Limitless Path

She had more choices this time than she had ever had before, as there were now four choices of potential class. She knew that most people got anywhere from two choices, if they were unfortunate, to as many as five, but more choices wasn't always better. There was a lot of literature, and when Beth said a lot, she really, really meant it, that discussed class evolutions and how classes grew and changed. She had read several quite voluminous books on the subject and had barely managed to even scratch the surface of the surface, to put it mildly, but it was enough to give her some context for some things. One thing she had gleaned from her bit of study was that the Path always gave, or tried to give, the handful of classes that were the best that the person could currently achieved. Whether that was on selecting a brand new class or it was on a class evolution, the Path wouldn't clutter somebody with thirty possible choices but would just present the best of the best. In Beth's case, that best was pretty strong, and she took her time to investigate her options, going through the first class presented before looking at any others.

Battle Queen

{The ruler of both realm and battlefield. This warrior queen controls both her realm and her battles at once, overseeing the field while dominating enemies with great strength.

+70 STR, +35 DEX, +20 END, +16 INT, +16 WIS, +12 Free Points per level.}

The class was pretty strong considering it offered her over twice the stat points per level that her current class, which was already pretty, offered her. The stuff about ruling a realm and the battlefield, even if it discussed doing it at the same time, was very unappealing. Beth knew she was Liveria's inheritor and the other woman being an Empyrean influenced things at times, but she had no interest in setting up her own little queendom. The part about dominating enemies with great strength was also interesting, or the great strength part was, but the dominating part and the overseeing part were also both discouraging, given the context. The class would certainly be an upgrade, no doubt about it, but it was absolutely not her first choice.

Savant of Slaughter

{Skill in both dealing death and controlling the space around the battlefield, the Savant of Slaughter uses their great skills to bolster their terrifying power.

+80 STR, +40 DEX, +20 END, +30 INT, +30 WIS, +8 Free Points per level.}

The next class on offer for her evolution was even stronger, offering a good bit more stat points and with a rather intimidating sounding name. Still, the title was also a bit…well, she knew she was already a slaughterer, but she had some real doubts about continuing down that road, not wanting to become some kind of psychopath that was only killing and destroying. The description, rather short as it was, also presented a few interesting points, with it mentioning controlling space, which was a big plus. The idea that she used skill to bolster her power, which everyone did, was likely referencing her skill that were both high tier and high rank, with her having many skill that were at least tier three and several skills in Diamond already. She didn't think there was too much too it, likely just denoting that it was more of a requirement to attain the kind of power a Savant of Slaughter possessed rather than being some kind of deeper indication. A lot of this was still guesswork, even for those much more experienced and knowledgeable than her, so she was going off a small amount of information and a large amount of gut feel. She kept the class in mind, but she still had options left.

Slayer of White Flame

{A mysterious power that burns away space itself. The slayer utilizes a power that transcends the normal and rational to kill those far beyond their apparent strength. Burning and crushing, this killer leaves mountains of corpses in a trail across the galaxy.

+80 STR, +40 DEX, +40 END, +30 INT, +30 WIS, +20 Free Points per level.}

This class was interesting, even if she was really noticing a theme in the naming and type-casting of what she was being offered. She didn't want to be a slaughterer anymore? Cool, the Path would just make her a slayer, which was likely not all that much better. She did like that this description was much more focused on what she had achieved with her Ideal. Not only that, but it also had some hints like mentioning transcending the normal, which was something that held a heavy. Transcendence wasn't a joke or cheap trick, and a class mentioning it in the description, from everything she had read and knew, was some rather serious business, indicating a potential beyond which many would understand. The points per level were also really good with this class, each one getting better, even if it was by bits and pieces and not dramatic leaps. Well, it had been like that until her fourth and final option, everything from the name to the description to the stats making her eyes widen in shock.

Tyrant of Shattered Stars

{The power to control. The power to destroy. Tyrants rule, but do not always subjugate other sapiens; no, for some, mere mortal beings are too weak for their notice. Instead, they dominate the overwhelmingly powerful and intangible. Crush all.

+120 STR, +60 DEX, +80 END, +20 INT, +20 WIS, +40 Free Points per level.}

She had a fierce urge to accept the evolution as soon as she saw it, one which she wrestled hard to tamp down, allowing herself a moment to think. The name alone was domineering and a little nuts, talking about being a tyrant and about destroying stars, not something she had thought would be showing up in a class name for what most people would call their 'Enlightened class.' The name would have conjured some negative ideas or imagery, but the description, along with a bit of knowledge she possessed, told a different tale. A tyrant didn't always mean someone who ruled over others with an iron fist, or not in the Path, at any rate. It didn't mean someone who was dominate in their strength and raw power, a being that could subjugate any with force alone. There were also references to a being that dominated and surpassed themselves, a being that sought Ascendency and Transcendence through strength and power, though that could still be a dangerous road to walk down, mentally and psychologically speaking.

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Regardless of all that, the class called to her on a deep level. Of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it offered a whopping three hundred and forty stat points per level, an astronomical one hundred more than the second best of her options. No, she would never dream of making such an important and life-altering selection based on such a simple and crude criteria. If she had had a mental hand that could push a mental button, in a manner of speaking, it would currently be hovering just a micron above the button to accept that evolution, though. She was holding herself back for the moment because she still wanted to ponder things, just to make sure that she was not jumping feet first into something that she would remind regretting, especially years later when some negative aspect was really starting to manifest hard. She wasn't really seeing anything like that, other than being a tyrant being just a bit worrying, but she wanted to make absolutely sure.

