The Six Pillars and the Seven Classes

The damned Ash Zone had given no advance warning of the rules for returning.

This was Xia Lin's first time in the Ash Zone, and he didn't know what the light of return looked like, either.

A series of mishaps had sent things spiraling, leaving Xia Lin in an extremely awkward situation!

And judging by Li Peipei's earlier expression, what she had said about returning was probably true.

Li Peipei had already returned.

She was waiting for him at the Ash Zone entrance in Iron Rain Base.

Xia Lin's attributes, now nearly a hundred across the board, would also vanish once he left this Ash Zone, turning him back into the ordinary, handsome young man with six points each in strength, agility, and constitution.

Was death at hand?

Xia Lin sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly closed his eyes.

He recalled.

He recalled everything that had just happened.

Especially the system notification that had sounded in his ears when he swallowed the Heaven-Gifted Source Essence.

A moment later, he abruptly opened his eyes and smiled grimly. "I'm not necessarily doomed."

He silently thought the word "return," and a system notification rang out in his ears.

[Main quest: Hunt!]

[Completed. Return permitted.]

Xia Lin had already met the requirement of ten monsters.

The light of return descended from above, and Xia Lin waited quietly.

Ten seconds later, a faint sense of disorientation washed over him, and his vision blurred. When it cleared, he saw a brilliant starry sky.

[Welcome to the Settlement Space.]

Every trip to the Ash Zone was followed by a settlement, which took place in the Settlement Space.

[Settlement beginning:]

[Main quest: Hunt! Completed.]

[You have received 100 Ash Zone Points.]

And then?

There was no "then."

No side quests, no unexpected gains. On his first trip to the Ash Zone, Xia Lin had only completed one main quest and received 100 Ash Zone Points.

Yet Xia Lin wasn't disappointed. He simply waited in silence, and soon saw specks of white light emerge from his body and vanish, seemingly flowing into the Settlement Space.

[One portion of Heaven-Gifted Source Essence detected. Generating random reward...]

[Generation complete.]

[Reward: Class!]

Xia Lin breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

His path to survival lay in that reward.

He had to find a way to escape Iron Rain Base among the classes. Otherwise, all that awaited him was a fate worse than death.

"But this life was a windfall in the first place. What harm is there in taking another gamble?"

He had only just arrived, and he had entered the story in a death trap, with almost no room to maneuver.

Fortunately, the talent Unstable Mutation had saved Xia Lin's life.

Now, looking back over everything he had just done, Xia Lin had no regrets.

He had done nothing wrong.

Because from the very beginning, reconciliation with Li Peipei and her group had never been an option. It was kill or be killed!

Without his talent, Xia Lin would have become a Flesh Bomb, a disposable consumable.

With his talent, he was bound to be coveted. He didn't believe an SS-rank talent would fail to tempt Li Peipei and her people, nor did he believe they had no way to deal with him. Still less did he trust their character.

Then there were the rules for returning that Li Peipei had just described.

Run? He couldn't get away.

Kill? He hadn't managed it.

Now that things had come to this, the fault didn't lie with Xia Lin. There had been too little time and the situation had been against him, and the Ash Zone had fucking pulled a fast one on him too...

"So give me a way to live, big brother!"

He prayed to the Ash Zone, and the Ash Zone answered.

[You may choose one of the following seven classes.]

The good news was that there were seven options.

That greatly improved his odds of winning the gamble.

But the Ash Zone System's second message left Xia Lin baffled.

[Note: Your choice will determine your factional leaning. Please choose carefully.]

What did that mean?

He didn't know.

Did every Ash Zone Walker get a message like this when choosing a class, or was he the only one receiving this special treatment?

He didn't know that either.

The Ash Zone presented the options.

[One: Cultivator.]

[Cultivate, refine artifacts, and become the Heavenly Dao. We cultivators can ascend to the heavens and delve into the earth-nothing is beyond us!]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: the Heavenly Dao Creator.]

The very first class left Xia Lin dumbfounded.

A cultivator?

An immortal cultivator?

It was probably the kind of immortal cultivator from the xianxia novels of his previous life, wasn't it?

And what were the Six Pillars?

Who was the Heavenly Dao Creator?

There were too many questions, and Xia Lin couldn't make sense of them. He gave up thinking about them and passed on the class outright.

Because it was no use.

Going by his experience with webnovels in his previous life, choosing the cultivator class meant spending a long time cultivating before gaining great power. That wouldn't help him at all in his current situation.

He didn't need to consider the future for now. First, he had to get past Li Peipei.

[Two: Soul Master.]

[Bound to a soul beast from birth, one soul per level, a hundred skills at level ten-who can stand against you!]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: the Soul-Taming Demon Emperor.]

The Six Pillars again.

But it still wouldn't work.

Because it still didn't meet Xia Lin's needs.

[Three: Limit Breaker.]

[Attributes are power, and numbers are truth!]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: the Old Ruler.]

"Numbers are truth..."

Xia Lin murmured, repeating the class description. He was a little tempted.

Who wouldn't love outrageously high numbers?

But unfortunately, it still wouldn't work.

[Four: Lord of Ten Thousand Armies.]

[I came, I saw, I conquered!]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: the King of Kings.]

Still no good...

Xia Lin's heart sank further and further.

He finally realized that what he needed right now wasn't an insanely powerful class, but a skill.

But it seemed that classes in the Ash Zone didn't directly grant skills...

[Five: Martial God.]

[Seize the heavens through the martial dao!]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: Superstar.]

[Six: Godspawn.]

[Gurgle gurgle~~ (Your SAN is too low.)]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will naturally lean toward one of the Six Pillars: the Primordial Dark Side.]

No, no, still no good!

Despair gradually crept into his heart.

The seventh option appeared.

[Seven: Indeterminate Shadow.]

[A class customized to your talent.]

[Note: Upon choosing this class, your stance will not lean toward any of the Six Pillars. This may be a good thing, but it could also be a disaster. Life without a backer won't be easy, whether in the Ash Zone or in reality.]

The Ash Zone System had presented all the options, leaving Xia Lin struggling to choose.

He knew what he needed most was an escape skill, but there wasn't one.

The Ash Zone System didn't rush him. After a long time, Xia Lin let out a soft sigh.

"Seven."

Without Unstable Mutation, he would have died to Flesh Bomb long ago.

Given his current situation, rather than gamble on finding a so-called backer, Xia Lin might as well place his hopes on his customized class.

[Choice confirmed!]

[Class change to Indeterminate Shadow beginning!]

As the thunderous notification rang in his ears, Xia Lin saw countless lights flare up throughout the Settlement Space.

The lights had no fixed shape or form, and even their colors flickered and shifted, never settling.

Soon, space began to distort. Countless kaleidoscopes of different colors and sizes sprang into existence and vanished. After staring at them for only a short while, Xia Lin felt dazzled.

He closed his eyes, not daring to look any longer, and suddenly sensed a strange energy seeping into his body from outside.

A wave of drowsiness swept over him.

Snores rang out. He had fallen asleep.

But the transformation continued.