A sudden alarm stabbed through Zoe as she parsed the last system message. She didn’t get much time to do anything about it before whatever ‘awakening a class’ was supposed to entail kicked in with full force.


    You have successfully awakened your primary class.


    Primary class changed to Demagogue.


    Zoe blinked the spots out of her eyes as she skipped through the newest notification. When it became fully clear that the whole thing was done and she wasn’t about to fall unconscious or black out from pain, she relaxed a little. That was faster than I expected.


    The system had given her quite a scare and not much chance to prepare for it. Fortunately, it was more momentarily surprising and disorienting than painful. The entire surface of every part of her body—even the spaces between the hairs on her head—experienced a massive tingling sensation instantly and all at once. It wasn’t really even irritating—more like a cross between getting suddenly brushed by a feather duster and moving your legs after a cat sat on them for too long. Just everywhere at once, and the sensation vanished as quickly as it came. Next, the smooth coolness it left behind sunk down from her skin to wash through her entire body to her core. There wasn’t really a comparable sensation to that part, at least not that Zoe could think of, but it wasn’t bad.


    And that was it. I guess that could be pretty distracting if you were like, in combat or focusing on something important, Zoe reasoned. Note to self—try to avoid awakening a class in any sort of immediately life-threatening situation. Not that she expected to be awakening classes all the time, given that she could only choose two.


    Instead of letting herself start wondering about class upgrades or evolutions, Zoe moved on to the next step of her foolproof plan—which meant quickly seeing what her new class was actually capable of. Very quickly.


    Seeing no new system messages, Zoe went ahead and opened her status page herself.


    [ZOE BLACKWELL]


    Level 1 | Rank F


    Demagogue


    Human


    -Active Quests-


    > Claim Your Right


    -Active Titles-


    > Outsider


    -Stats and Bindings-


    Power 17


    Perception 65


    Acuity 26


    Durability 9


    Vitality 13


    -General Skills-


    > Identify 4 (Rank C)


    -Primary Class Skills-


    > Acting 1 (Rank D)


    > Persuasion 1 (Rank B)


    > Mirage 1 (Rank E)


    > Lesser Disguise 1 (Rank C)


    System Display Privileges (Sys-Tier)


    -Available-


    > 1 class choice


    > 5 stat points


    It had only changed slightly, by which Zoe meant there was a whole new line in the overview section right below her name, a couple of her stats had massively shot up, and there was a whole new section for her class. It looked like she had also gained four new skills—or five—four? Zoe wasn’t sure what to do with the weird-looking one. The fact that it was explicitly marked as related to the system itself, and that said system displayed it separately, hinted that it was at least somewhat special.


    After allowing herself a couple seconds to just take it all in, Zoe first tried to see if mentally prodding the demagogue line near the top would do anything. Surprisingly, it did, expanding to show her exactly the same description as before. Well that’s definitely useful. Sneaking another glance from behind her column, Zoe confirmed that nothing new was going on with the cultists. Well, more like none of them are actively approaching me. She then moved on to examining her new skills.


    [ACTING]


    Level 1 | Rank D


    > Activated Passive, Enhancing


    > Mind


    > Perception, Acuity


    And that was it. Focusing on any part of the sub-description in the same way failed to do anything. Annoyed but not deterred, Zoe took a second to flick through all of the rest and found pretty much the same thing. Okay—I’m sure these tags or whatever are useful for something. But they aren’t exactly super helpful here. Stifling a groan, Zoe weighed her new options.


    It didn’t take her long to narrow it down to two. Either I try to use these new skills to slip by the two cultists at the exit—or I just sit here and keep waiting.


    The first option was the one that was both proactive and at least partially in her own control. It would—possibly—get her away from the scary cult ritual, out of the caverns, and on the first step of her progression path. It was also the choice that Zoe really wanted to make.


    However, it also meant experimenting with new and possibly magical skills for the first time, at the same time as she would be trying to escape notice with them. To say she didn’t feel very confident wasn’t quite an understatement, per se, but it was still accurate.


