Riley slowly blinked.

The weightlessness faded.

The warmth of the void vanished.

And when his eyes adjusted—

He found himself standing exactly where he had been before.

Back in the center of the trial space.

The dark tornado was gone.

The swirling chaos that had engulfed him just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

The shadows had already begun to dissipate, thinning into faint strands of darkness that scattered across the wind like ashes.

Only silence remained.

No storms. No pressure. No tremors.

Just the quiet aftermath of something that had felt… divine.

Riley looked around slowly, his gaze sweeping the now-still platform.

Then, he tilted his head upward, eyes narrowing.

"…So I was floating with them before," he muttered.

His voice sounded distant. Even to him.

Like he was still caught between two worlds.

He lowered his gaze again, brows slowly knitting together.

His mind wandered back—to the images he'd seen.

To the massive realm of darkness… to the blade… the battlefield… and that eerie reflection of himself wearing a crown of black flame.

"Are those… things I can do with the power of shadow?" he muttered softly.

His voice trembled just a little—not from fear, but awe.

He didn't know what those images meant, not entirely.

But he could tell they weren't mere illusions. Instead, they were possiblities or distant futures.

The heights he could now reach with this class.

He took a slow breath.

"…As expected of an SSS-rank class," he whispered.

Honestly, he hadn't expected it.

Not in the slightest.

He had completed the final trial with only an SS-rating. And while that was extremely high, it wasn't perfect. It wasn't SSS.

He figured the rewards would be good—but not this good.

Even an S-rank class would've satisfied him very much.

But to awaken something on this level…

Riley chuckled, unable to help himself.

It was dry, low, and filled with disbelief.

'Heh… floating over the moon, huh?'

That was what it felt like.

A quiet, impossible joy, barely restrained by his composed expression.

He slowly raised his right hand to eye level.

And there—lingering on his skin like dew in the morning—was a faint mist of shadow.

It curled around his fingers in slow spirals, glowing faintly with a purplish hue.

"…Still there?" he whispered.

The massive energy he felt earlier hadn't completely faded.

Instead, he could feel them swirling within himself, making him feel like he was standing on top of the world.

He clenched his fist slowly.

"…It feels cold," he muttered. "Yet… warm at the same time."

Nonetheless, he didn't hate that feeling, and instead accepted it.

Before Riley could reflect any further—

Ding!

More system notifications suddenly flared before his eyes.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up Rewards: +128 Attribute Points, +64 Skill Points]

Another one immediately followed.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up Rewards: +128 Attribute Points, +64 Skill Points]

Then again.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up Rewards: +128 Attribute Points, +64 Skill Points]

Three in a row.

Riley stared at the notifications, his mind still reeling.

So many points… with each level up?

He had expected something impressive—he knew S-rank classes were a cut above the rest.

But this?

This was on an entirely different level!

It reminded him once again why class advancement was so damn important.

In this game, power wasn't just about flashy skills or cool titles.

No.

It was having useful talents and high-ranking classes.

Those were what determined how strong one could get, and how fast they could also grow. Basically, they were what truly separated the weak from the strong.

The higher your class, the more attribute and skill points you received per level.

Simple.

Yet absolutely game-changing.

For a D-rank class, it was just two attribute points and one skill point per level.

Exactly the same as what everyone received before class advancement.

That amount might've seemed manageable at first—but in the grand scheme of things, it was laughable.

And in Apocalypse, players with a D-rank class were walking fodders.

But things started to get better from there.

At C-rank, the reward doubled.

Four attribute points. Two skill points per level.

Still not incredible—but manageable.

Players with a C-rank class could at least keep up in early battles.

Then B-rank.

Double again.

Eight attribute points. Four skill points per level.

Players with B-rank classes were known to be quite powerful, so they had more chances of surviving compared to the ones below them.

Then A-rank. Sixteen attributes. Eight skill points.

That's when things really started getting serious.

But then came the true monsters.

Those like Trent, the one who they called the strongest hero of humanity in his past life.

Riley's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought of him.

He had awakened an SS-rank class in his past life, and was known as the human with the most powerful class.

And with it, he received sixty-four attribute points and thirty-two skill points with each level up.

It was part of what had made him so untouchable.

Not just his skills.

Not just his tactics.

But the sheer numbers backing every move he made.

Riley could still remember how he always wished to be in such position, to be talented and powerful.

And now…

Riley smirked, his gaze falling to the swirling notifications still blinking softly in front of him.

His lips curled slowly, his eyes glowing faintly.

Because he had just surpassed even that.

An SSS-rank class.

The highest possible tier no human in his past life ever attained.

And with it—

A ridiculous, almost absurd reward per level.

One hundred and twenty-eight attribute points.

Sixty-four skill points.

Every. Single. Level.

A soft breath escaped Riley's lips.

It wasn't just strong.

It was overwhelming.

A single level up granted him more than what a D-rank player would get in sixty-four levels.

And he had just leveled up three times.

That alone meant he now had almost four hundred extra attribute points at his disposal—and one hundred and ninety-two skill points.

If this was how it started… then just how far could he go?

How powerful could he truly become?

He didn't know.

But he was definitely going to find out.

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