Read Novel Full Chapter 1288: Two Layers [2]
Chapter 1288: Two Layers [2]
When the dungeon system was first introduced, Michael had assumed its greatest value would come from stability.
Whether as a reliable place to fight monsters, a reliable source of Experience Points, or a reliable source of monster materials, he felt these alone were already enough to make dungeons valuable.
What he had not expected was for them to produce Class Scrolls as well.
Michael’s gaze remained fixed on the two scrolls in his hands.
A Basic Class Scroll did not sound particularly impressive. Not when compared to Rare Classes. But Michael knew its actual value.
To obtain even a Basic Class Scroll through the Universal Cornerstone, he would need five million Origin Points.
Five million.
Origin Points were not something that could be gathered casually. Based on the exchange values Michael had already tested, acquiring that amount would require sacrificing more than twenty thousand Rare Grade herbs to the Universal Cornerstone.
That was an absurd amount.
Rare Grade herbs were naturally incomparable to Extraordinary or Epic Grade treasures, but they were still valuable resources that could be used in cultivation, alchemy, medicine, body tempering, mana recovery, foundation strengthening, and countless other purposes.
For a single person to gather more than twenty thousand of them and then willingly feed them all into a Cornerstone just to obtain one Basic Class Scroll was unrealistic. At least under normal circumstances.
That kind of expense was something only a powerful force could reasonably sustain.
The more Michael thought about it, the more it reinforced his conclusion that Universal Cornerstones were never truly meant to be held by ordinary individuals.
A single person could claim and own one. But to fully exploit one, they would need a functioning force behind them.
The Fourth Layer made this even more obvious.
Even if someone discovered a Universal Cornerstone opportunity there, only a strong organized group could realistically hope to claim it. The monsters guarding such opportunities were already far beyond what ordinary Rank Four Awakeners could deal with alone.
For weaker civilizations, betting on their juniors in the lower layers might actually be the better option.
The Zeroth Layer, especially, was far more accessible.
In fact, Michael felt a significant number of the top ten territories on the ranking had been obtained through exactly this method. Perhaps half of them.
Michael let out a slow breath.
"The Origin Battlefield is truly a treasure," Michael muttered, his gaze fixed on the second scroll, the one gotten from Arianne.
Among the two scrolls, this one was the most valuable. It wasn’t even available on his Universal Cornerstone to exchange for. He might need to level it up to Level Two just to qualify.
[Magic Knight Class Scroll]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Description: An advanced evolution of the Knight Class. Magic Knights combine the physical combat ability of a knight with the mana manipulation of a mage, creating a strong balance where it possesses some advantages of both classes and none of the major weaknesses.]
[Effect: Grants the user the Magic Knight Class.]
[Cost: Any existing cultivation, combat, or supernatural foundation will be overwritten and reconstructed to suit the Magic Knight Class.]
[Age Restriction: None.]
[Additional Effect: If the user already possesses a Class, this scroll may instead be used for Class Transition.]
[Class Transition Requirement: Must be used before reaching the maximum Level of any Rank, and can only be used by those with the Warrior or Knight Class.]
[Warning: Once the user reaches the maximum Level of their current Rank, Class Transition through this scroll will no longer be possible until advancement.]
"Advanced class?" Michael’s eyes lit up with a strange glint.
Michael did not know why, but ever since the Origin Battlefield appeared, many things about the Awakener world had started becoming increasingly game-like, and at the same time more structured, more organized, and more complete.
It was strange.
For years, Awakeners had always existed alongside ordinary supernaturals, but as they grew stronger, the difference between the two hadn’t been as pronounced. Now it was slowly becoming so.
For some reason, Michael could not help but feel as if the Awakeners who existed before the Origin Battlefield were incomplete versions of what they were supposed to be.
Prototypes, in a sense.
This feeling also wasn’t a guess, and it grew stronger the more things happened in the Origin Battlefield. Michael didn’t know if it was his senses as a powerhouse causing this feeling, or the countless small instances of using Jester’s Law for random low-level calculations that had refined his senses.
