Chapter 21

Aether Level 25 reached. Please select a Class Upgrade.

Class Upgrades are shaped by your Intent and Will.

Please choose from the 3 available Class Upgrades:

Upgrade: Fist of Stone and Air
Upgrade: Revenant Slayer
Upgrade: Summit of Self

On the one hand, this class upgrade could not have come at a better time. It would take everything Caleb had if he wanted to defeat Thrymm. Every limit he had would be pushed to the edge, every skill and ability utilized to the extreme. This upgrade could be just what he needed.

On the other hand, this class upgrade could not have come at a worse time. The last thing he could spend effort thinking about was how he wanted his future path to pan out. Choosing a class and class upgrades was a decision with monumental impacts for the rest of his life. He couldn’t afford to choose rashly.

But considerate deliberation and dodging lightning bolts never really go hand in hand, do they? At the moment, Caleb found himself without a thought to spare.

Too busy dodging said lightning bolts.

The earth before him exploded in a ball of blinding, ear-shattering electricity. Rocks zipped past him and shot into the air, disappearing and carried by the howling winds. One nicked him in the shin with enough force to draw blood – a normal man would’ve lost a leg.

And amidst it all, Thrymm didn’t even bat an eye. The titan swung his hammer left and right, crushing the earth with just as much terrifying power as the crackling electricity trying to smite Caleb from above. His lips were curled into a cold-blooded snarl despite the fact that the very battlefield they were on was littered with the corpses of what were supposed to be the titan’s allies.

Roar after roar, strike after strike. Caleb was forced to leap backward, erect barriers of earth that stood only for a second before being obliterated. Despite his promise to himself, he tried to turn and run for it – just to buy some time to breathe and consider his class upgrade options fully, but every time he made a break, a hammer or bolt of lightning blocked his path. Thrymm wasn’t letting him go anywhere.

Despite the duration of the fight, Caleb’s aether reserves were surprisingly full. Taking on hordes of enemies at a time allowed him to constantly be topping himself up. But that was over now. From now on, every drop he used had to matter. There was no more filling up unless he killed Thrymm.

The titan slammed its hammer into the earth as Caleb leapt to the side, narrowly dodging. He flexed his hands and willed the ground to shift. Jagged pillars of stone shot up, bracing against the hammer’s shaft and locking it in place. Thrymm tried to pull his hammer back but it was stuck fast.

A heartbeat of time passed. Then Caleb turned and bolted away, summoning his screens in a blur before him. A furious roar from behind cut through the howl of wind. Just a few seconds. That’s all I need.

Please choose from the 3 available Class Upgrades:

Upgrade: Fist of Stone and Air
Upgrade: Revenant Slayer
Upgrade: Summit of Self

The screen rippled and shifted as he focused and read over each available class upgrade.

Fist of Stone and Air: A man of heaven and earth. Your fists can take on aspects of stone and air, such as creating powerful shockwaves, or becoming coated in a layer of hard rock.

Revenant Slayer: You fight on the line between life and death. The greater injuries that you sustain, the more powerful you become. Additionally, any–

“Shit!” Something hot and loud slammed into Caleb’s shoulder and tossed him to the side, sent him rolling across the ground. His breath was knocked from his lungs and the world was on fire, burning as he spun around.

It took a second for him to remember where he was, what he was doing. But then it all came crashing back and he scrabbled to his torn and bleeding feet, looked wildly around. Off in the distance, Thrymm finally dislodged his hammer from the mountain’s grasp, tearing it up into the air and sweeping his hateful eyes in Caleb’s direction.

Caleb patted out the bits of flame that were licking his pantlegs, cursing. “Stupid lightning,” he grunted, coughing as the smoke curled off his body. “Interupting my reading.”

With a thought, he resummoned his screens.

–creatures affected by your Presence slowly have their Aether sapped by you.

Summit of Self: The inner body is just as powerful as the outer. You can unleash its full potential. You gain greater control and potency while using your Spirit Self.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Then closed them immediately after he’d read them.

There was maybe five seconds before Thrymm was on top of him. If he ran the opposite direction, maybe fifteen or twenty. Hardly enough time for proper deliberation. Ah, well. Can’t be picky, now can you?

He turned and ran.

Fist of stone and air sounded nice. Right up his alley, too. The System was obviously basing the classes on his desires and experiences. There was no denying the ties between that class upgrade and his Inheritance and Truth. But would choosing it limit him too much. He was only at the starting line, only a few days into the onset of the System. There was still so much that he wanted to try out, so much to learn.