Cipher looked at the Cheater Class.
He'd seen it form from the merging of the duplicate Glitch Classes.
Although he was thankful that he'd finally gotten rid of that cursed class, this was really bad.
Did this mean that if he died right now, he'd actually die for real?
He clicked on the Cheater Class. He needed to figure out what this thing could do.
It was a merge of both Glitch Classes, so it should be able to do something similar, right?
Maybe it could allow him to wield the power of the Glitch Class without the drawbacks of random, uncontrollable activation.
He opened the class page and inspected its trait.
Class traits were a type of skill.
There were three types of skills in total: Normal skills, which were separated into grades F to S. These could be acquired by meeting certain requirements and were often class-related. Unique skills, where no one knew the requirements - it was considered just luck. The third type was intrinsic skills, also known as traits.
Each class had its own trait that gave a certain benefit.
He observed the trait of the Cheater Class.
[Class Trait: Cheater]
[Description: You have transcended the system's limitations. Every major level milestone (10, 20, 30...), you will unlock a "Genuine Cheat" - a reality-bending ability that defies normal skill classifications. Additionally, you gain access to the Cheat Shop, where you can purchase skills, modifications, and exploits using Cheat Points earned from defeating monsters.]
[Current Genuine Cheats: 0]
[Next Genuine Cheat: Level 10]
[Cheat Shop: Unlocked]
As he read the description, he became more and more amazed.
If he was understanding this correctly, then this was definitely the jackpot. From what he could see, his Glitch Class could be considered a cheat, and now he could gain cheats every major level up?
He didn't want to sound egotistical, but his Glitch Class was more powerful than even the strongest unique skills. The evidence was that he'd survived and they didn't. If he could unlock even more cheats like that, wouldn't he be invincible? He could change the ending.
Well, that was just a possibility. At the moment, he didn't even have a single cheat.
It might be a powerful class, but he couldn't use it right now. If he died here, it would all go to waste.
As he thought this, he heard the sound of a huge gate opening. A group of people covered in white robes walked in.
It was those cultists.
He wasn't exactly sure when the Association would come to save them - his memory wasn't all that good - but he needed to survive until then. These cultists were going to sacrifice them to their goddess.
They were going to sacrifice them a batch at a time, so if he was lucky, he should be able to hold out.
But he didn't want this. Others would be buying his time with their lives.
He didn't want that at all.
Although he didn't think of himself as some sort of hero, he didn't want to let these people die if he could.
He checked his system, wondering if there was anything he could do. The unique ability from before had already disappeared even after the malfunction, so he couldn't use that.
Something... something...
Suddenly, he noticed something. It was his unallocated stat points. He had ten of them.
Before, he'd had five. He wondered how they became ten.
His eyes widened as he realized what had happened. After awakening, one would receive five points. Although he was already awakened, due to his Glitch Class malfunctioning, he'd awakened once again - receiving another five points.
Still, although this was something, it was far from being enough. Since this was a branch of the Church of Eternal Brilliance, there was bound to be a C-rank powerhouse in charge and multiple D and E-ranks.
The way ranks were calculated was simple: a normal human, or F-rank, had 5 points in each stat as a baseline. Every rank after that doubled the requirement—10 points for E-rank, 20 for D-rank, 40 for C-rank, and so on. Your rank was determined by your class and specialization. Having 10 Intelligence made you an E-rank mage, while 20 Strength made you a D-rank warrior. As for derived stats, mana was calculated as Intelligence × 10, and HP was Stamina × 100.
With just his ten points, even if he put them all into a single stat like Strength, he'd only reach 15 Strength total. That would just make him an E-rank. He'd still be nowhere close to competing with a D-rank let alone a C-rank powerhouse.
…
Cipher was deep in thought, wondering how to properly allocate his stats.
Since he could only reach E-rank in any stat at best, the logical choice would be to put three points into Intelligence to become an E-rank mage with 100 mana, then save the other points to distribute according to the situation.
But he didn't have any skills that required mana, so this would just be a waste. Although there was a chance he would awaken a mage type skill after reaching ten mana, this was just a gamble.
Stamina was also a trap - he'd just be an E-rank tank. He couldn't save anyone with just tankiness.
Strength and Stamina could be a good combination, but after some thought, he decided to go with Strength and Agility instead. With E-rank Strength and Agility, he could be considered an E-rank assassin - fast and deadly.
He would put five points into Strength and four into Agility. Since he already had 6 Agility by default, that would bring him to 10. As for the remaining point, he was going to hold onto it for now.
The reason for this was strategic.
When someone awakened, they received five stat points that they could distribute freely.
This was the only time you had complete control. After every level up, if you had no class, you'd receive a single stat point to place wherever you wanted. But if you had a class, you'd still receive stat points - sometimes even more than one - but the system would distribute them automatically according to your class.
A mage, for example, might get +2 Intelligence and +1 Stamina per level. The advantage was faster growth in your specialization. The downside was that other stats would take forever to increase. A berserker might get +2 Strength and +1 Stamina per level, with occasional Agility increases, but would go dozens of levels before seeing any Intelligence growth.
Since he had a class, his stats would be distributed automatically from now on.
He didn't know the distribution pattern for the Cheater Class yet, so it was better to preserve that single point. He could use it to boost whichever stat the class neglected, creating a more balanced build.
With that decided, he focused on the system and distributed the stats.