Ian, who had been wailing and cursing just moments ago about someone stealing his faith, shifted his expression instantly. He completely ignored Darkseid, who was still waiting expectantly for him to drop out of his "Star-Devouring" state.
Instead, Ian went into a daze.
Deep within the sea of Ian's consciousness, the cold system notification struck like a massive boulder dropped into a still lake, jolting him out of his "cosmic tapeworm" self-loathing.
"Lord of Embers? The class change was successful?" Ian froze for a second, a look of pure astonishment spreading across his massive face. He remembered the requirements for this hidden class quest being obscenely harsh.
Who would have thought?
[Ding!]
[Class Change Successful!]
[Class Acquired: Lord of Embers!]
[Lord of Embers: You have lit up galaxies and witnessed the end of universes. Your existence is both the dawn of civilization and the twilight of an old world's end.]
[Light should not be prayed for; it should be harnessed. Undying light and blazing embers burn within your body. You hold no allegiance to justice, nor do you care for good or evil. You measure the value of all things only by the scale of light. King of Light and Ash, you shall eventually burn away all phenomena and recast the eternal order of the universe!]
[Basic Template Loaded!]
[Acquired Talent Skill: Chaos Throne.]
[Class Skill Tree Unlocked!]
Just as the new class awakened, Ian's four primary attributes received another massive surge. Judging by the scale of the boost, this was clearly another ultimate-tier class.
Strength: 1701 -> 1725
Constitution: 1999 -> 2100
Intelligence: 89.2 -> 97.5
Spirit: 667 -> 714
Aside from the relatively small gain in Strength, the growth in Constitution, Intelligence, and Spirit was substantial. It was obvious that the Lord of Embers was a genuine Magic Tank.
It wasn't entirely unexpected, considering the source of the class was Ultraman Belial. He just wasn't sure if he'd accidentally saved some dark figure to trigger the quest completion.
That's how it goes for those with "Emperor" level luck—unwittingly achieving things ordinary people couldn't manage in a lifetime. Ian felt this likely had everything to do with the good karma he accumulated by being a decent person in his daily life.
"Maybe it has something to do with my belly glowing like I'm pregnant with a second kid..." Ian's mind raced. He suddenly connected the abnormal drain of "light" from earlier to the strange sensation in his midsection.
Realizing this might be linked to the class awakening, he focused his will. His vast consciousness dove deep into his own "body"—a construct made of energy and fundamental laws.
Within his perception, Earth remained perfectly safe, encased in layers of dimensional laws and his own magic like a miniature landscape preserved in amber.
However, just above Earth—in the region that should have been his energy flow and extra-dimensional suspension, a place that usually manifested as an infinite starry sky—there was now a glaringly obvious "thing."
It was a humanoid object radiating a pure, warm, yet indisputable golden light!
That texture of light... Ian knew it all too well!
It shared the same source as the light he had previously "borrowed" from his "family members," but it was more condensed, more fundamental!
"What the hell is your rank?!" Ian's first reaction was pure indignation.
"You're rocking the same golden light as Lord Ian?! You dare steal my light and copy my color scheme?!"
When Ian saw red, he was completely unreasonable.
He sharpened his focus to "see" the luminous figure clearly. It was a massive silhouette of a giant made of light. The familiar red, silver, and purple pattern made him recoil in shock.
The figure even had that iconic blue energy timer on its chest.
"Holy shit! A real Ultraman!"
"Tiga!"
Ian blurted out in shock.
He felt a surge of panic. His first thought was that by absorbing so much "light," he had triggered some weird, grim-style mechanic, causing the giant to "spawn" inside his own stomach.
Don't think it's impossible!
Where there is light!
Even just mentioning the name "Light" could make them pop up. Tiga was a notorious "mechanic monster" among Ultramen! Thinking about how others might deal with ghosts or zombies, or at worst an Amon from Lord of the Mysteries, while he might have accidentally attracted something even more terrifying, made Ian's heart pound against his ribs.
Fortunately, Ian didn't lose his head completely. He "looked" again, peering deeper. As his perception sharpened, he realized he hadn't grown some terrifying "American virus" that spawns wherever oil is found. Instead, some bold bastards had unceremoniously crashed into his gut.
He discovered a "nesting doll" phenomenon.
Tiga was inside his stomach, but there was someone else inside Tiga's "stomach." It was a golden figure radiating immense power—the same Golden Superman who had been scared off by Ian's old man earlier.