    None of them had noticed her yet in all this time. Even if her skills worked as intended, it would make her vulnerable. They would probably see her—hell, it might even involve talking to them. It was—clearly—a deliberate risk—and she didn’t even know if there was another path up through the caverns.


    Fuck that.


    Zoe had accomplished nothing noteworthy so far. Nothing noteworthy ever. Maybe she died on earth, maybe she hadn’t, but either way her life had been insignificant at best and a minor drain on society at worst.


    If her skills failed her—if she took a chance and got caught within seconds and killed within her first day—it would be over for sure. She would lose her miraculous second chance with even less to speak of than before.


    Except that I tried. Maybe continuing to hide was the better option, maybe it wasn’t. But it wasn’t what Zoe wanted—not what she wanted for herself. How could she continue to live like this and still live with herself?


    But then again—if hiding here ended up letting her survive, there was nothing stopping her from becoming more proactive later on. It didn’t have to be so life-or-death. Except for the fact that today will end, but there’s always another tomorrow. That sort of thinking was exactly what led to Zoe accomplishing nothing at all in the first place. Yeah, fuck it.


    Zoe set her jaw, stood up, and activated precisely three of her new skills all at once.


    Acting!


    Lesser Disguise!


    Mirage!


    She then realized some important things all at once right after—precisely three again, to be exact. First—I probably should have waited to stand up until after I activated them. Second, activating not one but three new skills—for the first time—all at once--at level one—did something fairly intense to her that she was still recovering from. And third—I think system stats might actually be more than just funny numbers.


    Rewinding the whole sequence with startling clarity, Zoe pieced together that she’d jumped about a meter off the ground, casually touched back down with shockingly uncharacteristic grace, and now she was experiencing a bit of sensory overload on top of a developing headache. Plus her whole everything was feeling increasingly fatigued.


    I’ll chalk most of that up to the stats and some up to the skills but—why was no one now looking at her? She didn’t think she’d been loud, but that wasn’t exactly subtle, either. Maybe I should, I dunno, find cover again? She didn’t want to press her luck. Also, she was feeling really tired.


    She realized why they hadn’t noticed her as soon as she slumped back down behind the fallen column. That’s not how anything is supposed to look. Zoe was less concerned by the fact that her hands seemed completely different and were now draped in dark robes than by the bizarre shimmer obscuring any further scrutiny. The rippling haze wafted off of her in dizzying waves, smearing her new robes into the surrounding gloom. She was also pretty sure the shimmer was what was making her increasingly exhausted.


    Gotta be one of the skills, Zoe reasoned with a quick stroke of her keen intellect—and there’s no way it would be anything but mirage.


    The exhaustion didn’t instantly disappear like the rippling haze did, but at least it stopped getting actively worse. It also just felt like she was ragged and generally feeble now. The strain was starting to become strangely painful right when she canceled it.


    I think that’s my soul. The mirage description included both a mind and a soul description, if she remembered correctly. The fact that it was both clearly magic and wasn’t  tiring her muscles strongly pointed to the obvious conclusion.


    As for the headache and the sudden robes—the second is obviously lesser disguise, which means the first has to be acting. Acting only had the mind tag, so—yeah, that might be the headache? Another skill cancellation confirmed it. So mind strain gives you headache type pain, and soul strain just makes you feel generally useless and shitty. Makes sense. Zoe didn’t think she needed to experience body strain to get an idea of what that one would feel like, and she wasn’t too keen on confirming it either. She knew it had to exist because lesser disguise also had a body tag—wait, I should probably go ahead and cancel that too.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Zoe tried to cancel the disguise skill. It didn’t cancel. Shit.


    The main thing stopping her from freaking out even more was the fact that none of the pain or exhaustion was getting noticeably worse anymore. Mentally prodding the skill again gave her an inkling of what was going on as well—lesser disguise might be more of a one-time, up-front activation, whereas the first two were continuously applied effects. There was a critical flaw in this theory, though, which was that Zoe didn’t feel like she’d actually changed her body or clothing. It felt like a flimsy, delicate mask—just a really convincing one.


