Apocalypse Redux

2037

Derek stared at the [System] window, blinked, rubbed his eyes, pinched himself, and then finally tried to think back and remember if he’d taken something. Not that he had a habit of that, he’d never done any drugs for obvious reasons, nor drunk since that fateful party … had that really been two decades ago? Almost, actually, now that he thought it through, he realized it was actually nineteen years.

He had spent more time working on the [System] than he’d spent living prior to it. And at some point, he’d almost stopped believing it was even possible … but it was. Apparently.

“Fucking finally,” he rasped.

Thirty-five years of life, thirty years of training, twenty years of delaying his Class choice.

And once again, the phrasing of the [Class] offering screen had changed.

Congratulations, Derek Thoma, your efforts have paid off!

You have unlocked the following legendary Classes:

Hellfire Soul

Precocious Champion Student of Legendary Persistence

Not just one, but three legendaries … holy shit!

Now, what was there to do but dive right in?

Hellfire Soul (legendary)

Many people wield the elements, but only a handful dare lay hands on ones as destructive as the flames of hell. And fewer still truly learn to wield this energy beyond what is required to point it in the general direction of their enemies and watch it do its thing.

However, there are those who qualify for this Class. They may choose a different path, but this qualification is a power in its own right. The ability to wield Hellfire instinctually, control every last spark to form a mesmerizing and devastating display that can punch well above the wielder’s weight Class.

Hellfire Soul is a Class that focuses around further enhancing the user’s control of hellfire, broadening the scope of its applications, and making it easier to use overall, while furthermore unlocking variant abilities in the vein of various Transcedent Hellfires given time and practice.

In other words, this was exactly what he’d expected to earn.

Hellfire focused, with the absurd bonus of being able to access the nastiest variants, such as the flames the Leviathan used, blue fire that could not interact with water, therefore ignoring a good seventy percent of the mass of an enemy’s body, as long as said enemy was biological and even remotely normal, and not just any seventy percent but the most fire resistant seventy percent, rendering anyone, even the toughest of foes, little more than dry kindling before it.

And that was only the most basic variant. [Hellfire Soul] was a genuinely insane option, and one he’d have run with in a heartbeat if it had been the only one he’d gotten.

But he had, in fact, gotten more.

Precocious Champion (legendary)

The Precocious Warrior is a warrior who has been fighting the System’s beasts before even getting power of their own, wielding inborn power and simple tools to devastating effect.

And as such, the power gained when they do begin to utilize the System will be greater, with all Stat and Skill point gains for an Evolution being granted across the first half of its Levels, allowing them gain power in rapid bursts.

In addition, this Class grants its wielders a more in-depth insight into future progression.

Really, it was almost as though earning a legendary [Class] had cracked some sort of seal.

[Precocious Champion] was basically just a stronger version of the usual “you fought without the [System], now you can frontload your gains” offerings he’d gotten all the while.

Very impressive, all around.

But even with those two being offered, it was the third and final [Class] being offered that made his heart leap with joy.

Student of Legendary Persistence (legendary)

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To paraphrase the Pareto Principle, one can normally complete a project eighty percent of the way with only twenty percent of the effort, and the final twenty percent required for full completion will become an utter slog.

And according to this principle, it is possible to get a lot done and achieve a significant amount, with comparatively little effort.

The Student of Legendary Persistence is someone who has decided to eschew the easy option, endlessly training until they have gained this Class.

Now that they have this Class, its user is capable of learning countless things, gaining greater boons from learning, and can even tap into the experience of their mentors in the worst of situations, though only then.

It was everything he could have ever wanted, everything he could have ever hoped for, everything, really.

The power to learn anything, or at least that was what it sounded like … except this was a goddamn legendary [Class]. Those tended to embody their descriptions in a very literal sense, often living up to even their flavor text.

So he grabbed it in an instant and finally, for the very first time, pulled up his status screen.

Name: Derek Ambrosius Thoma

Class:

Species: High Human

Level: 0

XP: 0/100

Health Status: Dehydrated, Exhausted, Hungry

Mana: 37/250

Fortitude 40

Perception 15

Strength 25

Agility 20

Magic Power 30

Magic Regeneration 15

Free Points: 0 Stat, -6 Skill

Skills

Bloodline’s Security (4 point equivalent)

Bloodline’s Fury (1 point equivalent)

Bloodline’s Stealth (6 point equivalent)

General Skills

Bloodline of the Hellborne Survivor

Aspect

Aspect Skills

Resilience, Bloodline Locked

Regeneration, Injury Consequence Mitigation

Spectral Form, Bloodline Locked (requires payment before additional Slots can be purchased)

Phasing, Spectral Flight

Demonic Power, Bloodline Locked (requires payment before additional Slots can be purchased)

Hellfire, Moment of Immortality

The status screen showed his middle name. Wonderful.

But that was a minor gripe amidst, well, everything.

For starters, it was great to have everything actually spelled out.

Such as the increased stats that came from being a High Human, bumping the base stats up to fifteen, though Fortitude, Magic Power, Strength, and Agility had been raised further by the Aspects that were a part of his bloodline.

It was all there, albeit in a weird form, apparently separated out into “Security,” “Fury,” and “Stealth,” while the Aspects weren’t named but rather described.

As for the [Skills] that came from them … he’d roughly known what the Hydra did, he never used the ghost ones because he couldn’t phase safely and untethering himself from gravity via the flight ability was one he’d used rarely as he mostly just regarded it as a fantastic way to wind up flat on his face, and while he’d obviously known about the hellfire, the fact that he had access to [Moment of Immortality] was news to him.

It was a temporary variant of a [Raid Bosses] absurd resilience, though it would only last for 20 seconds at a time, with only two activations per week, and most certainly did not make anyone actually invulnerable, let alone him, considering how weak he currently was.

Granted, 40 Fortitude was a lot, but one didn’t need his advantages to hit Level 10 in a month, even with enough XP to buy a few Aspect Slots and get those points via them, without even spending any free points, no less!

Derek also took one look at the five free Stat Points that came simply from choosing a [Class] and threw them all into Magic Power. If he wanted to be able to train in ways relevant to space flight without evolving his [Class], he’d have to pump that Stat up quite high.

So, what now?

For the longest time, the answer to what to had always been the same: go train more.

Now, though? Now he could do whatever the hell he wanted.

As for what he desired … slaughter. Bloody slaughter and carnage and destruction as he once again tore a swathe through monsters and finally got some XP for it.

But then, he realized something.

Well, two things, actually. Firstly, he really needed to get something to eat and drink before he went anywhere.

After that, though? After that, he’d head somewhere with monsters that did not bleed, because there was a certain place that he absolutely had to go, for symmetry’s sake, with a dash of nostalgia.

Derek hurried through the hallways of The Tower, moving just barely slow enough to avoid making anyone assume he’d managed to light the building on fire (though that kind of achievement might have actually earned him something, considering its protections), passing by students that were visibly younger than him, the sting of that having seemingly vanished.

He grabbed a Philly Cheesesteak from his favorite food cart outside, along with a bottle of water, then marched home where he fully geared himself up for the first time in nearly a decade, the weight of the rapier and kabar unfamiliar but comforting, his leather jacket somehow still fitting even twenty years later, combat boots briefly stiff but becoming supple once more before he’d taken more than a hundred or so steps, and after walking in circles in front of his aparments door while he booked the dungeon, Derek finally drew upon the Fast Travel System and stepped across the globe.