"My exp gain is finally significant enough to be felt."
For the past few months, Arnold had experimented a lot with his Class modifiers, but he could barely feel any difference.
It was hard to tell the difference between a speck of dust and a slightly bigger speck of dust.
And thus he started trying different things, such as posture, what to say, and so on.
In the end, a little girl even took pity on him and gave him a copper coin with her chubby hand, which made him smile bitterly.
A few hours later, Arnold had summarized his findings like this:
[Sympathy] : Extremely High XP bonus
[Location] : High XP bonus
[Artifact] : High XP bonus (Alms bowl)
[Donation] : High XP bonus
[Speech] : Low XP bonus
[Bow] : Low XP bonus
While the little girl's donation boosted his XP quite a bit, what shocked Arnold the most was that her pitying gaze skyrocketed it.
He then started thinking, what if he picked up the Actor subclass and made everyone shed tears for him?
Wouldn't he jump straight to lvl 100 and become invincible?
Arnold soon shook himself out of his delusions and walked out of the Cathedral. He had sensed the vast amount of experience in his mind reaching critical mass, seemingly about to overflow.
However, just before he could cross the large gates, a soft, feminine voice called out to him.
"Excuse me, benefactor."
Arnold froze. For a moment, he hesitated between making a run for it or looking back. But after thinking about the guards outside and his non-existent combat skills, he could only smile and pretend to be calm as he responded.
"Yes?"
As his eyes fell on the other party, he was surprised. She was a very, very old lady in ordinary priest robes, but she had an incredible depth to her gaze, as if her eyes housed the entire starry sky.
"What can I do for your esteemed self, Priestess?"
The old woman smiled.
"I don't need much from you, Young Master Arnold Grim. But I am curious why you're visiting our humble Cathedral, after what you've been through in the sacred Temple."
Arnold started sweating; this woman was dangerous, and she knew his identity. He cursed himself for being careless, and he cursed the Archons for his bad luck.
Arnold shook his head in dejection.
"The Gods may have refused my request once, but my faith remains strong. I believe that one day, the Gods will answer my prayers."
Arnold saw disdain flash in the other party's eyes and felt relief wash over him.
"I see, I'm happy to hear that. May the Gods be with you."
"May the Gods be with you, Priestess."
Arnold left and kept walking for another hour with no destination. Only then did he feel safe enough to sigh and collapse by the wall.
'So she's one of the sluts that took my money back then, no wonder she recognized me. Hmph, just you wait.'
…
A few minutes before Arnold collapsed, Porto's Cathedral.
A displeased Priest Emmanuel spoke to Priestess Cathy, who was still gazing outside the gates.
"Cathy! Would you care to explain what you've been doing for the past hour, instead of collecting donations?"
Emmanuel lowered his voice.
"You know how much funding we need for the new 'project'."
The old woman, Priestess Cathy, finally turned away from the gates and responded calmly.
"Yes, I shall get back to it."
…
In a deserted alleyway of Porto, a well dressed young man could be seen leaning on a wall, panting.
Sweat oozed out of his pores and his skin was turning red. He soon started feeling nauseous and a piercing pain assaulted his five senses.
"Not only did I almost have a heart attack because of that old woman, why is leveling up also this painful. Ouch, damn you bastardly System, you didn't tell me it would so UGH-"
Arnold keeled over and rainbows came out of his mouth.
[What, you thought receiving my power was easy?]
At this time, Devil Lord Azazel finally woke up.
[If ya can't tolerate this much pain, you should give up now. Every time you unlock a Subclass, the process will only get more painful, and other side effects might pop up. I half-remember you were dreaming of level 100 earlier, so let me tell you : by level 10, the pain will be about a hundred times that of pregnancy. So you better get a combat class as your second or third Subclass, or you're doomed, boy.]
Arnold's face turned pale from this news.
[But hey, at least when your woman gives birth she can't complain, right? Kekeke.]
Arnold held on as his body twitched and vibrated against his control. By now, he had a nosebleed and he felt his consciousness fading away.
[Oh, and don't faint, you might die. It's uh, a small side effect of the Devil's power, don't worry about it.]
Despite the agonizing pain, Arnold finally couldn't hold back his anger.
"So that's why people say not to trust the Devil, damn you AZAZEEEEL!"
…
After what felt like an eternity, but was only a few minutes, Arnold's suffering came to an end. He then struggled to climb out of the pool of bile, blood and sweat.
'Have I… done it?'
He dazedly checked out his System.
[Arnold Grim
Level 1
Class : Advanced Beggar
Skills : Beg, Brawl
Alignment : Lawful Neutral
Sub Class 1 : Choose
Warrior
Merchant
Scholar
Worker
Thief
Rand Unique
Sub Class 2 : Locked (lvl 4)]
Arnold felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
He had finally leveled up, and Azazel hadn't lied; he could develop a second Class.
At the same time, he was puzzled by the fact that his Beggar Class had advanced, and he didn't understand the different Subclass choices either.
While everyone had a system, Class Holders were rare. This could be seen from Rosalind's trust in Sir 'Dio'.
But this also meant that Arnold didn't actually have much knowledge about Classes and the way they worked. In the end, he had to swallow his anger and turn to the ever-helpful Devil Lord nearby.
Azazel was embarrassed.
[Kuhum, well, it's only a few side effects, you'll be alright. Anyways, you must be curious about all this. In this Lord's understanding, you don't need a Class to do anything with the exception of magic and divine spells. That said, Classes speed up your progress immensely, through what you named XP modifiers. They also give you powerful abilities, such as your new Brawl skill. Finally, magic! How cool is that?]
Seeing the deadpan expression on Arnold's face, Azazel could only scratch his head and lament about the lack of respect of the younger generation as he continued.
[Unlike Subclasses, Class advancement is unfortunately not something unique to you. All Class Holders will advance as they level up, unlocking more powerful skills and progressing towards Ascension, but you don't need to concern yourself with that.]
Arnold bitterly nodded. Knowing about things too far in the future might lower his motivation.
[Also, some Classes have a trait that is especially important for the less 'honorable' gentlemen. After all, it lets them fake their alignment.]
Arnold took in this hidden knowledge, then his eyes widened in shock and understanding.
[I see you finally understand. Low crime rates? Kekeke, KUHAHAHA!]
An eerie, devilish laugh sent chills down his spine.
[This world ain't as simple as you were led to believe, boy.]