"Well, when Rina returned from her self-imposed exile, she had been on the cusp of Rank 2. She had increased the grade of her staff from Legendary to Divine, and the active skill had become extremely prohibitive. We didn't want to cause any problems for us, so we called over all the available core members and headed over to Vareas Peninsula ."
"There, we prepared carefully before letting Rina unleash her new Divine skill Ultra Supernova, which covered the entire Continent Zone. With the number of monsters killed, each of us instantly reached level 50 with an unbelievable amount of experience stockpiled."
"We decided to Rank up together, but thanks to the information you have given me, I made sure that everyone would Class Up first. I had to open the guild's funds to pay for their Class Up procedure. We had enough to allow all of them to attempt to receive Epic or even Legendary classes. Each one of them succeeded on their first try."
"Rina though, had been blessed with the opportunity to Class Up into a Divine class, so we are currently waiting for her results. Unfortunately, this had consumed all the guild's liquid funds, so we have nothing to give you at this time." Sublime finished with an awkward smile.
Riveting Night digested this in silence. It seemed like these fellows had capitalized on great timing to advance forward. Looking at the results and the method of execution, Riveting Night nodded.
"Good job, just as expected of you, Sublime."
Sublime smiled lightly. With her taking the helm, what could have possibly gone wrong? Riveting Night talking like this was just because she knew giving up any ground to Sublime would bite her in the ass later.
Riveting Night cast her eyes around to all the members of Umbra. "Alright, line up and show me the details of your various classes so I can decide what to do with you louts."
Immediately, everyone lined up in a flash. They all feared Riveting Night and her methods deeply. The only one who remained unfazed was of course Loving Aunt, because to her, Riveting Night was like a daughter-in-law.
Heh, no matter how scary Riveting Night was, she definitely didn't have the balls to cross her mother-in-law. As such, Riveting Night only spoke gently to Loving Aunt, but the rest received a face full of a murderous intent.
The first to display her changes was Sublime.
｢Seneschal - Legendary Class (Rank 2)
Skills: Assent (Active), Consolidate (Passive).
Exp gain rate: 180%
Rank up difficulty: 60%
Class weapons: Any non-physical
Class skills: Any non-physical｣
Her exp gain rate had reduced from 200% to 180%, while her Rank up difficulty had increased from 50% to 60%. It wasn't that you thought that the exp gain rate was fixed, right? Of course not!
Only for common classes would the Exp gain rate and Rank up difficulty remain the same at all Ranks. For anyone who had any sort of Hidden Class, they benefited greatly from more powerful skills and adjustments in those categories. The rarer the class, the greater the benefits, even if they got gradually reduced when ranking up.
Still, 180% for a Legendary class was really great. It would take Sublime some time to hit the Rank cap once again if she was able to focus on combat levelling. Riveting Night estimated that in about a year or two, it was entirely possible for her to enter Rank 3.
Her class skills had been buffed too, and she had gained two new ones. Riveting Night decided to check them out later, as she had to peruse the changes for all the members of Umbra at once.
If she tried to assess them one by one, who knew when she would finish?
Riveting Night checked on Deployed Solider next, then simultaneously opened all the displays from the other members of Umbra at once so she could assess their changes all together.
｢Great Commander - Legendary Class (Rank 2)
Skills: Commander's Rage (Active), Tactical Incursion (Active).
Exp gain rate: 200%
Rank up difficulty: 90%
Class weapons: Any non-magical
Class skills: Any non-magical｣
｢Wordsmith - Legendary Class (Noble Writer)
Skills: Speed Writing (Passive), Verbosity (Passive), Writ of Summons (Active), Ledger of Accountability (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 50, End 10, Int 50, Spr 20, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 150%
Rank up difficulty: 30%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any literary｣
｢Ferromancer - Legendary Class (Happy Saint)
Skills: Metallurgy (Passive), Metalmancy (Passive), Tradeskill Form (Active), Combat Form (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 50, Int 50, Spr 20, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 120%
Rank up difficulty: 40%
Class weapons: Any metal
Class skills: Any metal｣
｢Information Broker - Legendary Class (Sanji)
Skills: Manipulative Words (Passive), Tight Control (Passive), Department Setup (Active), Information Acquisition (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 80, Lck 30
Exp gain rate: 150%
Rank up difficulty: 30%
Class weapons: None.
