Chapter 716 - Essence's Resolve

"It's about time." Essence Stalker muttered to himself as he gazed at the Rank 7 Guild Hall before him. He wore an expression of solemnity and valor, as he planned to take on one of the heaviest and craziest tasks available to a player. 

Essence was going to Class Up into a Divine Class! 

During the First Inter-Player International Competition, he had easily dominated everyone with ease, causing widespread depression, desolation, and fear. Essence had enjoyed the feeling of the masses looking at him and realizing that he was simply on a different tier. 

However, his fight with Kiran had left him feeling unhappy, stifled, and aggrieved. How dare that fellow with that yee-yee ass haircut actually make him sweat in battle, forcing him to transform? 

As for the beat down by Draco's Avatar, Essence had no qualms with that. 

He had long since accepted the gap between him and Draco, yet he still intended to rival him in terms of battle technique quality because he also had an innate technique generator. 

Right now, Essence was one of the select few who had Control at Tier 3 thanks to his bloodline. Draco and Eva stated that it was possible for those with enough bloodline power to even reach Tier 4, but that would be their limit. 

Tier 5 and beyond was something only those at Draco and Eva's level could hope to unlock. This didn't bother Essence. His power stemmed from four different things, his bloodline, his techniques, his Control, and his class. 

Of the four, his bloodline was the most difficult to train because of the raw power of his Affiliated Serpent, the Aurora Serpent, which was a God Serpent of the lesser array, one that had not been noted down in mythology. 

His techniques were making progress, but they needed one thing, and that was time. He would have to spend ample time refining and honing them in live combat and intense training, there was no shortcut for that. 

His Control was just explained. He might be able to hit Tier 4 later on, but that would also take a heck of a lot of training and time, according to Draco. Not to mention, that fellow Kiran also had the potential to reach it thanks to his dual bloodlines. 

And so, this left Essence with his class. His current one was among the top Legendary Classes for sure, something that very few in the world had. However, it was something that almost all the core members had, and the gap was beginning to narrow. 

Nevertheless, his class was one thing that could be strengthened in a short amount of time, only that the cost was high, and the risk was great. Still, Essence straightforwardly entered the Guild Hall and used the elevator to get to the Training Hall. 

When he was walking towards a private room, he coincidentally happened to pass by Shadowheart, the inheritor of Ouroboros. The two stared at each other with furrowed brows as they passed each other by, feeling a strange resonance between them. 

"…not one of us nine, but something not too far off? Fascinating." Essence heard the other fellow mutter to himself, wondering what that was about. 

He shook it off and entered a private room. Without further ado, he called up the necessary screen. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player stat allocation… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player skills… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player physique… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player equipment… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player techniques… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player class paths… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Player analysis complete. New options available. Display? 

Y/N ｣ 

Essence naturally chose yes. 

｢Paragon of Space – Class 

Rank: Divine 

Success Chance: 10% 

Price: 10,000,000 platinum per attempt｣ 

｢Aurora Lord – Class 

Rank: Divine 

Success Chance: 70% 

Price: 1,000,000,000 platinum per attempt｣ 

｢Dragon King – Class 

Rank: Legendary 

Success Chance: 40% 

Price: 1,000,000 platinum｣ 

｢Devil Lord – Class 

Rank: Legendary 

Success Chance: 40% 

Price: 1,000,000 platinum｣ 

｢Halberd Champion – Class 

Rank: Epic 

Success Chance: 60% 

Price: 100,000 platinum per attempt｣ 

｢Dragon Knight – Class 

Rank: Epic 

Success Chance: 60% 

Price: 100,000 platinum per attempt｣ 

｢Devil Enforcer – Class 

Rank: Epic 

Success Chance: 60% 

Price: 100,000 platinum per attempt｣ 

As Essence was a dual Inheritance user of the Serpent God Inheritance and Dark Angel Inheritance, he also had the same options for the Dragon and Devil classes that Draco did back then, however, his chances were far higher than a certain MC's. 

Well, it was kinda obvious, since the Draco back then had only been a measly Avenger with an Epic Dragorugio set, one or two Divine Items, Rank 1 Subjective Magic, and elementary control over his bloodline. 

On the other hand, Essence was currently wielding a Legendary Class and his weapon was a Legendary Halberd, custom-made by Draco, as well as a custom-made armor set. He was also at Rank 3, so if his chances were lower, it would not make sense. 

Initially, Essence was coming here for the Paragon of Space Class, but paused when he saw the Aurora Lord Class which was also Divine. 

'Strange, something like this didn't appear before.' Essence noted with a frown. 

Of course, Essence was unaware that the AI had Draco, Eva, and Shangtian's bloodline sources and was analyzing and deriving them every second of every day. It continually made new discoveries, which it added to its database. It had only recently unearthed some details about the Aurora Serpent and how it fit within its digital world. 

So Essence now had a new option. 

Essence had about 2.2 billion platinum in total, most of his money gained through investing in the Rank 7 World Bank. He was previously one of the richest players with 1.2 billion platinum thanks to his Aether Conversion skill Draco taught him, and making short-term investments at such a huge amount lead to some nice profits overtime. 