"Of course. It's his light—his golden light—that attracted this mess." Ian understood everything now. His brain was currently larger than a sun.
It might not spin fast.
But the sheer number of brain cells was staggering.
No wonder! No wonder the quest finished so suddenly! That loser who fled from his father must have somehow attracted a Tiga possession—an entity that probably counted as an extra-universal invasion.
Then, the "light-hungry" Tiga instinctively dragged Golden Superman and that Ultra-body into the place with the most light in the universe.
Which was inside Ian.
The quest "Bring the Primal Darkness to the Light" was likely satisfied because Dark Tiga had transformed into Light Tiga, instantly meeting all the conditions!
"Dark Tiga turning into Tiga... tsk, tsk. This quest logic is sound!" Ian's massive head nodded. While the process was a bit of a clusterfuck, the result was solid.
Of course.
"Lord Ian is a grateful man. However, even if Tiga and Golden Superman helped me finish the quest by accident, stealing my light is a separate matter!"
"Gratitude is gratitude, but owing me light is owing me light... there will be no wiping the slate clean." Ian mentally made a harsh note in his ledger against Golden Superman and the Tiga he had become. Now wasn't the time to deal with the "uninvited guests" in his stomach; the power from his new class change was making him itch for a fight.
Right there on the chaotic battlefield, Ian continued to zone out, sinking back into his system interface to check his personal status panel.
[Name: Ian Kent]
[Normal Classes: Student Lv 9 (441/2560), Writer Lv 13 (39874/40960), Leader Lv 7 (445/640)]
[Transcendental Classes: Berserker Lv 9 (2115/2560), Savage Tyrant Lv 11 (9457/10240), Mutation Sovereign Lv 3 (12/40), Entropy Lord Lv 18 (143221/1317120), Lord of Embers Lv 1 (0/10)]
[World Recognition: Key NPC (Peak Activity Period)]
[Talent Skills: Blood-Reversal Furnace, Perfect Divinity, All-Life Offering, Eternal Grace, Chaos Throne]
[General Skills: Penning the World, High-Level Mimicry, Ian Kent Defensive Arts (Elite), Share, Learn (Elite), Whisper, Machine Overlord (Primary)...]
[Class Skills: Retro-Evolution Ray, Undying Rage, Profane Elegy, World-Burning Pulse, Perfect Divine Body, Eternal Eye (Level 3), Absolute Airspace, Scornful Warp, Ultimate Hunger (Level 3)...]
New class information and talent skills had appeared on the panel. Aside from these, Ian had also been grinding his Berserker and Savage Tyrant classes lately, bringing them close to leveling up, though they were still a bit away from the next stage.
Nothing worth worrying about.
The most important thing was that his "Student" class was almost at Level 10.
He was highly anticipating whether the Student class would awaken a new "normal" skill at Level 10. He wasn't asking for much—as long as it was on par with "Penning the World," he'd be satisfied.
Ian was never a greedy man. For the sake of this, he'd been Manipulating the system every night before bed. He didn't know if the system was actually taking his "lessons" to heart.
"Oh, right. This Activity Period... it changed to 'Peak Activity Period.' I wonder what that means. Does it mean once I pass the peak, I'll become a declining Key NPC and get shelved?"
Carrying his curiosity about the change in World Recognition, Ian turned his attention back to his newly acquired class abilities.
[Chaos Throne: Darkness is the prelude to destruction; Light is the anthem of rebirth.]
[Good and evil, light and dark—neither is the end. True power lies in harnessing these chaotic embers. Your will shall shroud heaven and earth, letting the ash-fire consume all things!]
[Perform good to accumulate Light; commit evil to condense Darkness. The thoughts of all living beings are your fuel! Every choice you make will become nourishment for the Lord of Embers. Tides of light and darkness surge ceaselessly within your body.]
[When good intentions swell like a tide, you shall become the Light of Dawn. When evil thoughts run as deep as an abyss, you are the Lord of Eternal Night.]
[Your Dark Form tears through reality; your Light Form reshapes order. When divine power burns to the limit, the blooming Ember Form will freeze time and space itself!]
This was perhaps the most complex talent skill Ian had awakened to date. The skill description alone took up a huge chunk of his vision.
There was a long string of specific details following it.
First, the actual meaning of "Perform good to accumulate Light, commit evil to condense Darkness." This was effectively the leveling method for the Lord of Embers class.
