Indeterminate Shadow
There was no concept of time in the settlement space.
After an unknown length of time, Xia Lin awoke from his slumber, and the notification sounded in his ears again.
[Class change complete.] [Please open your attribute panel for further details.]
He stretched, feeling refreshed, but there were no other changes.
The class change did not seem to have increased Xia Lin's attributes, and even the temporary buff from the previous Ash Zone was gone. He was once again an ordinary, handsome young man with 6 points each in strength, agility, and constitution...
The good news: he could be human again.
The bad news: as a human, he was weak.
Following the Ash Zone's prompt, Xia Lin opened his attribute panel, and his personal attributes appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Xia Lin] [Level: 1] [Class: Indeterminate Shadow] [Class talent 1: Indeterminate Constant (S-rank talent): Even in change, there are constants, much like constants in mathematics. Indeterminate Constant provides the Indeterminate Shadow with three additional constant skill slots. Skills placed in constant slots, whether ordinary or mutated, will not mutate further and cannot be observed by any skill. You may replace the skills in your constant slots before each Ash Zone begins and in the settlement space after it ends.] [Class talent 2: Unstable Mutation (SSS-rank talent) (personal talent converted into class talent) (talent upgraded due to stimulation from class change).] [Unstable Mutation: Whenever you obtain a skill or enter an Ash Zone, all skills not placed in constant skill slots will undergo random mutations. Buffs applied to you will also mutate randomly. However, you may choose whether to retain the mutation effects. If you choose not to, the skills and buffs will not mutate.] [Basic attributes:] [Strength: 6] [Constitution: 6] [Agility: 6] [Spirit: 10] [Constant skill slots: 3] [Current skills: 0] [Ordinary skill slots: 1] [Current skills: 0] [Note: You gain one ordinary skill slot each time your level increases.]
Xia Lin sighed softly.
No skills...
Then the system notification sounded again.
[Congratulations on changing your class to Indeterminate Shadow.] [Upon completing a class change, an Ash Zone Walker will randomly receive one to three class-related skills (S-rank or below).] [The Indeterminate Shadow class has no related class skills of S-rank or below. Randomly selecting skills...] [Selection complete!] [You have obtained three skills.]
Was this what it meant for good fortune to fall from the sky!?
Was this what it meant to find a village beyond the dark willows and bright flowers!?
And he had drawn three, the highest possible number!
Xia Lin's eyes widened, and even his breathing grew softer.
Then three capital Fs came into view.
[You have obtained the skill: Backstab (F-rank skill): Passive skill. Attacks launched from behind deal increased damage.] [You have obtained the skill: Light and Slow Footsteps (F-rank skill): Passive skill. Your footsteps become quieter, and your movement speed increases slightly.] [You have obtained the skill: Moisturize (F-rank skill): Active skill. Consumes 1 spirit. Upon activation, moisturizes a single target, relieves fatigue, heals minor injuries, and cures minor illnesses. This skill has no cooldown.]
Xia Lin's smile froze on his face.
The good news: he really had drawn three skills.
The bad news: all three were F-rank skills, the lowest rank.
"So tell me, Ash Zone, what's the point of having an F-rank?"
Just look at these "three divine skills"...
Backstab and Light and Slow Footsteps were more like techniques than skills.
Moisturize at least felt like a skill... but he figured its effects were probably about the same as Red Bull, antibiotics, and Yunnan Baiyao combined.
Xia Lin had just finished complaining when a bright light suddenly flashed before him.
Three spherical crystals appeared out of thin air before Xia Lin's eyes.
[You do not have enough ordinary skill slots. Your skills have been issued in the form of skill crystals.]
Skill crystals were the physical manifestation of skills.
As long as one had a free skill slot, crushing a skill crystal would automatically grant mastery of that skill.
Xia Lin shook his head and casually picked up a skill crystal.
[You have learned the skill: Moisturize (F-rank skill).]
The Moisturize skill appeared in the ordinary skill slot.
Then a dim light flashed across the skill description, and Unstable Mutation took effect!
[Your skill, Moisturize (F-rank skill), has mutated into Rapid Nourishment (mutated).] [Rapid Nourishment (mutated): Active skill. Consumes 4 spirit. Targets any single living being and rapidly fattens the target to the limit its genes can withstand! This skill has no cooldown.]
Xia Lin froze on the spot.
"This..."
He knew Unstable Mutation was powerful, very, very powerful!
But he hadn't realized the talent had a silly side, too.
Something seemed a little off about this Rapid Nourishment...
Xia Lin's head was in a mess, and he couldn't think of a use for the skill for the moment.
But that didn't stop Xia Lin from placing Rapid Nourishment (mutated) in a constant skill slot. Then he picked up another skill crystal and crushed it.
[You have learned the skill: Backstab (F-rank skill).]
The dim light flashed again, and Unstable Mutation performed as reliably as ever.
[Your skill, Backstab (F-rank skill), has mutated into Backstab (mutated).] [Backstab (mutated): Limit-breaking skill, passive skill. When you backstab the faction you belong to, permanently increases all attributes based on the impact caused.]
"Limit-breaking skill..."
As he murmured the words, the Ash Zone system quickly provided an explanation.
[Limit-breaking skills are a special category of skills found in the Shattered Ash Zone.] [An Ash Zone Walker's attribute cap is directly related to their level.] [A level 1 Ash Zone Walker's attribute cap is 10 points, a level 2's is 20 points, and so on.] [However, attribute bonuses provided by limit-breaking skills can break this restriction and exceed the level cap, and can be retained permanently.]
That meant a level 1 Ash Zone Walker could use limit-breaking skills to raise their attributes to 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 or 100,000!
Xia Lin thought of the Limit Breaker class.
Attributes were power, and numbers were truth!
Without another word, Xia Lin moved Backstab (mutated) into a constant skill slot and crushed the third skill crystal.
[You have learned the skill: Light and Slow Footsteps (F-rank skill).] [Your skill, Light and Slow Footsteps (F-rank skill), has mutated into A Thousand Li Apart at Parting (mutated).] [A Thousand Li Apart at Parting (mutated): Active skill. Consumes half your remaining spirit (minimum 5 points). The skill activates after you say goodbye to the target and wave. Upon activation, you will immediately be transported to any location capable of accommodating you, exactly 1,000 li from the target. This skill has a cooldown of half a month.]
Xia Lin's taut nerves relaxed.
He had obtained what he needed most.
"Return."
After spending another moment in the settlement space, Xia Lin glanced at the Ash Zone shop and confirmed that 100 Ash Zone points couldn't buy anything he needed. He decided to return.
This time, the Ash Zone system finally provided a detailed explanation of the return process.
[When returning from an Ash Zone, you will return to the Ash Zone entrance.] [Additionally, because time flows differently in the Ash Zone and reality, no matter how long you spend in the Ash Zone, only one hour will have passed in reality.]
That meant survivors who entered the same Ash Zone through the same entrance would appear in the same place at the same time when they returned.
What Li Peipei had said was indeed true.
[At the same time, you must find an Ash Zone entrance on your own and enter another Ash Zone within one month.] [Those who exceed the time limit will be eliminated.]
The Ash Zone was like a tiger or wolf, forcing Ash Zone Walkers to enter Ash Zones again and again, fall into deadly situations again and again, and struggle to survive again and again.
There really was a reason the body's original owner hadn't wanted to be an Ash Zone Walker.
Nobody liked a life in which death was nine times more likely than survival.
"But I, Xia Lin, would rather hold my fate in my own hands."
He slowly clenched his fist, closed his eyes, and returned fully to reality.