Class skills: Any informatory｣
｢Conglomerate Manager - Legendary Class (Akainu)
Skills: Branch Management (Passive), Business Ac.u.men (Passive), Branch Setup (Active), Summon Secretary (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 40, Spr 10, Cha 50, Lck 30
Exp gain rate: 150%
Rank up difficulty: 30%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any mercantile｣
｢Fire Lord - Legendary Class (Jada)
Skills: Burning Aura (Passive), Ice Immunity (Passive), Extreme Implosion (Active), Searing Flames (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 60, Spr 50, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 90%
Rank up difficulty: 10%
Class weapons: Staff, Wand, Tome
Class skills: Any fire｣
｢Ice Lord - Legendary Class (Jade)
Skills: Chilling Aura (Passive), Fire Immunity (Passive), Persistent Blizzard (Active), Absolute Zero (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 60, Spr 50, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 90%
Rank up difficulty: 10%
Class weapons: Staff, Wand, Tome
Class skills: Any ice｣
｢Enchantress - Legendary Class (Loving Aunt)
Skills: Extreme Attraction (Passive), Toxic Supremacy (Passive), Subjugate (Active), Poison Ivy (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 60, Spr 20, Cha 40, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 120%
Rank up difficulty: 50%
Class weapons: Any magical
Class skills: Any poison or beguilement｣
｢Lord of Shadows - Legendary Class (Silent Walker)
Skills: Nightwalker (Passive), Perfect Manipulation (Passive), Dark Barrier (Active), Endless Night (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 80, Spr 30, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 110%
Rank up difficulty: 50%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any darkness｣
｢Demi-Angel - Legendary Class (Warm Spring)
Skills: Holy Aura (Passive), Damage Immunity (Passive), Light of Hope (Active), Mercy (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 80, Spr 80, Cha 10, Lck 50
Exp gain rate: 500%
Rank up difficulty: 1%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any healing or support｣
｢Lich - Legendary Class (Dreary Traveler)
Skills: Undead Lord (Passive), Undeath (Passive), Rise Up (Active), Promotion (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 90, Spr 20, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 110%
Rank up difficulty: 50%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any undead｣
｢Sword Supreme - Legendary Class (Slim Fatty)
Skills: Sword Mastery (Passive), Sword Supremacy (Passive), World Slash (Active), Overpowered Wave (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 50, Dex 50, End 20, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 100%
Rank up difficulty: 80%
Class weapons: Any sword
Class skills: Any sword｣
｢Orator - Legendary Class (Rambunctious Buttlover)
Skills: Deceptive Words (Passive), Sweet Talker (Passive), Endless Speech (Active), Inspire (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 10, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 90, Lck 20
Exp gain rate: 160%
Rank up difficulty: 30%
Class weapons: None
Class skills: Any bard｣
｢Martial Artist - Legendary Class (Kiran)
Skills: Inner Force (Passive), Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive), Cultivate (Active), Qi Wave (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 40, Dex 50, End 10, Int 10, Spr 30, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 120%
Rank up difficulty: 50%
Class weapons: Any unarmed
Class skills: Any unarmed｣
｢Vanguard - Legendary Class (Uno)
Skills: Protection Aura (Passive), Immovable Wall (Passive), All-out Defence (Active), Deflect (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 10, End 100, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 160%
Rank up difficulty: 20%
Class weapons: Any defensive
Class skills: Any defensive｣
｢Slayer - Legendary Class (Cobra)
Skills: Extreme Stealth (Passive), Blood Aura (Passive), Disable (Active), Sure-kill Strike (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 10, Dex 50, End 10, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 10, Lck 60
Exp gain rate: 130%
Rank up difficulty: 40%
Class weapons: Any small
Class skills: Any assassin｣
｢Maverick - Legendary Class (Boyd)
Skills: Bide (Passive), Improvisation (Passive), Unpredictable Strike (Active), Berserk (Active).