It consisted of two parts:
Accumulating Virtue: Every time he facilitated a "Good Deed" as defined by Order/Light (e.g., saving lives, maintaining peace, healing wounds), he would gain Light Essence and Ember XP based on the scale of the event's influence.
Doing Evil: Every time he completed a "Bad Deed" as defined by Chaos/Darkness (e.g., creating chaos, causing disasters, spreading fear), he would gain Dark Embers and Ember XP based on the severity of the harm.
Both styles of conduct provided XP for the Lord of Embers, making it a relatively simple class to level. What were truly worth noting were the "Light Essence" and "Dark Embers."
They provided Ian with two different switchable forms. In fact, Chaos Throne included three switchable forms, making it look like a fusion of Tiga and Belial.
[Light Form: Radiant Judgment: In the name of Embers, bring Light to the world! Wherever darkness reaches shall be my judgment ground. Under the Holy Radiance, no evil is pardoned!]
Once Ian entered this mode, his body would erupt in brilliant gold light. He would gain 30% damage reduction and a 20% healing boost. His basic attacks would carry a "Holy Radiant Burn" effect, dealing explosive True Damage to dark-attribute enemies. He could even "lend" light to others, granting teammates "Undying Glory."
This state allowed teammates to become immune to crowd control for a short time, with every attack dealing splashing light damage.
[Dark Form: Eternal Night Sovereign: Let darkness shroud the heavens and earth, let the ash-fire consume all things! My Dark Embers shall be the end of all life. Those who follow me live; those who oppose me die!]
This mode was something else entirely. If the worst villains saw him in this state, they'd probably offer him a cigarette. He would be surrounded by pitch-black flame mists, looking every bit the ultimate antagonist.
In this state, he gained a 25% attack boost and 15% life-steal. His basic attacks carried a "Dark Ember Corrosion" effect.
This effect could reduce an enemy's defense by 25%. Simultaneously, he could release a massive shroud of dark fog, devouring the life force of enemies within range and converting it into his own.
To put it simply, these two forms allowed him to swap skins and seamlessly jump to the opposing side, becoming a "pure-blooded" version of whatever side he chose. No one would be able to find a flaw in him.
When good, no one was better; when evil, no one was worse. It suited Ian's taste perfectly.
"And this ultimate form!"
Ian looked at the third switchable form.
[Ember Form: Radiant Ash Shadow.]
This was a true desperate-measure, life-risking form. It was the ultimate fusion of Light and Dark, the perfect unity of Chaos and Order.
The form was platinum-gold.
Light flows, resembling a stellar furnace, circulated around his body alongside fine black embers. Once activated, it would continuously burn his divine power and life essence. He could not recover naturally in this state until it was deactivated or he collapsed from exhaustion.
Naturally, the effects were heaven-defying.
Ian even felt like renaming it to [Ultimate Ascension]: On the basis of the Ember Form, you can further burn everything in exchange for absolute power that exceeds current dimensional limits for a short duration. It can even burn divine power to freeze the surrounding time, allowing only the user to move freely within that space.
As long as the divine power continues to burn at a rate of 1% per second, the user gains an "Undying" effect, becoming immune to all incoming or existing damage. In this state, the user can briefly intervene and modify local causal chains, achieving miracles or paradoxes where the "Effect" precedes the "Cause" or the "Cause" is directly negated.
"Holy shit!"
Even with Ian's wide-ranging experience and toughened nerves, he couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air after reading the description of the Ember Form. "Powerful" didn't even begin to cover it!
It was simply heaven-defying!
Transcending time and modifying causality—those were powers that exceeded the multi-universal level. They were traits possessed only by high-dimensional lifeforms. Although it was a high-cost trump card, it was absolutely worth it.
What was divine power?
What was life force?
In Ian's eyes, weren't they just renewable resources!
Just like money.
When you're running low, just make more. Find a place and suck it dry. If all else fails, he could just pull a Dragon Ball universe move: suck a planet's life dry, then go to Hell and Heaven to drag the life back and resurrect everyone.
"I really am a god-tier genius at exploiting bugs!" Ian's heart raced with thoughts that were a bit too "villainous." He couldn't wait to test out his new abilities.
Back in the Dark Dimension.
Ian's murky eyes regained their luster.
He looked out at Trigon and the furious Darkseid, who were both still staring at him in a stalemate. His mouth quirked up uncontrollably into a classic, arrogant smirk.
At this very moment, Darkseid—who was still pinning his hopes on Ian's "Star-Devouring" state running out—had no idea what was about to hit him.