The moment he chose to enter the Spiritual Realm, an indescribable feeling arose in Bai Xiaowen's heart. It was as if everything around him had stopped moving.
In the silence, an emotionless notification sounded:
"Matching Plane Dimension… Matching successful!"
"Character data scanned. Entering the plane dimension…"
"Emperor Tyburn, who unified the entire Aaron Continent, has been in deep slumber for more than 300 years…"
"The Lionheart Empire is on a decline amidst serious internal or external threats…"
"The country has been torn apart by the war with the High Elves…"
"The resistance of the Vikings in the north consumes the Empire's vitality…"
"The resurrection of the dragon has sounded the horn of destruction!"
"The warriors of the kings have returned at the end of the era…"
Bai Xiaowen woke up in the cold wind. He realized that he was sleeping in a small wooden house with wind leaking out on three sides. Through the gaps in the wooden house, he could vaguely see the white snow outside.
"Aaron World? Lionheart Empire? It can't be that coincidental… I actually crashed into the Aaron World?" he said in disbelief.
Bai Xiaowen flipped over and got up. He suddenly realized that the bone in his left arm which had been broken by the Elite Zombie Rat Blacktooth's bite, had completely healed. There was not even a scar left.
When entering and exiting the Spiritual Realm, one's body would be completely repaired by spiritual particles and return to its optimal state. This had already been confirmed by many Awakened streamers.
A series of notifications appeared in Bai Xiaowen's mind.
"Welcome to the Aaron Dimension. You're here to carry out the test mission for the Awakened class advancement."
"During the mission, your body will be completely digitized. If you fail the mission, your body will return to normal."
"Your basic attributes have been optimized. Current attribute values are Strength 5, Agility 5, Physique 2, Spirit 10."
"Your health points and attack and defense abilities have been digitized. The temporary spatial storage has been activated. Please open your personal interface to take a look."
Bai Xiaowen activated his personal interface.
The personal attributes of an Awakened were only rounded. After decimal points, their attributes would be rounded up. This was the so-called "optimization." The result of optimization was a good thing for Bai Xiaowen. His original 4.5 Strength and Agility had become 5 points, which was equivalent to adding 1 combat attribute point out of thin air!
Of course, his Physique had decreased from 2.1 to 2 points. That was a small loss, but it was not a major issue.
Bai Xiaowen had 20 health points, which meant that his Physique was multiplied by 10. His basic defense was also only 2 points, which was the same as his Physique attribute.
The importance of the Physique attribute was reflected here. Raising one's Physique could increase one's survivability.
However, with "Dirty Cloak" on his back, Bai Xiaowen's back defense increased by 2 points and his dodging ability increased by 3%. This gave Bai Xiaowen's fragile body some protection.
Bai Xiaowen's attack power was not bad. 5 points of Strength gave him 5 points of basic attack power. Coupled with the 3-8 attack power of the Fang Dagger, he had a total attack power of 8-13.
Bai Xiaowen quickly assessed his combat ability and sighed to himself.
If there was an opponent with similar attack power as Bai Xiaowen, he would only need two to three strikes to kill Bai Xiaowen. Moreover, it was a "non-vital" attack. If there was a critical hit… he would be dead and pushed out of the Spiritual Realm.
In addition, Bai Xiaowen's combat and machinery skills were very mediocre. He was at Basic Combat Level 3 and Basic Machinery Level 4, while the other quasi-Awakened had already trained to the maximum level long ago.
Bai Xiaowen also tried to open the temporary spatial storage. It was about one cubic meter in size, and he could adjust its length, width, and height at will. However, the storage space would not change. Right now, there was only a gray Soul Stone, a rusty iron sword, and a bottle of Rotten Blood in the storage space. It looked very empty.
Bai Xiaowen closed his interface.
The notification continued to come:
"Mission system activated."
"Based on your attributes (Spirit specialty), the Class Advancement Quest has been generated."
"Class Advancement Quest 1 (Optional): Join the Northern Territory Mage Academy and learn any spell specialization. Difficulty: B."
"Class Advancement Quest 2 (Optional): Enter Lord Barov's residence in Walterlund City, come into contact with Chief Mage Seren, and learn the dragon language, Draconic. Mission Difficulty: A-."
"Class Advancement Quest 3 (Optional): Unlock the seal of the Soul Stone and inject energy into it. Mission Difficulty: S-."
Bai Xiaowen stared at the notification and fell into deep thought.
"I can't believe that the Spiritual Realm test is actually a multiple-choice question, and I'm allowed to choose one out of three. These three quests represent three different classes."
Classes determined how much an Awakened's attributes would increase every time they leveled up. Hence, it was very important.
According to the potential, classes could be divided into standard, elite, and hero.
Standard classes were also called normal classes. Their stat growth was average. These Awakened could deal with ordinary monsters of the same level, but if they encountered elite monsters, it would be a bitter battle. Their prospects for survival were uncertain at best. The number of Awakened with standard classes was also the highest.
The overall attribute growth of an elite class was about 50% higher than that of a standard class. An Awakened who had changed their class to an elite one would be a core member of any large guild. If they dealt with it carefully, they had a high chance of winning against an elite monster alone.
As for the Hero class, as the name suggested, those who could successfully change their class to that were all Hero-level figures. They were powerful enough to become the core of a large guild! The Awakened who had hero class were the main force fighting against the Commander-level monsters.
An Awakened team that was crusading against Commander-level monsters had to be led by an Awakened who had a hero class and who was also a "tank-type". Otherwise, they would not be able to form a team at all. After all, no one was willing to die in vain.
Bai Xiaowen had three class advancement quests in front of him. The first one had a B-level difficulty. He had to join the Northern Mage Academy and learn any specialization there. According to Bai Xiaowen's understanding, the class that one obtained after completing this quest was probably the most common and standard class - Mages.
The second quest's difficulty was A-. There were two main difficulties.
First of all, it was easier said than done for a commoner to enter the Walterlund lord's residence. Furthermore, learning Draconic was not something that could be done in a short period of time. One had to be capable enough to make up a reason for such a long stay in the residence.
Secondly, it would be even more difficult to build a good relationship with the chief mage, Seren. Bai Xiaowen knew that it was impossible for Seren to praise him as soon as he saw him and say, "All right! I can tell that you're a man destined for great things! I'll leave the responsibility of saving the world to you…"
If he wanted to learn Draconic, he had to give gifts. It was unrealistic to expect that a poor commoner would be able to offer a gift that tempted the chief mage, Seren. Moreover, he did not know Seren's character. If he got cheated by Seren instead, or the plan backfired on him, it would be going for wool but coming home shorn.
Of course, the class allocated for such a difficult quest would be good. At the very least, it would be an elite class that leaned toward elite mages who could cast spells with Draconic.