Starting Stats: Str 80, Dex 10, End 30, Int 10, Spr 10, Cha 10, Lck 10
Exp gain rate: 140%
Rank up difficulty: 30%
Class weapons: Any large
Class skills: Any berserker.｣
Riveting Night was stunned into stupidity. After Sublime had told her that all of them had been supported to attempt Epic and Legendary classes, she had expected to see a mixture of the two here. For all of them to be so greedy to go straight for the best choice... they were worthy of being the core members of Umbra.
Even then, she had expected to see some failures among the lot. After all, the base success chance for Legendary Class Ups was roughly 1%. Draco's had been 0.01% because those options he had were pinnacle Legendary classes.
These were more average, minus Warm Spring's Demi-Angel Class.
That was to say, everyone had managed to fall into that bracket of 1% success rate on the first try? How could that even be possible?
How could Riveting Night understand? If things had progressed normally, only the Five Generals would succeed in getting Legendary Classes while Rambunctious Buttlover and Slim Fatty might have squeezed out Epic classes.
The rest would have varying chances, but it would certainly not be so exaggerated as it was now. The simple reason for this was due to Sublime Notions veiled threat before they all set out.
The sadistic loli had wickedly remarked that anyone who would fail would have to explain their failures to Draco and Riveting Night. Then she had presented her calculations how long it would take for a normal guild member to slave away before they could make hundreds of thousands of guild funds required to allow just one of them to take their test...
Motivated by extreme fear, they had broken through their mental inhibitors and displayed 150% of their skills during their Class Up procedures. For them, failure was not an option. Similar to Sublime Notion herself, the Five Generals had not shunned from bastardizing their tests in ways that should have even made the system raise an eyebrow, as long as it meant that they could raise their chances of succeeding by a tiny amount.
As such, the current scene had occurred. In truth, even Sublime had been shocked as one after the other had come out successfully. Sublime had once thought that loyalty and love were the most powerful motivator in the world, but that was all a fart.
Nothing could motivate a human being to do their best like fear. Fear of failure, of disgrace, of poverty… they often drove a man to display his best skills and break through limits as well as preconceived notions.
Riveting Night could not know or understand this. Instead, she felt extremely proud and pleased with the members of Umbra, and her aura became extremely warm.
This made the faces of everyone change greatly. Not because of how rare it was for Riveting Night to be so amiable towards them, but solely because of how overpowered her aura was.
This was natural, as Riveting Night was sub-consciously channelling her Celestial Maiden Inheritance. One should not forget, Amaterasu was a kind and benevolent deity, so her aura was like the cradle of life.
It was only Riveting Night's life experiences that had twisted her nature far from what should have been, making her cruel, callous and a sociopath.
"Good, all of you have done well. Extremely well, actually. You have gone above and beyond my expectations, and that is a hard thing to do in this world." Riveting Night commended them with a nod.
The core members of Umbra shared gratified looks among each other. It seemed as if their efforts had not gone to waste, as even the harsh Riveting Night was incomparably gentle towards them at the moment.
However, her amiable aura suddenly turned chilling and the members of Umbra felt the jaws of the abyss open before them, ready to swallow them up at any time.
"Slaughtering a whole continent and angering many Rank 7 parties, you louts sure are amazing, huh? Even daring to empty the guilds coffers. Hehe, I am impressed."
Riveting Night's words made them shiver in fear, especially Sublime who shook like a willow tree in a storm. After all, no matter what, most of the responsibility would fall on her head!
Surprisingly, Riveting Night retracted her aura. "Still, none of that was wrong. What use is money if it is not used properly? As members of Umbra, it is your right to offend even the Gods, as long as you can prove your own worth. After today, you certainly have done that."
Just as Riveting Night was about to continue, a sweltering heat washed over the entire Training Hall as one of the private rooms opened, revealing Rina's mouth-watering form.
Her scarlet eyes glowed like a torch and her formerly black hair had become living strands of fire. Her robe was gone, replaced by congealed flames that covered her form. In her hand was the Divine Flamesear, and it looked like it had been reborn.
Rina met eyes with Riveting Night, and her noble expression changed as she sought to flee. However, Riveting Night coldly harrumph and caught her, making the shivering Rina display her class information.