Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 172

Chapter 172: The Deceptive Second Class
Sterl was dumbfounded!

He took a brief glance at his skills. After [Celestial Stars] and [Stardust] were upgraded to Gold quality, they only cost eight legend points each—not particularly impressive.

Recalling the second class ceremony, Sterl felt something was off.

He wasn’t some clueless bumpkin anymore.

Sterl had asked Teresa, Daphne, and several of his subordinates about the changes that occur during the second class. They all mentioned that the changes were as significant as the first class change!

Moreover, it symbolizes the true awakening of the profession.

At the final stage, it would be incredibly painful, with energy wreaking havoc inside the body.

There were even players with weak wills who had died from the sheer turmoil of energy when their profession’s grade was too high for them to endure the second class change!

But in Sterl’s case, he felt the energy surge, but it only lasted for a short while and only at the beginning of the class change.

He didn’t mind knowing that his second class benefits were relatively low, but knowing was different from accepting such low returns!

Sterl saw his mental domain on the verge of transformation, only to be forcibly suppressed and unchanged!

His physical body was about to evolve, but again, it was forcibly suppressed and didn’t transform!

Both his mental domain and physical body could benefit and evolve from practicing an arcane skill on a regular day!

Now, with such a significant event as the second class, could it really remain unchanged?

It was extremely unreasonable!

Sterl even thought it was absurd: “Just because I have an SSS-tier profession, I’ve reached the so-called potential cap.”

“So, the second class is essentially no different from not class changing at all??”

He was dumbfounded!

Sterl even felt a strong sense of malice coming from beyond the system.

If he knew that, according to Felicia, perfect legend advancement only required an SS-tier profession, Sterl would have been sure that the transcendence system was targeting SSS-tier professions!

As he fumed inside, he suddenly sensed another source of energy within him—his personal cheat. Sterl’s expression changed.

“It really did improve.”

He immediately went from furious to ecstatic.

The reason for Sterl’s change in demeanor was that he sensed messages coming from his cheat—

After advancing to the second class, his body’s carrying capacity had significantly increased.

Thus, his cheat had finally been upgraded.

The points cap had increased! He could now forcibly upgrade items and skills that had potential but lacked enough to support another upgrade!

The entities that Sterl had already pushed to their limits, such as his talents, the Authority Heart, and some skills, now had the potential for new breakthroughs!

Of course, he also sensed that not everything that had already been allocated points could be upgraded again, as they were still subject to their inherent potential limits.

But talents and the Authority Heart that had already reached the 3S level could indeed be further upgraded.

This meant that Sterl’s combat power was set to skyrocket once more!

During his recent battle with Octavius, Sterl had encountered a rather frustrating issue: he had gotten used to easily overpowering weaker opponents.

With dual 3S-level talents going up against C-level and B-level talents, and a 3S-level profession against C-level and B-level professions, it was always a one-sided massacre.

However, facing an opponent like Octavius, who possessed an SS-level Authority Heart, even though the emperor’s talents were lacking, Sterl was forced into a back-and-forth struggle…

Without using Law Power, he even risked losing!

Of course, if Octavius knew what Sterl was thinking, he would be utterly devastated. “You, a level 60 professional, fought my legendary self to a draw and you’re still not satisfied??

What do you want? To kill me instantly??”

Ahem… back to the main point.

In any case, Sterl felt that his current overpowered status was no longer sufficient. He could already imagine that just from the Divine Mountain Empire alone, formidable enemies with dual S-level professions could emerge.

The prodigies coming from the 70+ countries of the Dark Moon Alliance would be even fiercer!

And the problem was, the Hall of Valor he was about to join would be filled with talented players, probably too numerous to count!

These were talents meticulously selected by the gods themselves!

Considering Gloria’s style, where she didn’t even flinch when a dual S-level talent like Spike died, it only proved that the Hall of Valor was teeming with even more gifted players and NPCs!

At this moment, Sterl felt that his cheat’s upgrade had addressed his most urgent need.

After the initial excitement, he quietly sensed the messages from his cheat.

“Do you want to upgrade?”

There was a faint sensation of such an option.

Sterl didn’t hesitate and chose to upgrade.

Immediately, he felt his body, like a calm water surface, disturbed by a single drop, sending ripples throughout.

Sterl felt that he had changed somewhat, yet it seemed like nothing had changed at all…

“Really upgraded??”

