Chapter 7

"Where did he send me?" Siegfried muttered.

He wondered and looked around after being forcefully expelled from the mountain. He was surrounded by grass as far as his eyes could see, but he could make out that he was in a territory judging by the castle he could see in the distance.

"Let's see…" Siegfried opened the world map and zoomed in to where he was currently.

[Biermann Territory]

The place where Siegfried was transported was a small territory on the southernmost tip of the continent.

"He sent me quite far away," he grumbled.

The Biermann Territory was located quite far from the Palzman Territory where Siegfried used to be.

"Not bad…" Siegfried nodded in satisfaction.

He was quite content with the place where he was transported.

Siegfried was currently Level 1, and he would obviously be hunted down if he came across Genesis Guild members. For now, he had to focus on growing to at least Level 100 without getting disturbed.

'Well, I guess it won't matter though…?' he thought.

Nobody would recognize him since his name had changed from Tae-Sung to Siegfried.

"Anyway, let's go to a nearby town first and take my time reading the secret book," he muttered as he looked at the castle in the distance.

Deus said that everything about the Debuff Master was recorded in the book, and that was why Siegfried decided to prioritize finding out more about the class above anything else.

***

"Welcome, Adventurer!" a large woman greeted Siegfried.

She was the innkeeper.

"Hmm… you look like a novice. Welcome to our Biermann Territory. So, what do you need? Do you need food? Or perhaps some appetizer and drinks?" she asked.

"Just a room for one please," Siegfried replied.

"Oh, you seem to be tired from your journey! Alright, I'll prepare it right away for you," the innkeeper said.

Siegfried went up to his room and settled down.

"Debuff Master…" he muttered while stroking the secret book.

"Shall we take a look?" he said before he proceeded to carefully turn the pages. However…

"What the hell…?" he grimaced and muttered.

The writings were a bit strange.

"Master… how do you expect me… to understand this…?" Siegfried muttered in disbelief.

Deus' handwriting was so dreadful it could be categorized as one of the evils of this world. Naturally, Siegfried could not understand a single thing.

"Even a child can write better than this… Master…" Siegfried muttered.

It seemed that Deus was still a human being with flaws after all.

Siegfried tried his best to decode his master's cryptic handwriting.

[The secret to invincibility lies in this secret book.]

The secret book started off with a message that left a deep impression on Siegfried.

"The secret to invincibility…" he muttered as he read the first words.

Then, something amazing happened as soon as he read those words out loud.

Flash!

A blinding light shot out from the secret book and completely surrounded him.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of him shortly afterward.

[Alert: The skill book's power is transforming you.]

[Alert: You have successfully changed classes!]

[Alert: Your class has changed from 'Disciple' to 'Debuff Master'!]

[Alert: The item 'Secret Book: Debuff Master' has been bound to you!]

[Alert: 'Secret Book: Debuff Master' can no longer be traded or transferred.]

It turned out that the secret book Deus gave him wasn't a normal book but a skill book, and this made Siegfried realize the reason why Deus didn't teach him any skills for ninety-eight days.

While Siegfried was still deep in his thoughts, the secret book his master gave him crumbled into dust. Siegfried no longer needed the item as every single one of its content had turned into data that had been uploaded into his mind.

"Let's take this step by step," he said as he checked the 'My Class' tab under 'Status.'

He checked the basic information of his newfound class.

[Debuff Master]

[A very flexible class capable of packing quite a punch despite the user having low stats.]

[Role: Melee Dealer, Supporter, and AOE Nuker.]

[Description: Utilizes all sorts of debuffs to weaken the enemy before dealing physical damage against them.]

[Main Weapon: Heavy Weapon]

[Main Defensive Equipment: Heavy Armor]

Siegfried could tell by the description alone that the class his master had bestowed upon him was an overpowered class.

[Potential]

[Attack: ??????????]

[Defense: ??????????]

[Agility: ??????????]

[Utility: ??????????]

In fact, his potential was astonishingly high. Even his lowest stat, agility, had an astounding ninety-percent potential.

"The struggle was worth it," Siegfried said while smiling in satisfaction.

He could feel the pain, suffering, and humiliation he had to endure in the past, which was caused solely because he was a weakling, being washed away just by reading the basic details of his new class, Debuff Master.

"Debuff Master… a nuker specialized in debuffs… I'm certain that there's no other class like this out there…" Siegfried muttered.

There were many classes with debuff skills, and the most famous one among them was the 'Priest' class. Priests possessed skills that could simultaneously buff their allies while debuffing their enemies by shredding the latter's resistances.

There were other classes with debuff skills that amplified the damage their target received just like the Witch Doctor, Black Magician, and even Siegfried's previous class, Elemental Mage.

However, Debuff Master was an entirely different class compared to those mentioned above which only used debuffs as sub-skills.

