Aaron World, Lionheart Empire!

The instant Bai Xiaowen chose to enter the Spirit Realm, a strange feeling welled up inside him, as though everything around him had come to a standstill.

Amid the silence, an emotionless notification sounded:

Matching Plane World... Match successful!

Character data scanned. Entering Plane World...

Emperor Tiberon, who unified the entirety of the Aaron Continent, has lain dormant for more than three hundred years...

The Lionheart Empire is declining amid internal turmoil and external threats...

The war of the High Elves tears at the Empire's flesh...

The resistance of the Northern Vikings drains the Empire's vitality...

The dragons' resurrection sounds the horn of destruction!

The champions of the kings return at the end of the age...

Bai Xiaowen awoke amid a biting wind. He found himself sleeping in a small wooden shack exposed to the wind on three sides. Through the gaps in its walls, he could vaguely see the white snow outside.

Aaron World?! The Lionheart Empire?! It can't be such a coincidence... I actually stumbled right into the Aaron Plane World!

Bai Xiaowen rolled over and got to his feet. He suddenly discovered that the bones in his left arm, which had been bitten through by Black Fang, the Elite Zombie Rat, had completely healed without even leaving a scar.

Whenever one entered or left the Spirit Realm, the body would be thoroughly repaired by Psionic Particles and restored to peak condition. Many Awakened streamers had personally confirmed this.

A long string of notifications entered Bai Xiaowen's mind.

Welcome to the Aaron Plane. You are undertaking the Awakened Class Change trial mission.

During the mission, your body will be fully digitized. Failure of the mission will result in cancellation.

Your base attributes have been optimized. Your current attributes are: Strength 5, Agility 5, Constitution 2, Mental 10.

Your Life Value, offensive and defensive capabilities have been digitized. The Temporary Storage Space has been activated. Please open your personal panel to view them.

Bai Xiaowen silently opened his personal panel.

An Awakened's personal attributes used only whole numbers. Any decimal values were rounded, which was known as "optimization." For Bai Xiaowen, the result was beneficial. His original 4.5 Strength and Agility had both become 5, equivalent to gaining 1 combat attribute point out of nowhere!

Of course, his Constitution of 2.1 had become 2, which was a slight loss, but it was not a major issue.

Bai Xiaowen had 20 Life Value, which was Constitution multiplied by 10. His base defense was also only 2 points, the same as his Constitution attribute.

This was where the importance of Constitution lay. Raising Constitution could improve a person's overall survivability.

However, the Dirty Cloak equipped on his back added 2 points of back defense and 3% evasion, offering Bai Xiaowen's frail body a small measure of protection.

Bai Xiaowen's attack power was fairly decent. His 5 Strength gave him 5 base attack, and together with the Fang Dagger's 3–8 attack, his total attack was 8–13.

Bai Xiaowen quickly assessed his combat ability and sighed inwardly.

If he faced an opponent with attack power close to his own, it would take only two or three slashes to kill him, even with "non-vital" attacks. If a Critical Hit occurred... one swing, one body hauled away.

Moreover, Bai Xiaowen's Combat and Equipment Specialty were quite mediocre. His Basic Combat was level 3, and his Basic Weaponry was level 4, while other Quasi-Awakened had long since trained them to max level.

Bai Xiaowen also tried opening the Temporary Storage Space. It held roughly one cubic meter, and its length, width, and height could be adjusted freely, though its volume remained unchanged. At present, the Storage Space contained only a dull gray Soul Stone, a rusty iron sword, and a bottle of Putrid Blood, making it look very empty.

Bai Xiaowen closed the personal panel.

The notifications continued:

Mission system activated.

Based on your attributes (Mental Specialty), Class Change missions have been generated.

Class Change Mission 1 (Optional): Join the Northern Mage Academy and learn any spell specialization. Mission difficulty: B.

Class Change Mission 2 (Optional): Enter Barov Lord's Manor in Walteren City, meet Chief Mage Selen, and learn Dragon Language. Mission difficulty: A-.

Class Change Mission 3 (Optional): Break the seal on the Soul Stone and infuse it with energy. Mission difficulty: S-.

Bai Xiaowen stared at the notifications and fell into thought.

So it's this kind of multiple-choice question... Pick one out of three. These three missions represent three different class paths.

A class determined an Awakened's attribute growth with every level-up, making it extremely important.

By potential, classes could be divided into Standard Classes, Elite Classes, and Hero Classes.

Standard Classes, also known as ordinary classes, had average growth. They could handle ordinary monsters of the same level, but if they encountered Elite Tier monsters, it would become a difficult and brutal fight, and whether they could survive would be questionable. Awakened with Standard Classes were also the most numerous.

Elite Classes gained roughly 50% more total attributes per level than Standard Classes. Awakened who changed into Elite Classes were core members in any major guild. With careful handling, they also had a considerable chance of defeating Elite Tier monsters one-on-one.

As for Hero Classes, as their name suggested, those who successfully changed into them were all Heroic Tier figures, enough to become part of a major guild's core leadership! Awakened with Hero Classes were the main force against Leader Tier monsters.

An Awakened party hunting a Leader Tier monster had to be led by a "tank-type" Awakened with a Hero Class. Otherwise, they would not be able to recruit anyone at all—no one wanted to throw away their life for nothing.

Of the three Class Change missions before Bai Xiaowen, the first was B Tier in difficulty. Its requirement was to join the Northern Mage Academy and learn any specialization. In Bai Xiaowen's understanding, the class gained upon completing it would probably be the most common Standard Class, some generic mage.

The second mission was A- Tier in difficulty, and its challenges mainly lay in two aspects.

First, entering Volterren's Lord's Manor. How could an ordinary commoner possibly enter the Lord's Manor? And learning Dragon Language was not something that could be accomplished overnight. He would need the ability to remain in the Lord's Manor for an extended period.

Second, getting on good terms with Selen, the Lord's Manor's chief mage, would probably be even more difficult. Bai Xiaowen certainly did not expect Mage Selen to see him and immediately proclaim that he had extraordinary bones and was clearly a promising talent, then say, "Come, come, this Book of Tathagata's Palm is only two copper coins. From now on, the task of saving the world is yours," and so on...

To learn Dragon Language, he would have to give gifts. For a penniless commoner to produce a gift capable of moving Chief Mage Selen was utterly unrealistic. Besides, he had no idea what Selen's character was like. If Selen took his gift and turned on him, Bai Xiaowen would be trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait.

Of course, a mission of this difficulty would certainly grant no poor class. At the very least, it would be an Elite Class, likely an elite mage oriented toward something like "Dragon Language spells."