His expression was a mix of confusion and curiosity.

Sterl decided to open his personal panel for a closer look.

Sure enough, the previously un-upgradable items were now marked with plus signs.

There were plus signs next to the skills Celestial Stars and Stardust, which Sterl couldn’t enhance right after completing his class change. But now they were upgradable!

“Good!” A glimmer of excitement flashed in Sterl’s eyes.

The wide-range damage, stun, and ally shield from Celestial Stars made it an extremely versatile and practical skill. If he couldn’t max it out with 20 legend points as before, its effectiveness would dwindle, and Sterl would use it less frequently.

Now, that issue was resolved.

The utility of Stardust was undeniable. The more its support abilities were enhanced, the better and stronger it would be!

Moreover, what excited Sterl even more was that there were plus signs next to his two talents and Authority Heart as well!

However…

“Why are these three plus signs greyed out?”

Sterl investigated and found that for the two talents, he needed to use arcane skills to complete a secondary awakening before he could continue adding points.

As for the Authority Heart, Sterl was stunned.

The message from his cheat indicated that he must complete the second class change and truly awaken his SSS-tier profession to continue adding points.

But the problem was, Sterl had already undergone the second class change!

“What’s going on?” Given the choice between the transcendence system’s prompts and his cheat, Sterl didn’t hesitate to trust his cheat!

Though initially perplexed, Sterl realized within a fraction of a second—

This meant that after completing the second class change, his profession hadn’t truly awakened!

The shackle he felt during the class change was real. His SSS-tier profession had been forcibly sealed!

“Could it be because of the Forbidden Poison??”

He frowned for a long time before a term flashed through his mind.

Theoretically, humans from Earth would be affected by the Forbidden Poison from birth. Although Sterl had always lived in a game pod, as a Reincarnator, he knew that Nature science rarely dealt in absolutes.

Perhaps the game pod could filter out 99.9% of the Forbidden Poison, but there would still be trace amounts sneaking into his body. Or maybe, after coexisting with this toxin for countless years, the Forbidden Poison had already embedded itself in human genes.

Even when Sterl used Purification Ripple in the real world last time, he couldn’t completely expel the last traces of the toxin, because those tiny genetic traces could be infinitely diluted but would ultimately persist!

In that instant, Sterl felt numb: “Does this mean, as an Earth human, I’m inherently at a permanent disadvantage compared to other players?”

He felt terrible, as if he had encountered a problem his cheat couldn’t solve.

Sterl was suffering from a lack of information. Had he been able to converse with Felicia at this moment, he would have learned that the reason a perfect legendary state only required dual S-level professions was because a 3S-level profession was no longer useful.

Although a 3S-level profession provided slightly better profession traits and skills than a dual S-level, that difference in strength was minimal.

A dual S-level profession, upon completing the second class change, would elevate the Authority Heart by one stage, directly catching up to the attribute advantages of a 3S-level profession.

As for the slight difference in profession traits and skills, to put it bluntly—

A well-developed dual S-level professional, with an excellent passive skill, could match the profession traits of a 3S-level. Acquiring a few high-quality skills could make their skill pool just as good, if not better, than that of a 3S-level profession.

This is why 3S-level talents are considered peerless geniuses in the Tanscendence World, at least on the Vastor continent and nearby continents, or even in nearby crystal wall systems. They are highly sought after by countless forces.

Some factions aim to take these geniuses away for nurturing, while others seek to rob and refine their talents.

However, the theoretically equally rare 3S-level professions are far less common than 3S-level talents. The effort required to obtain such a powerful profession is so great that one could easily use a fraction of that effort to acquire a dual S-level profession with nearly the same strength!

If Sterl were aware of the above information, he would certainly realize an odd truth.

It seemed that players of all races faced the same issue! All of them would suffer if they pursued an SSS-level profession, as if all races were tainted by the “Forbidden Poison”!

…

“No, there must be a way!” Sterl snapped out of his despondency after a few minutes, his eyes suddenly brightening.

Sterl remembered something that could break the talent shackles.

That was… the white mist produced by the death of monsters in the real world on Earth!

Although he had previously realized that absorbing this mist did nothing for him, if he could collect a large amount of it and condense it into a liquid, he could use the Flowing Water law to forcibly solidify it into an item-like existence.

If that worked, his point allocation system might be able to add points to it!