Chapter 8

Well, now that Darius had his classes and skills, it was time to activate the Class Catalyzer and Actualizer. The former would grant him a random tool to help him with his main class and the latter would grant him a special ability for the same purpose. He had been greatly looking forward to it, but that was before he became an Itemancer.

Still, although his enthusiasm had lessened a bit, since both the Catalyzer and Actualizer had been classified as Supreme Quality, he was nevertheless hoping for something to surprise him and perhaps even convince him of the usefulness of his main class.

He selected the Class Catalyzer first.

[A random tool will be drawn for you based on your luck! Are you ready?]

"I am." Darius replied gently.

This time, there was no board. Instead, a small screen manifested before him with a plethora of options. It began shuffling at a mind-numbing speed before he had any time to fathom what just happened, making him question the need for all of this flashiness.

Darius was forced to look away so that he wouldn't become dizzy, and only refocused on the screen once some light fanfare played.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the System Brand!]

Darius naturally had no idea what that was, so he inspected it.

[System Brand - Unique

Durability: MAX

Description: A special tool that grants willing parties a sub-routine of the Supreme System. All parties branded via this tool will be tied to the system and will be unable to betray the owner to the core system.]

Darius' eyes widened and his breathing hitched slightly. Such a useful tool was beyond his wildest expectations! Darius may be new to the world of Faust, but even he could understand how great the Supreme System was to be able to grant him such power with just one tool.

If he could bestow a small bit of the Supreme System to chosen natives and individuals of this world, would this not allow him to form an army which would grow endlessly through battle?!

Most importantly, those who he branded would be unable to ever betray him! This theoretical army would be totally loyal! This tool definitely deserved to be called Supreme.

Darius looked forward to testing out once he joined civilization and met a few people. In fact, many new plans hatched in his mind, some viable and others not yet viable until he saw the actual situation in the various pockets of civilization in the Andrato Kingdom's borders.

Darius was itching to head out to the nearest location on the map, but he was aware that it was the better choice to finish everything he needed to first. As someone who had lived a full life, Darius understood the need for patience at all times.

He turned his attention to the Class Actualizer and activated that as well. If he would gain something even half as good as what the Catalyzer had given him, he would truly be set for his journey in this world.

[A random ability will be drawn for you based on your luck! Are you ready?]

"Please go ahead." Darius assented.

He had already turned his head away to prevent himself from being dizzied by the rapid shuffling of the various options. It was only when the choice had been made that he looked on and inspected what he had drawn.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the Transmutation ability!]

[Transmutation - Unique Ability

Cost: Unique

Description: You are a living Philosopher's Stone, able to convert any substance or matter from one form to another. This ability has its own unique cost for conversion and ruleset listed below.

Rule #1: The ability to transmute is tied to your available Conversion Points. At your current stage, you will be capped to 10 Conversion Points.

Rule #2: Conversion Points refresh each day at 12 am. Unspent Conversion Points are discarded and replaced.

Rule #3: Only items and non-sentient organisms can be transmuted at your current stage.

Rule #4: You can only transmute items that already exist in the world of Faust.

Rule #5: Items that are owned by the user can be converted into Conversion Points.]

Darius was silent for a long while as he read and re-read this ability's details. Darius understood that what he had just gained was no longer just game-changing, but had directly trashed all his plans so far.

With this ability, he would have to redraw everything from scratch and carefully consider how he would move forward in the world of Faust. Many new doors had been opened for him, but not all of them were safe.

A power like this… Darius knew that it had to be kept a secret. If anyone were to find out that he possessed such an ability, he would likely be apprehended and turned into a faction's item producer for the rest of his life.

Since his goal was to become a Supreme in this world, such an outcome was intolerable. Darius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while rubbing it slowly.

He felt a mixture of frustration and excitement. It was the same feeling he had gotten when the bank had approved his loan of 30 million dollars during his twenties when his company had shown promise in the business sector.

At the time he had been excited because he had been granted the funds to develop upon his plans and expand his company further, yet frustrated because he now owed a big amount of money to someone else. In case he would have faltered at some point, everything he had built so far would have come crumbling down. Given his ruthless ways, Darius had made sure, that no such thing would happen.

Still, as the saying goes 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'. Darius checked out the System Brand which was in his Inventory and removed it. It wasn't anything too fancy, just a silver ring with a lovely diamond atop.

Darius wore it on his right hand's middle finger. Interestingly, the ring automatically expanded to fit his finger perfectly, not straining the flow of blood there at all.

[Soulbind the System Brand?]