Chapter 1178 (1/2)

At that moment where all of her carefully assembled accomplishments fell to pieces, Lady Iellaya felt fear. A hopeless fear like she hadn’t known since the first days when she learned how powerless she truly was from the Nexus, when she struggled to gather enough energy to survive. As one who grew up while her world was enduring the last of the Third Calamity, every day was a struggle.

Every dawn was another success. And it came at the cost of another sacrifice.

Just for her to be born, Lady Iellaya’s parents had to give up everything they had managed to gather in their lifetimes. The tribe that they had led for decades was sacrificed to give Lady Iellaya the strength to grow. And those villagers had given up their lives and energy willingly, all to create a future for one of their own.

A future where they were no longer weak. Because there was no greater sin than being weak.

Lady Iellaya would not forget that lesson. And it was also the reason that she eventually discovered how to consume the potential of her subordinates. That would always be her role, to rise to the top so that she could bring glory to the people who had been sacrificed for her to reach these heights. And yet now, against all odds, she was reduced to nothing but an empty husk, all of her assembled power somehow… undone by the act of Randidly Ghosthound.

Randidly… Ghosthound… Impotent rage whirled in her heart, kept tightly under lock and key.

She might have not missed it before, but how could she miss the terrible image that he possessed now, as it ripped all of her carefully managed accomplishments asunder? The mental shape the key took was extremely abstract, one of deconstruction and ownership. The subtle cover of an unadorned key that hid a power that was entirely unsubtle in its simplicity and brutality. A key designed to subvert the System.

Up to the point, as she saw him working to remake her Class, Lady Iellaya had assumed that this young man was just extraordinarily talented with runes. With that weapon, he had endured without a body and had slowly gathered strength. And by watching him prepare, her thoughts were confirmed; he certainly had a great deal of experience Engraving.

Plus, the fact that he had been able to work with Nether had opened Lady Iellaya’s eyes and given her a detail that she could hold onto tightly. This was the reason that he was able to accomplish so much, even as an image. He also had familiarity working with Nether. Which should be impossible. And yet, here it was. It was also obvious that it was a critical component in the work he was doing on her Class.

But that wasn’t the main thing. There was also that heavy image and the key. That key that filled Lady Iellaya with helplessness. Because as he wielded it, Randidly Ghosthound became inscrutable. This wasn’t about skill with Engraving or understanding Nether. This was an otherness that Lady Iellaya couldn’t understand. What sort of image was this? How could he so casually unmake everything she had struggled to create?

It took her assistance, yes, but everything had been unmade in a second.

But Lady Iellaya mastered that bubbling fear, stuffing it into the hidden corners of her heart. She kept her chin high and endured the feeling of helplessness without complaint. She would endure. All the while, she kept her attention away from the furious activity that was occurring within her being. It felt… exceedingly strange. And honestly, the speed with which she could feel things changing within herself was disturbing. Almost like she was going through the System version of puberty, where the body was being flooded with new hormones faster than she could cope with the changes.

All this is supposed to equate to a lifetime of work on my part…? Lady Iellaya wondered.

Then notifications began to pop up in front of Lady Iellaya in swift succession.

Congratulations! Errors have normalized.

Congratulations! You have gained the Class Cult of the Raven-Winged Darkness! +7 Stats distributed between Agility, Reaction, Wisdom, and Willpower! +14 Free Stats! +25 Health, +35 Mana, +20 Stamina. Error, Skills already present! You have gained the Skill Descent of the Raven God (L) Lvl 1!

Congratulations! You have gained the Fate “The Cold Beak of the Blood Drinker Lvl 1”!

Some of the pressure within Lady Iellaya’s chest immediately eased as things began to settle once more. Her Class surged forward, steadily growing up from nothing, then past Level 50, then it continued further toward 99. Even now, Lady Iellaya could feel that Randidly was using the same sort of materials she had used before to create the substance and images of her Class, but she could also clearly feel a difference. There was… something-

The potential! Lady Iellaya’s eyes flashed. That must be what this is.

Now the potential she had taken from others was inexorably being woven through the fabric of who she was. At the bottom it was subtle, but as the Class grew, it became increasingly dominant. The cold energy of it was unfamiliar but somehow reassuring. It was part of her Class, it was part of her Fate. And somehow, its presence made a marked difference.

Descent of the Raven God, huh… Lady Iellaya forced her jaw to unclench and looked at this new addition from her changed Class. I’ll need to experiment with it to see if it is worth improving. But just from the fact that it is a new Legendary Skill…