After returning to Earth, Almond teleported back to his castle in the Sanctuary Area using the teleporter function of his territory.
Sitting cross-legged, he opened his status and pressed the + mark beside [Classes] with his mind by focusing.
[Sub-class building initiated]
[Based on your experiences so far, here is your first question to determine your subclass.]
[What do you like among the three options given?]
1. Utopia where people live peacefully.
2. A world where strong rules and people bloom when opportunity meets determination.
3. A harsh staircase of truth that leads you to the revelation of all that is.
‘Interesting…’ Almond blinked as he read all three options and made his choice.
‘I’ll go with the third option.’
[Next question: If you were a young man at the crossroads of choosing your future, what would you choose?]
1. A scholar who seeks to learn and spread knowledge.
2. A pioneer who seeks discoveries.
3. A farmer who seeks to build a family and live peacefully.
Almond didn’t have to contemplate this as well because he had his answer ready after reading the options.
‘A pioneer who seeks discoveries.’
[Third question: What do you value most among these options?]
1. Power.
2. Knowledge.
3. Family.
4. Fame.
5. Peace.
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‘Knowledge is everything. With it, I can get the other four,’ Almond smiled and chose the 2nd option without hesitation.
[Based on your responses, you are given these five options for your subclass’s suffix. Please choose one.]
1. Artisan
2. Oracle
3. Aligner
4. Keymaker
5. Molder
Almond raised his eyebrows. ‘These options are interesting. Artisan and Oracle, I can understand. But Aligner…the word can be the one who aligns. The one who put things into correct order. The one who gives support to someone, or something I guess…’
‘Keymaker sounds pretty straightforward. The one who makes keys. But what kinda keys? I guess the prefix will determine.’
‘And Molder…’
Almond rubbed his chin. ‘Aligner, Keymaker, and Molder…I am going to choose one from these three, but which one?’
After not coming to a decision in five seconds, Almond got an idea.
‘I guess I’ll leave this to luck.’
Almond created a dice with six sides and rolled it.
The dice rolled and stopped, showing ‘4’ on the surface.
Almond looked at the 4th option and grinned, ‘Keymaker it is.’
[Now, onto the final selection, the prefix of your Keymaker.]
[Due to your mental foundation being way higher than average and your high potential, as well as with the questions you answered, your subclass will be at Legendary rank or higher. Here are the options for the prefix. Please choose one.]
1. Dimensional
2. Seeker
3. Runestone
4. Sanctum
5. Resonance
‘Dimensional Keymaker, Seeker Keymaker, Runestone Keymaker, Sanctum Keymaker, and Resonance Keymaker.’
Almond fell into a thoughtful state. ‘Dimensional Keymaker sounds cool, and Seeker Keymaker sounds interesting. The other three don’t pique my interest…hmm, according to my feelings, Seeker Keymaker has more potential than the other four.’
Almond rubbed his chin, ‘the other four seem to be on the same level in terms of potential I feel, but Seeker sounds like it encompasses more than others and feels bigger…’
Almond made his decision and selected Seeker.
[Congratulations. You have awakened your subclass—Seeker Keymaker (M)]
‘M?’ Almond blinked twice, his eyes shaking. ‘No fucking way, right?’
He quickly expanded his subclass.
[Seeker Keymaker]
-Rank: Mythical.
-Skill(s)
1. Seeker Key: Creates a key that leads to that which you seek the most (1 month cooldown)
2. Fabrication Key: Creates a key and designate an area. You can enter that area from anywhere using the key. You can make up to 3 Fabrication Keys.
3. Unlocking Key: If something or anything is determined to be locked by you, you may be able to create a key with enough knowledge and unlock it.
4. Blank Key: You can create blank keys that can be designated to doors that already exist. Using the key, you can go past the door you have designated. You can have up to five Blank Keys.
‘Woah…what kinda subclass is this?’ Almond was surprised as he read the skills.
‘Let’s see what Seeker Key does,’ Almond curiously used the skill.
There wasn’t any cost written, but his entire mana and stamina was drained to zero, and his mind also felt a sudden exhaustion as if he was focused on a task for a whole day and got mentally tired.
‘The fuck…’
Almond wryly smiled as he lay on his back, feeling mysteriously tired, and looked at the ceiling of the pavilion, but soon, hazy, colorful sparks and streams appeared that combined and materialized a glassy key, giving different colored hues each second.
He grabbed the key and felt its cold and soothing surface.
But Almond didn’t use the key right away and put it away before falling asleep. Making this key exhausted his mind, so he needed some rest to recover.