Still, many things confused him. If Awakeners were prototypes, why was that the case? Was it a problem with the Origin Will, or was it because for years the forefathers couldn’t reach some hidden milestone?
As his thoughts grew stranger, Michael dismissed them at once.
There was no point speculating too deeply about something he had no proof for.
His gaze returned to the two scrolls in his hands.
Both were Legendary Grade, showing their significance.
Michael’s eyes narrowed slightly when a sudden thought came to him.
"Could I evolve them?"
Unlike other items, neither scroll possessed a star distinction. But Michael knew that Infinite Evolution did not strictly depend on stars.
As long as he could establish the necessary soul connection with something, evolution was still possible. At least in theory.
If that applied here, then these two scrolls could become even more valuable.
Would it become a higher-tier Class? Special and unique Classes? Would its restrictions loosen, or become something even more ridiculous?
Michael could not say.
Unfortunately, now was not the time to test it.
His current soul slots were already occupied. And even if they were not, this was hardly the right place to experiment with these two items.
Michael tightened his grip slightly around the scrolls before storing them in his storage space.
He would test it later when he had the time.
Michael looked at Arianne and Lily again.
"Thank you."
The two girls had already made it clear when they gave him the scrolls that they were gifts, but even then, Michael still felt the value was too high to simply accept without saying anything more.
His gaze moved between them.
"Is there anything either of you wants?"
Both shook their heads.
Michael did not press the matter.
"Then if you need something later, don’t hesitate to come and ask me."
His attention returned to the scrolls for a moment before another thought occurred to him.
"The dungeons you entered. Are they still there?"
Both girls shook their heads, with Arianne taking the lead to give more information.
"No. They disappeared after we cleared them."
Michael’s attention sharpened.
Arianne continued, explaining that the dungeon had worked somewhat like the trial world she had experienced during her awakening.
Lily, standing beside her, looked confused at the term right away.
Trial world? She had never heard anything like that.
In fact, obtaining these two scrolls had required both girls to work together.
After Michael used the additional fragments Lily gathered from the Zeroth Layer to create two more territories, one in the Zeroth Layer and another in the First Layer, the interactions between the three of them had increased considerably.
Both territories were linked to Michael’s own.
Arianne and Lily had both pledged submission to Michael’s main Cornerstone, allowing their own territories to connect into the same network.
With that connection established, the subsidiary stations inside their territories could be used to move between the connected sides.
Michael could also interact with both through the network, though restrictions still applied depending on the layer involved.
Since Michael wanted Lily to continue gathering more fragments, Arianne had decided to help.
She could not search for them in the First Layer, as she lacked the required strength. But the connected territory gave her another option.
From her own territory, Arianne could use the subsidiary station to request entry into the Zeroth Layer.
All this was something Michael was aware of. Thanks to the two girls, he also learned more about interlayer interaction.
Michael had already known that higher-ranked independent supernaturals could enter lower layers under suppression.
The main problem was cost.
Origin Points had to be spent to maintain the suppression, calculated according to how long the stronger supernatural remained in that lower layer.
Only special cases avoided this expense.
A Beast Tamer’s contracted beast, for example, could be suppressed automatically.
The same applied to a Necromancer’s undead.
Because they were fundamentally tied to the Awakener, the Origin Battlefield treated them as part of that person’s own power system rather than independent foreign forces.
Arianne’s situation had given Michael more insight into how this rule actually worked.
The title of "higher rank" did not strictly depend on numerical Rank.
It depended on whether the individual disturbed the balance of the layer they were trying to enter.
Michael himself was an example.
If he tried entering the Third Layer now, he would be suppressed just like an ordinary Rank Four. Not because the number beside his Rank demanded it, since he was still only a Rank Three Awakener, but because his actual strength was too high for the layer’s balance.
The same principle applied to Arianne. But her case was different in an interesting way.