As such, he felt he could afford to experiment, thereby choosing this Aurora Lord class. While it did sound a bit weird, he hoped it would be unique enough compared to Paragon of Space, which was a 'typical' Divine elemental class. 

Basically, anyone with enough space mastery could try for that class, and there would not just be one Paragon of Space, there could be many depending on the skill of the candidates. 

For Essence, it was better to get something tailored for him, even if it wasn't as popular or had as much potential as the alternative which was 'open source'. 

As such, he made the payment and was whisked away immediately into blackness. 

When he appeared, Essence noted that he was floating in space, all around him planets in their solar systems and stars shining beautifully as the universe continually expanded. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Beginning Aurora Lord Class Up Procedure. Standby.｣ 

With such a lovely backdrop, he was shocked to find that he was currently standing atop a line of colorful energy, one that was wavy and seemed to partially zigzag all over. 

He was standing on an actual Aurora Borealis in space! 

It wasn't as ethereal as it looked from Earth, looking very thick and corporeal here. Not only that, he noticed that it was almost endless, starting from a point he couldn't see and ending at a point he could not fathom. 

It looked somewhat similar to that famous stage from Mario Kart where people always fell off the edge. 

｢Aurora Lord – Divine Class Up Procedure 

Description: Aurora is not just a visual phenomenon, but a special type of energy. It is a naturally occurring energy that exists for a brief period during the formation of the universe, and is responsible for creating the foundation of the universe. As a being that is infinitely close to the essence of Aurora, discover the truth of this energy and how it relates to you. 

Rewards: Divine Class - Aurora Lord｣ 

Essence read the details of this class and was astounded. He had heard of Aurora Energy thanks to the discovery of the Evil Duo, so he had a fair idea of what it was. 

The theory was that Aurora was a 'starter' energy while Origin was a 'running' energy, but on a universal scale. Just like how the energy that was used by your car to spark itself was different from what it used to stay on and move. 

So Aurora had similar properties to Origin, much like how Internal Force was similar to Kiran's Noble Energy. However, it only existed for a short period of time and was replaced by Origin Energy after everything was set up. 

Draco was only lucky to encounter it because his Inner Universe had been budding at the time, so Aurora Energy had been - and still was - present there. 

But what did this mean for Essence? 

｢System to Player Announcement 

The objective of the Aurora Lord Class Up Procedure has been set. 

Player Essence Stalker must find the source of Aurora to clear this task.｣ 

Essence Stalker's expression changed. He turned to face the road of Aurora behind him that seemed endless and smiled bitterly. 

"Welp, looks like I'm gonna have to mimic Goku and cross this 'snakeway'." He muttered with resignation as he began running. 

Since he had access to his class powers and abilities, he ran for a bit hem transformed into a Void Dragon. In this form, he shuttled through space itself, not just fly, so he was crossing hundreds of kilometers a second. 

Yet, up until the transformation wore off, he still did not see any change around him except the change in nearby planets. That at least helped him narrow down his position and reassured him that he wasn't moving in circles. 

When he changed back, he grumbled unhappily before using his mama to cast his spatial abilities to teleport forward as far as he could go. When he ran out, he would allow it to recharge slowly by running while singing to himself, something he used to do when he worked out back then. 

The moment, his mana refilled, he was off again into the sunset, like a vehicle that hit nitrous from slow driving state. 

Essence could not tell you how long he had been here or how much distance he had traversed. It felt like he had run around Earth's circumference 300 times in terms of distance and had spent up to around a month here. 

He had his Dark Angel Inheritance and Control Tier 3, so his mental fortitude was not akin to a normal person who would have broken down long ago. Rather, he was still largely unaffected by this laborious task. 

After about what felt like three times the total period he had been here (up until the last sentence), Essence finally saw a change. At the edge of his vision, he saw a glowing white portal from which the Aurora Energy appeared to look through, entering the universe. 

What shocked the fellow was that, within the portal, stood the silhouette of a woman who seemed to be arrogant and peerlessly beautiful. For some reason, Essence felt that this woman was familiar, so he tried to rush closer. 

However, he felt the world around him tremble as the Aurora Energy bridge beneath him retracted slowly, beginning to disappear while Essence himself was pulled out of that strange realm. 

The darkness took over him, returning him to the private room he had started from unwillingly. Essence wanted to go back dearly, for he felt like he had touched upon a taboo so deep it might shake the foundations of reality. 

He sighed and lower his outstretched hand that had tried to grasp something weakly. His familiarity with the silhouette in that portal made him feel intimate, so it could not be Zaine, Eva, Hikari or Roma. 

It had to be someone he knew and loved, so to be honest, the idea of that made him feel uncomfortable. At this time, the AI finally made itself known. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Calculating potential stat allocation… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Drafting potential class skills… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Assessing current player physique… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Inspecting class equipment… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Corroborating possible techniques… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Predicting potential class paths… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

New class analysis complete. Display? 

Y/N ｣