skill

Effect: The user has no limit to the amount or kind of energy they can passively absorb. No matter the time, situation or duration, the user is always absorbing energy from the atmosphere at 150% of their Spirit's potency.｣

｢Energy Devour – Active skill

Effect: When in physical contact with any entity or piece of matter containing energy, you can absorb the energy containing with at a variable rate depending on your current Spirit stat x10.

Cooldown: None.｣

｢Energy Conversion – Active skill

Effect: Convert energy within your black hole from its original type into darkness energy that can freely be used to attack or defend through skills.

Cooldown: None.｣

Hades was excited by the details, and he forwarded them to Sublime to check if they were suitable. While he waited for a reply, he wondered how the others were doing.

.........…..

｢System to Player Announcement

Beginning Classmaster Class Up Procedure. Standby.｣

Ghostpro appeared in a stadium, where hundreds of men and women wearing white karate gi sat neatly in rows, looking down upon him with stern expressions.

The fellow scratched the back of his head with awkwardness, wondering what this was all about. He then saw a man in a karate gi approach him on stage, a young fellow who looked slightly younger than himself.

He too wore a serious expression as he entered a battle stance. Ghostpro guessed that he was supposed to fight him barehanded or something? But how did that translate to getting a Divine Classmaster class?

And how the hell did that relate to Orochi?!

｢Classmaster – Divine Class Up Procedure

Description: In the world of Boundless, a class is not just a tool to grant power, but is a designation granted to each and every individual to identify them and help guide them on the path to realization their true potential. So who is the Classmaster? He is one whose range of abilities and talents are so diverse that he can cover almost all classes all on his own.

Rewards: Divine Class - Classmaster.｣

Ghostpro rubbed his chin and nodded. That sounded about right. Orochi's wealth of abilities covered far too many field and had far too many applications to be limited so easily.

Hopefully, this Classmaster thing proved worthwhile, and he could make full use of his near invincible power as freely as he'd like.

｢System to Player Announcement

The objective of the Classmaster Class Up Procedure has been set. Player Ghostprotokill must defeat the 10 Class Lords to clear this task.｣

Seeing the directive seemed to prove his assumption right. He was basically going to fight a gauntlet against the 10 strongest archetypes of the 10 basic classes, so he was not bothered.

He entered a battle stance and gestured to his opponent.

"Bring it-"

BAM!

Ghostpro began taunting his enemy, but was struck in the face suddenly by his enemy who moved too fast for him to see. Unfortunately, Ghostpro still stood where he was while his enemy's upper torso had been blown off, only the left side of their body intact.

"-on, FUCK I'VE GOT BRAINS IN MY MOUTH! PTUI!"