The biggest worry for her, really, was combing the thing about the power to control and the line about dominating powerful and intangible beings. That, along with the fact that it was a tyrant, which was still giving her a bit of the ick, was making her hesitate, but she couldn't realistically see another option as worthy. She especially liked how the description ended with the simple, powerful 'crush all,' an invective she could totally get behind. The last thing that was giving her any hesitation was the way the class description was talking about other beings being too weak or worthless to even notice. Classes didn't necessarily influence a person to the extreme, or even all that much, nor were they necessarily indicative of the person's already existing predisposition. Still, the way the description so callously dismissed the weak, which would be the vast majority of life, even if she went somewhere were Manumitted were common, was just a touch worrying.

At the end of the day, the stat points, and the idea of using space and fire to smash stars to pieces, was way more tempting than the concern about, well, tyranny. Maybe she should sleep on it, but she doubted she would make any different kind of decision even after a long sleep. With that thought in mind she stopped hesitating, mentally accepting the new class and feeling the changes flow through her body. She could feel even greater strength flowing into her, despite her stats having dropped after the rebirth. Rebirths didn't really impact her all that much these days, with more than ten thousand points in Strength even at level one. She could punch a mountain flat, making her into one of the people Baelvyr had warned her about all those years ago. She remembered him talking about how some random person on the street, showing up to basic Identify as only a level one human, could be strong enough to blow up the whole city they were in with a single punch. She was at that level now, or close to it; mana density really did hamper things, as high mana density made materials far stronger.

As the class settled and she felt the changes, she got several notifications, which she read through quite carefully. She had that single, heart-stopping moment after accepting the class and getting notified, thinking that maybe she had just really messed up quite badly, but she realized the notifications were all positive. Giving a short, sharp sigh of relief, she checked what had actually demanded her attention after evolving her class. The first of the notifications was that of a new skill being added to her skill list. She checked the name and saw that it was Tyrannical Destruction. She wasn't sure that was a great start, but it was a new skill that she earned just from an evolution, so at least it was free. Checking the description of the skill, she quickly changed her mind, thanking the stars and sky and anything she could think of for picking that class evolution.

Tyrannical Destruction Copper[0]

{Using unimaginable force, obliterate anything with an attack of pure mana that is only limited by your power of perception. Nothing can withstand the destruction brought about by a true tyrant.}

Beth wasn't sure the second sentence was even necessary in the base description, but there was also hidden depths to many skills that were hinted at by what she would normally consider flavor text. The part about being able to destroy anything she could destroy seemed simple enough, but the skill didn't express it had any kind of restrictions alongside explaining how she could basically vaporize anything she could perceive. She could see, and detect through her skills and mana, for an immensely long distance, meaning she could instantly attack anything with an overwhelmingly powerful skill. It was somewhat similar to Light Beyond the Edge, but used different mana and likely had less restriction about range. She could maybe consider that she was starting to move a little away from her beginnings as a brawler, but she just viewed it as rounding out her toolkit. At this point, it wasn't even rounding out the toolkit, she was just dramatically increasing her power without dramatically changing her fighting style or capabilities.

She didn't just get one notification, though she did get only one skill, so she quickly checked just what else had popped up. She found a notification informing her that her class evolution had been a little special and given her an additional reward in the form of a title. This was the first she had ever heard of being awarded a title from a class evolution. Normally, the title would come first and then a special class evolution would be available because of said title. The title was Dominance Beyond Enlightenment, which wasn't exactly the most descriptive thing she had ever gotten, but she still had an inkling of what was happening. Reading the details of the title confirmed some of her suspicions, explaining that the title was awarded for reaching a class considered equivalent of a conquering empyrean or legendary ruler while still in Enlightened.

Dominance Beyond Enlightenment

{Awarded to one who reaches a class of the power of a conquering empyrean or legendary ruler while still Enlightened. This title increases the power of the Presence at all times, even beyond normal circumstances.}

Beth wasn't exactly, fully, one hundred percent sure what that all meant, or the second part, at the least, but she knew it was good. She was already good with her Presence, so having a title that made that even stronger was a huge boon. Beyond that, it let her know that she was at a rather impressive level of power, as the types of class or titled person mentioned was equal to, or greater than, her pocket Ascended. She was now close to at their level, though she still had a couple dozen rebirths before she was just as strong as they were, if not stronger.

The whole group was finished with their rebirths, all of them leaving before Beth caught up with Sera, having taken the longest as she definitely had the most to look through. Sera was very happy with her own progress, having increased her level of humanization quite substantially with that rebirth. She had been making a little bit of progress and was already at the point where she was manifesting some runes, if she was fully humanized, but now she was expressing runes around her collar, across her shoulders, down her spine to the base of her tail, and two thin lines down from the center of each of her shoulders to the center of each breast. That was a big improvement, and her new stat gain per level really showed that, on top of her overall new level of power.

They say comparisons are odious and it was good that Sera was very calm about her progress and how it stacked up as they had a humanization prodigy in the group. Beth, Sera, and Val all harassed Blood until she finally joined them in Beth and Sera's bedroom, stripping with a thought before fully humanizing, showing her current progress. Whereas Sera had most of a mantle and a few lines, Blood had runes from the top of her neck down over both shoulders, covering both of her rather large breasts, a thick line of runes that ran down and circled her stomach before continuing down to the top of her sex, and down her entire spine with enough lines along the spine that about a quarter of her back was covered. It took Beth a second to notice that she also had a few runes on her upper arms, though they didn't form lines or a cohesive pattern yet, but she was clearly progressing very well. That was made all the more obvious when she told them her current stat points per level, it being right at the same amount that Beth was getting, and she had gotten a damned title for getting such a good class.