Unable to contain the thought, he slowly turned, his eyes locking with Lyra’s as he opened his mouth to speak. Before she cut him off.
"You want to awaken your class?" she muttered knowingly. After slaying the beasts, the interface must have appeared. The only question was when. Even then, traces of worry filled her face.
"Wouldn’t it be better if you rested first..." She began, before stopping herself upon seeing the faint smile on his face.
After everything he had done, this was normal in that regard.
"I’ll be fine," Ulric muttered, caressing her face softly as he reassured her. At other tis, he would have followed her advice, but he just couldn’t contain himself anymore.
"I just need you to protect for a few minutes. Can you do that?" he asked.
It was imperative that he remained undisturbed while attempting what he was about to do. He didn’t know if it would pose any danger, but it was best not to find out the hard way.
Seeing her nod faintly, the smile on his face widened. He raised his hand and gently petted her head, feeling her soft, silky hair trail smoothly against his fingers.
Leaning in, he planted his lips on her forehead, muttering softly into her ear.
"Good girl."
He watched for a few seconds as she stood entranced.
Clearing his throat, she snapped out of it, her face flushing as she realized her hands were still clinging tightly to his fra.
She let him go gently as he slid to the ground into a lotus position. Staring at her face, his blood rushed violently, the desire to gobble her up flaring within him. He suppressed it instantly.
That was for later. Averting his attention, he closed his eyes and pulled up his remaining corruption points.
[Corruption Points: 1903.]
Staring at the number, a smile curved his lips. This was more than enough for the next part of his plan.
Inhaling sharply, he voiced out ntally.
"Allocate 500 points to class interface."
Stepping back, Lyra stared at the figure below before slowly turning, the warmth in her expression lting into icy sharpness.
Any person or beast who ca close to posing as a threat would only et their end.
She exhaled, frosty breath oozing out. No one was going to harm him while she was here.
Just as he thought sothing was going wrong, familiar wisps of dark energy unfurled to cover his body, fully encapsulating him just like when he advanced his physique.
Energy rushed into him, but instead of strengthening his body, it was swallowed the mont it entered, allocated elsewhere.
The cycle repeated over and over again. And as it did, he slowly lost focus, entering a strange state.
The system interface before him shimred repeatedly, the options blinking in and out of sight as if fighting the change. But the resistance was futile.
The blue notification screen slowly shifted, its color taking on a dark hue. He couldn’t stare any longer, using every bit of ntal awareness to stay awake.
He felt sothing trying to draw him into the darkness as the process unfolded, and he sensed sothing bad would happen if he let it. So he chose to wait for the change to complete before taking a look.
Outside Ulric’s struggle, Cedric watched from afar, his face contorting repeatedly. He had seen the damage Ulric had unleashed. And now, with a class, he couldn’t imagine what Ulric could transform into.
The answer was obvious. Nothing good for him. He couldn’t let this transformation complete. As the thought ford, he slowly stepped forward, the group of seven following close behind him, unaware of his intentions.
When they stepped outside the safe zone, Lyra’s eyes narrowed at them. The temperature in the air suddenly dropped as two ice spears ford in her hands, exuding an icy aura.
"One step more and you’ll be headless corpses," she growled.
"You dare threaten ?" Cedric snapped, his face turning red with anger. "Step out of my way. I’ve seen enough. I want to clear the dungeon as well," he muttered, gesturing to the seven behind him as a crooked smile twisted across his lips.
Even though he was A-rank, she had already awakened. That made her dangerous. Her B-rank talent weighed the odds more heavily in her favor.
But with everyone behind him, all C-rank, the odds shifted. He calculated, eight against one. It would be a one-sided defeat.
His charge was cut short when he saw his team suddenly halt, casting their eyes at him as if staring at a dead man.
They weren’t particularly smart, but they were smart enough to recognize that Cedric was courting death, and he wanted to drag them with him.
It was already bad enough facing Level 1 beasts. Now he wanted them to charge against an Awakened with a class and an S-rank talent who could awaken at any mont?
Seeing them refuse to budge, Cedric froze before cursing under his breath.
"Useless cowards."
If they couldn’t follow his commands, he saw no need for them. Looking at Lyra’s blue eyes and feeling the cold aura that was only growing stronger, he had no doubt she would attack if he took another step.
But he couldn’t step back. His deep-seated pride flared within him. That would make him a coward.
Which left him in an awkward stalemate as he stared in rage at the ball of darkness covering Ulric.
Unaware of what was happening outside, inside the cocoon the waves of energy slowly died down as a notification blinked before his eyes.
[Ding! 500 points have been allocated into the class interface!]
"Finally!" Ulric breathed, his eyes slowly fluttering open as the smile on his face widened further.
The influx of energy hadn’t strengthened his body, but it had erased the wave of weakness and fatigue that had clung to him.
He felt refreshed, and with the energy of the Interdiate Corrupted Mortal Physique raging within him, an irresistible urge to punch sothing flared inside.
But he suppressed it. His desire to see the updated class interface was the only thing keeping him calm.
Taking a sharp breath, he composed himself before calling up the class interface.
Ti to check out the updated version.
He chuckled giddily, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
Only to freeze as the notification flared again, a gasp slipping from his lips.
"Huh?"
Where the previous rows of classes had been, there was now... nothing, only a blank sheet.
Sothing must be wrong, he consoled himself before closing and reopening the interface repeatedly, but nothing changed.
Had corrupting the system interface ssed it up? Could he no longer awaken any class?
Had his greed finally caught up to him?
As the thoughts clashed within him, his mouth opened and a primal yell tore through the space.
"Nooo! What have you made do!" he shouted, shalessly pinning all the bla on the corruption system.
His fists clenched tightly as he punched the air before him, where the blank notification hovered.
And just as they made contact, a new notification flared, pulling his attention back.
[Ding! Congratulations for choosing the classless path. Awakening comncing.]
"Wait... w-what?" Ulric stuttered, staring at the notification.
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