Shortly after an hour, Almond woke up feeling refreshed and recovered as he stood up.
Taking out the key, he activated it by infusing mana.
The key shone and released strange energy that soon created a door with material that looked the same as the key’s material.
The key turned into dust and vanished as the door fully materialized.
Almond looked at the door, feeling strange palpitation, but also excitement. ‘A key leading to something that I seek the most.’
‘Let’s see where it takes me.’
Almond opened the door and saw a slowly moving whirlpool of strange darkness.
Without further ado, Almond stepped inside.
The door briefly glowed after Almond vanished and then scattered away.
On the other side, Almond found himself in a cavern with purple, red, and yellow crystals growing out.
The sound of the axe hitting the crystals constantly echoed as Almond saw people—humans, dwarves, elves, demons, and others mining the crystals using pitch-black metal pickaxes.
‘This…’ Almond swept his glance as his All-Seeing eyes looked through these people.
But as he saw through him, Almond received a great shock.
‘W-Wh…what?!’ Almond’s pupils dilated to the extreme, and his heartbeat raced. Sweat beads began forming as his eyes reflected fear of the unknown.
Because each of these people working here had stats above 10,000!
Each one’s every single stat ranged from 10k to 15k!
If one of them accidentally swung a pickaxe at him without his notice, he would fucking die!
And these people, numbering thirty-two in this cavern, were mining crystals.
‘Where the fuck am I?!’
“Hey!”
Almond saw a voice booming as it hit his face, causing him to fall. He looked up and saw a six-foot man covered from head to toe in full black armor with red patterns floating above him.
“Grab the pickaxe and start mining! What the fuck are you gawking around?”
Almond felt absolute death hovering above him. Even if he could fight the miners who had crazy high stats, this one…this one in the armor was beyond him.
Adapting quickly, Almond got up fast and bowed. “I-I apologi-“
“Wait, you…who are you?” the man descended, interrupting Almond, and walked towards him. The helmet’s eyeholes were covered with strange black glass as they glimmered like eyes, looking maroon in color.
“You are not on the list. How did you enter here?”
Almond weakly smiled and said, “Would you believe me if I said I also don’t know? I just arrived here, but I don’t know how.”
Almond didn’t know if the man was frowning behind his helmet or not, but the glint in those eyeholes increased in intensity by a notch.
“Follow me,” the man said after two seconds of silence and turned around.
“Yes, sir.”
Almond followed the man while feeling his mind fucked. ‘Where the fuck am I?! I did not seek this!’
‘Hello, Grimworld Tutorial? Can I get some answers?’
‘Status.’
Almond’s pupil shrank as he saw some options graying out. For instance, he couldn’t use the teleporter function of his Sanctuary. He also couldn’t use the Battlefield Hub tab that could send him there.
He tried to connect with his Spirit Wraiths but failed. He tried to recall them to him but also failed.
‘My class skills…’ Almond’s heart skipped a bit as he saw his entire primary class turning gray! He inspected deep inside and saw that his primary class source was snuffed with ethereal chains around it as if it were locked, but not completely as he could see his new Spirit Wraith still in development.
However, his specialized class source was still there, as well as his subclass source.
‘What the fuck is going on? Seriously, I need to find my location,’ Almond looked ahead as he exited the cavern and arrived outside.
He looked up first to see the sky but saw that the sky was black with various huge, colorful patterns, tiny and hazy. A glowing celestial object like the sun also shone, giving light to this land. But despite its presence, only it glowed brightly in the sky while giving light. The rest of the sky was still dark and filled with patterns.
‘This is unscientific…’
The cave entrance seemed to be on a mountain based on the geography Almond sensed with his Espada Ad Grimveil, which strangely shrank to just a 400-meter radius instead of 4 kilometers.
But 400 meters was enough to see that he was on a mountain based on the surroundings. The woods were cleared ahead of the cave entrance, and there was a huge camp ahead with fancy tents, wooden structures, and empty grounds with a small number of people. Most of them were in armor like the one Almond was following as they were talking or training, but he saw some people of different races wearing rags like the miners in the cavern.
“Come in.”
The man spoke without turning around as he entered the biggest wooden structure in the camp that was like a two-story wooden building with the wideness of a mansion.
“Yes, sir.”
Almond gulped and composed himself as he entered, his fist clenched. ‘Wherever I am, I am balls deep in shit where my chance of death is high and control over my own life is utterly low.’
‘But whatever this place is, I have to survive and return.’