    Whatever. Zoe wasn’t going to worry about it anymore. She still had cultists to escape. Speaking of which…


    It seemed she had taken on the appearance of the nearest cultist, the one still rummaging around the supply crates. The fact that the skill had instantly and automatically crafted a full replica for her was shockingly convenient. She didn’t know why it chose that cultist specifically, or if she could customize it more thoroughly later—but she didn’t care. She had already lucked out quite a bit with her hasty class selection so far—why try pushing it more? Not worth the risk.


    There was still a problem, though. While Zoe’s lookalike was now so engrossed in the crates that she could probably slip right past him even without a disguise, his two buddies were idly watching him from their positions on either side of the only exit. Zoe somehow doubted that perfect clones randomly popping into existence and then running off wasn’t exactly normal. Even for cultists.


    But it wasn’t really the only exit.


    Zoe did recall—one more in bizarrely distinct clarity—that there was a ledge running around the very top of the ritual chamber, right up at the base of the dome. There was also a ladder of sorts carved into the wall, leading up to it from one of the two main balconies. The other balcony was directly opposite—a route through to the far side. Damn, guess the only way out is forward.


    Zoe wasn’t thrilled to be walking back into the heart of the danger, but she also didn’t want to hesitate or second guess herself. Fortunately, the rock slide of rubble that had almost killed her earlier was easily accessible from her current hiding place. All she had to do was slip out from behind the other side of the fallen column, then hug the closer wall as she quietly crept up to the top.


    The deeper shadows of the already gloomy place made staying out of sight surprisingly easy. Mirage definitely helped too. It cost Zoe all of her previous recovery and then even more soul strain on top, but it wasn’t too bad in comparison to the likely alternatives.


    She made it to the top without looking back once. Doing so would only slow her down—and it wasn’t like the cultists wouldn’t immediately let her know if she ended up being spotted. She didn’t even look back down before continuing forward to the balcony. It would be the exact same kind of unnecessary risk.


    Honestly, the lack of anything happening at all was almost disappointing. By the time she reached the archway to the balcony, Zoe realized she had been implicitly expecting some initial skill level-ups. Not that it really mattered. The numbers ticking up probably wouldn’t make too much difference in the final outcome here, and her new stats were more than enough to deal with already.


    Climbing up the rubble heap hadn’t felt like climbing at all this time, even despite the immense exhaustion from her first proper skills. Zoe immediately attributed most of that to her power stat more than doubling after the boost from her new class. That’s also probably why I did a massive box-jump when I meant to just stand up earlier.


    Her acuity had received the same treatment—except it had already been higher to start with, now reaching close to thirty. Her highest stat had been exactly half of that before. If the insane boost to her power made the steep ascent feel like gently floating forwards, the change in her acuity made navigating the chaotic tumble of debris feel like strolling down a red carpet. I could definitely get used to this.


    But none of that came close to the difference from her perception. That one had been her highest stat originally—by a fair margin, even. But now? It hadn’t gotten doubled like the other two. Not even tripled. It was now over four times higher than her base, skyrocketing it so far above everything else that her more-than-double acuity wasn’t even up to half of it. The ridiculous enhancement to all of her basic senses alone should have been more than enough to completely disorient her.


    Fortunately, the matching boost to her focus and mental clarity largely negated it. For now.


    Zoe only deliberated for about a second before just stepping fully out onto the balcony and heading for the ladder. She was already disguised, and acting all sneaky was a sure way to draw suspicion.


    The fourth cultist—the first one that Zoe had almost knocked over—had been observing the scene below with his back turned. Maybe he had high perception as well though, because he turned around immediately. The good thing was that he didn’t look hostile. He just arched an eyebrow.