[Debuff Skills: 25]

The Debuff Master class lived true to its description as a physical damage nuker as it possessed a jaw-dropping twenty-five debuff skills, and it seemed as if it were capable of debuffing any enemies before beating them to death.

"Debuff Master…" Siegfried muttered out the name of his new class as his heart pounded from excitement.

"I can beat them with this…!" Siegfried exclaimed as his adrenaline levels jumped. He was extremely curious about the power of a high-leveled Debuff Master.

"A master…" Siegfried muttered the second word of his new class before he proceeded to check the details related to his weapon and armor.

[Weapon Mastery]

[The most suitable type of weapon for a Debuff Master is a Heavy Weapon since it is capable of killing their enemies in a single blow.]

[The Debuff Master gains additional stats when using Heavy Weapons.]

[Blunt Weapon Mastery: Level 1]

[Shield Mastery: Level 1]

[Greatsword Mastery: Level 1]

[Gauntlet Mastery: Level 1]

[Spear Mastery: Level 1]

The five weapons mentioned in his Weapon Mastery: blunt weapons, shields, greatswords, gauntlets, and spears, were weapons capable with highly destructive attack power.

The Debuff Master's combat style was exactly as Deus had said, 'make them weaker and kill them in a single blow.'

"Then, the defensive equipment…" Siegfried muttered as he checked the defensive equipment of his new class.

[Heavy Armor Mastery]

[A Debuff Master is a class that requires strong defense since they fight in close combat against their enemies.]

[However, speed is also a critical component, so the user is recommended to use Heavy Armor instead of Plate Armor.]

[The Debuff Master gains additional stats when using Heavy Armors.]

[Heavy Armor Mastery: Level 1]

There were five classifications for defensive equipment in Brave New World: cloth armor, leather armor, light armor, heavy armor, and plate armor.

Heavy Armor was second only to Plate Armor when it came to toughness, and it seemed that the class was recommending the usage of Heavy Armor rather than Plate Armor since it was not a tanker-type class.

[Debuff Skills]

[Circle of Mortality: Level 1]

[A circular field that decreases the enemies' defense and magic resistance will appear around the user.]

[The circle's radius grows larger the higher the skill's level.]

[Circle of Weakness: Level 1]

[A circular field that reduces the enemies' HP and mana will appear around the user.]

[The circle's radius grows larger the higher the skill's level.]

[The damage dealt by Circle of Weakness depends on the user's mana.]

[The damage dealt by Circle of Weakness is considered as 'True Damage,' which ignores the enemies' defense and magic resistance.]

"It reduces defense and magic resistance…?" Siegfried muttered in surprise after reading the description of his skill 'Circle of Mortality.'

A debuff skill usually reduced only one of the target's defensive stat, and this was probably one of the few skills in the game that could reduce both defense and magic resistance at the same time. On top of that, 'Circle of Weakness' ignored defense and magic resistance to inflict true damage on his enemies. As such, he was certain that it would be a highly versatile skill in the future.

[Smite]

[Hit the target with a powerful strike.]

[The damage inflicted increases the higher the skill's level.]

[The cooldown time decreases the higher the skill's level.]

[The cooldown time of this skill depends on weapon type upon casting.]

[Level: 1]

[Description: Deal 250% physical damage to the target.]

[Mana Consumption: 30]

[Cooldown: 1 minute (Blunt Weapon)]

Even the description of the only active skill in his arsenal, 'Smite,' seemed overpowered as well.

"I knew it was a hidden class… but…" Siegfried muttered in amazement.

He scrolled further down after realizing that the skills of his new class—Debuff Master—certainly lived up to anyone's expectations of a hidden class.

Then, a word of advice left behind by Deus caught his eye.

[Circle of Mortality and Smite are the fundamental skills you will have to master from now on. You will be using them until the day you die so do not be lazy and train them continuously. Do not forget to train Circle of Mortality and Smite in a 1:1 ratio. Circle of Weakness will also come in handy, but it will not be as useful as the two skills so make sure that you train the two skills Circle of Mortality and Smite, and Circle of Weakness in a 4:2 ratio.]

While Siegfried was being trained, there hadn't been a day when Deus didn't curse, beat, or violate the former's human rights, but it seemed that Deus still deeply cared about his disciple based on the fact that he even left the skills' tech trees in the book.

"Thank you, Master," Siegfried said as he engraved the words his master had left behind.

He wanted to further figure out what his class—Debuff Master—was capable of, but unfortunately, he still could not do so because his level wasn't high enough. In fact, he couldn't even access the names of the other skills he would end up possessing.

It seemed he was still unqualified.

"It's time to train and grow stronger…" Siegfried muttered as he steeled his resolve and exited the room.

For some reason, every single step he took carried weight along with a strange sense of confidence.