Chapter 46

It all happened the previous day.

The moment Rey left the KariBlanc Group’s building with Noah, he got a congratulatory message from the System.

[Congratulations! You Have Advanced To A New Class]

‘E-eh?!’ Rey was initially startled by the whole thing, but since he was wearing a mask, no one could see the stupefied expression he made.

He was really thankful for that.

‘But what does this mean?’

Only the user of a System could see or interact with their System Messages. As such, despite being out in the open, only Rey could see the notification before him.

[Congratulations! Your Class ‘Enigma’ has been advanced to ‘Elite Enigma’ due to the wealth and strength you possess]

‘A Class called Enigma?’

It was the first that Rey had heard of it, but since he was in the middle of the street—right within the Black Market—Rey decided to set the matter aside for the time being.

‘I’ll check it out once I return to my room…’

And so he did.

After returning to his room, Rey opened his Status Window. Just as the System had promised, his Class had indeed changed!

[STATUS WINDOW]

- Name: Rey Skylar.

- Race: Human (Otherworlder)

- Class: Elite Enigma (B-Tier)

- Level: 19 (99.19% EXP)

- Life Force: 22 (+10)

- Mana Level: 65 (+10)

- Combat Ability: 30 (+10)

- Stat Points: 10

- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]

- Skills (Non-Exclusive): Nil

- Alignment: Neutral

[Additional Information]

You are a mystery to the world. While the underworld trembles at your presence, those on the surface do not understand your true strength.

[End Of Information]

“Whoa! This can’t be real!” Rey exclaimed as he scrolled through his Status Window.

‘10 Stat Points added to each of my Stats? I’d have to Level Up ten times to get that number of Stat Points!’

That meant, despite being a Level 19, he was as strong as a Level 29!

‘Or could it be that I’m using my Commoner Stat as a metric? This might be what’s normal for those with better Stats…’

Rey’s [Commoner] Class was F-Tier, offering no benefits beyond default Stats.

As such, he got the minimum Stat Points after Leveling Up, and he had no perks attached to his abilities.

It was sort of like earning minimum wage—just enough to get by, without any extra benefits

‘So this is what a B-Tier Class can do, huh? I wonder if the extra stats will keep rising the more I level up…’

Rey was excited for sure.

However, he wasn’t done exploring the changes that had occurred to his Status Window.

He specifically tapped the name [Elite Enigma], so he could get more information about the Class.

… He wasn’t disappointed.

[Class Information]

- Name: Elite Enigma

- Tier: B-Tier

- Cause: You have become a mystery—a man of many faces who actively lives dual lives. You belong to both darkness and light, and you are perceived differently by the denizens of the world.

Are you weak? Are you strong? There doesn’t seem to be a consensus on that.

{Class Privileges}

~ 10+ Base Stats addition for all your major Stat Areas

~ 1+ subsequent Stat Point for every Level Up

~ Natural Mask Effect can be activated (You can keep a poker face or make your reactions appear exactly as you intend, regardless of circumstances)

~ Naturally suppresses the effects of any ‘Appraisal’ cast on you. (If the Appraisal is weaker than this Effect, you can influence its results)

[End Of Information]

‘Four different privileges? That’s insane!’

Rey was beginning to get curious about the privileges that those with better Classes possessed.

‘If a B-Tier has four privileges, then an A-Tier should have… five privileges?’

C-Tier would have three.

D-Tier would have two.

E-Tier would have one.

And then, F-Tier naturally had none.

Rey thought about Adonis and his Hero Class, estimating that he would have at least six privileges.

‘That’s insane. I honestly still can't wrap my head around this…’

The advantage of having a solid Class was slowly consuming Rey.

He hadn’t yet asked anyone about the details of their Class, because he didn’t want to feel like he was missing out.

Having a better Class was mostly out of his control, so he didn’t want to compound the issue or be distracted by such things.

However, with his discovery, Rey felt something rise within him.

‘I need to get a higher Class! Somehow…’

Classes seemed to reflect a person’s circumstances, but it seemed one had to reach a certain threshold for it to reflect.

Rey didn’t know what the threshold was, so he couldn’t make a rough estimate of what he had to achieve to advance.

This wasn’t the same as Leveling Up at all.

‘And there’s also the fact that I don’t know what else I can do that'll trigger my path to advancing to a higher Class.’

The best thing Rey could think of was simply to keep doing what he was doing.

He had to double down on his actions.

‘Keep my other life a secret. Operate in mysteries, ensuring the perceptions of those around me grow stronger…’

The polarizing views of both sides would probably influence how his Class would be perceived from this point onward.

He also guessed that the more he gained recognition for either being very strong or very weak, the more his Class would advance.

‘Sounds like a plan. Yeah, I’ll focus on that.’

Once he settled on that, Rey stole one last glance at his [Class Details].

“These are really good effects, though…” He mumbled.

He could affect Appraisals by either nullifying them or even altering their results.

That would come in handy.

‘I’m only Level 19, so I probably shouldn’t expect to be invincible against all Appraisals…’

If someone like Lucielle cast a Spell of that nature, he might be in trouble.

‘I wonder about that Oculus thing, though. Would it be able to detect my new Class?’

Rey suspected the answer was likely “Yes.”

If the Oculus could detect people like Adonis, who had [The Hero]—an S-Tier Class—why wouldn’t it be able to detect his humble B-Tier Class?

That item was definitely stronger than his ability to resist Appraisals.

‘I doubt we won’t encounter the Oculus again…’

If Rey had to guess, he would say that there would come a time when students would be brought before the Oculus again to see if they had advanced a Class.

‘It will be… problematic… if my new Class is discovered.’

That would clearly show everyone that he was hiding something. Plus, if it was revealed to be a B-Tier Class, then he would no longer be perceived as a weak Extra.

What would then happen to his Class?

‘Will I lose my Class? That would be bad…’

He hadn’t done any research on Classes, but from what he read about the natural order of society, it was indeed possible for people to lose their Classes.

Fallen Nobles who once had respectable Classes ended up losing them, taking on weaker Classes instead.

The same happened to merchants who went bankrupt or warriors who lost their ability to fight.

Classes reflected a person’s current status, Rey realized. If his situation changed, he might lose his newly acquired Class.

“I can’t allow that!” He said to himself resolutely.

He was content with things as they were and wasn’t ready to upset the balance.

‘I just have to get stronger! Strong enough to resist the Oculus when the time comes.’

With this resolve in mind, Rey finally took a shower and headed to the library to meet Alicia, offering his apology and presenting her with the gift from KariBlanc.

The rest of the night went smoothly after those events.

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading!

What do you think about Rey’s new Class?

Bet you didn’t see this coming, did you?!