    “I thought I recalled you telling all of us that we weren’t allowed to be present for the ritual.” He frowned. “You know, I think I recall you telling all of us that multiple times, actually. You kind of wouldn’t shut up about it.”


    Zoe had to very consciously force herself to suppress her default reaction, which would be to start silently panicking, stammer uselessly, and start looking for a quick escape. The result was that she just stood completely still. She was probably just glaring stoically at the guy. Was her face stony and unreadable? Feeling like she might be making it even worse, Zoe quickly activated her acting skill again as soon as her mind clicked back into motion. Maybe it will help. Somehow?


    It did, in fact, help, and the sudden, confident instincts it dredged up told her that her creepy and expressionless stare was, in fact, the perfect response. Well that’s neat.


    The other guy stared back. Yet without an ironclad determination backed by the icy terror of mortal danger, he faltered pretty quickly. He tried to casually pivot into an exasperated eye roll, but acting told Zoe all she needed to know. Or at least some of it.


    “Whatever man… you—actually, do you think the chief is really gonna pull this one off?”


    Zoe finally broke her stare to follow the cultist’s gaze. The chanting had actually died down quite a bit, but she didn’t think it was quite finished. That impression was probably due to the fact that the reduction in vocal power was more than made up for by the new visual displays.


    Specifically, the silver-white robed one who was obviously the ‘chief’ was putting on a display of genuine magic that put the cultist beside her to shame. Except instead of tinkling, pale cyan sparkles, this guy was conducting a maelstrom of blood. The sheer size and density of it was remarkable to the point that Zoe wondered how he could even get so much from that many corpses. Then again, that’s also a whole lot of corpses.


    The delicate streamers of gentle, pearlescent white light weaving through the murk of incarnadine chaos somehow only intensified the dark spectacle. The ‘demonic core vessel’ looked pretty much the same though. That is to say, not very interesting—even though Zoe could make out its details perfectly now.


    Glancing back at her apparent cult-buddy, Zoe made the laziest attempt at a shrug the Human body was capable of. “It really doesn’t matter what I think.” She looked right back down at the chief and his Demon ritual, partly because she was genuinely intrigued by whatever was happening now—and also because the acting skill made it feel like the right thing to do. How convenient.


    Her cult-buddy chuckled a little at that. “You scared of him?”


    Listening fully to her system-enhanced gut, Zoe raised her own eyebrow slightly but didn’t look away from the bloody magic. “Are you?”


    “…touché.”


    Zoe made for the ladder the instant he turned his back.


    She wasn’t actually sure that it could properly be called a true ladder. It wasn’t exactly a set of rungs, either—more like the opposite. That is, the handholds were formed from smooth horizontal grooves cut into the chamber wall. Zoe’s massively enhanced power and acuity came to the rescue again, as the grooves weren’t all that deep. It kind of felt like trying to tiptoe and hoist herself up with just her fingertips at the same time. It still took some focus, and she didn’t know if she would even be able to manage it without the boost from her new class.


    Keep going. Don’t look down. It was tempting. Zoe’s immense perception still kept her constantly aware of the increasingly intense ritual magic below even with her eyes glued upwards. Keep going. You probably don’t want to still be stuck here when the whole thing completes.


    Her curiosity had only continued to grow, but Zoe made it to the top. The high walkway turned out to be not much of a walkway at all. It really was just a narrow, flat ledge running a circle around the base of the dome. It wasn’t even wide enough for Zoe to comfortably roll onto her back when she finally heaved herself up and over. Her side ended up pressed hard against the dome, and even harder when she thought about how high she now was. She could forget about any kind of safety railing. So much for building codes.


    Standing up turned out to be a bit tricky as a result, giving Zoe a proper view back down in the process. That’s how she came face-to-face with her old cult-buddy just before he grabbed her wrist with one hand. The other one was pointed at her face. While cradling the metallic crackling of his same frost spell.


    It looked a fair bit bigger and brighter than before. Zoe only hoped that was just a factor of distance.


    “You know—I feel like I should say I don’t recognize you, but that’s kind of the problem, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure only one guy is supposed to be wearing it.”


    Zoe’s instinctive motion to pull away was thwarted by a sudden tightening of his icy grip. How was he staying on the ladder with both hands occupied elsewhere?


    He said something vaguely threatening that probably amounted to a ‘who are you,’ but Zoe was barely paying attention. The ruse was up and it was time to start cooking the backup plan. The obvious tactic would be to just push him off. The problem was that he was definitely stronger. Even though Zoe now understood he was mainly supporting himself with the hand clinging onto her wrist, that just meant she would probably get pulled off with him. People tend to loosen up and let go of things when they’re surprised, right?


    It was really stupid. But it might work, so Zoe didn’t let herself think and just committed to the first real idea she had.


    Lesser Disguise!


    Unfortunately, it turned out that a second activation of the skill was how you canceled it.  Fortunately, it also turned out that she didn’t need to make herself look like a scary monster, because apparently your cultist-buddy instantly reappearing as a half-naked woman was also pretty surprising.


    It might even help that Zoe was allegedly pretty attractive. So what if…


    Zoe lunged down, grabbed his collar with her free hand, and delivered what she imagined to be an impassioned kiss just before he could recover. She really had zero idea of what she was doing on that front. It wasn’t as if she could even try to judge by his reactions, because then the hand was loose and she was shoving him down and away with all the strength she could muster.


    That actually worked? It actually worked, and Zoe opened her eyes just in time to see a shocked cultist plummeting down away from her. It was also just in time to see him finally release the spell he had been holding, but not soon enough to avoid it. The spell hit her right in the eye.


    Ow!


    It kind of hurt. It kind of hurt a lot. Zoe thought she managed to hold in her scream, but it was a bit hard to be sure with the blinding light and pain. By the time her vision finally cleared, she realized she now only had half of it.


    You have sustained permanent damage!


    Your left eye has been destroyed. Your abilities are insufficient for reversing this damage to be possible.


    It didn’t help that her one remaining eye was in turn blinded by an onslaught of system messages. There was one that looked important about being afflicted by some kind of damaging debuff.


    You have been afflicted with 1 Level of E-Rank Frostburn!


    [WARNING: Fatal Affliction]


    Due to your current advancement, abilities, and condition, this affliction is likely to be fatal if untreated.


    Well that’s nice. Zoe didn’t really need to be told that though. She was well aware of the fiery tendrils of searing cold stabbing outwards through her skull from the place her eye used to be. At least the system does care enough to warn me anyway. Fortunately, it wasn’t actually that bad on its own. What made it terrifying is how she could somehow feel the blades of burning ice extending up towards her brain. Would it have been fatal in another part of her body?


    The good thing was that she still had one class credit left. It was looking like one of the healing options might be the immediate next pick. The bad thing was that with the remaining half of her vision mostly recovered now, she could see where the cultist had landed. It was right at the main cult leader’s feet.


    Everyone was looking straight at her—with the sole exception of the leader, who tentatively nudged the freshest corpse with the tip of his boot. Tilting his head curiously, he joined all the others in looking up at her as well. “What is going on here?”


    He didn’t shout, but his voice carried all the same. Not that Zoe cared. She was pretty much done for. Even if the rapidly worsening Frostburn didn’t kill her, there was no more hope of getting out of this. It honestly could get much worse.


    A thunderous boom rocked the whole chamber. Zoe’s downcast gaze was torn away to the far balcony along with everyone else’s as a majestic, gold-clad figure threw aside the towering bronze doors. His emerald green cloak billowed behind him in the gust of his own stride, only settling around his imperious shoulders as he stopped at the railing to look down upon the cult altar.


    “I could ask you much the same thing, Basil,” he drawled, taking a moment to inspect his gleaming plate. He flicked the blood splattered across his chest away with just a gesture of his hand, leaving the newly exposed metal as spotless as the rest. “But honestly.”


    He drew a long blade.


    “I don’t really care.”