Awakening 2

I awoke in a daze, looking at my surroundings.

"What the fuck?!" I had fair reason to be in such shock.

Looking around me, I was in the carriage that I had just seen on my computer screen.

I was in the game.

"What kind of novel bullshit is this? Why am I in the game?" 

I was panicking, completely unsure of what had just transpired. Had I really fallen into the world of Etherium Academy RPG? 

Suddenly, a bright blue holographic screen appeared in front of me with a small ding sound.

[Class Upgrade!

Mage (Common) -> Trickster (Uncommon)]

Another ding quickly followed in suit.

[Class Upgrade!

Trickster (Uncommon) -> Clown(Rare)]

And another...

[Class Upgrade!

Clown (Rare) -> Enigma (Epic)]

Ding!

[Class Upgrade!

Enigma (Epic) -> Jack (Legendary)]

Ding!

[Class Upgrade!

Jack (Legendary) -> The Joker (Mythical)]

The screen offered me a brief distraction from the shock of being in another world. But even that wasn't enough.

I started hyperventilating for several minutes until I was able to compose myself slightly.

I thought to myself,

'Status Window'

[Name : Ares Von Castellan

Class : The Joker

Overall Rating: D+

Stats: 

Strength : F+ ---> Reduced to F- [Cursed Affliction]

Vitality : F+ ---> Reduced to F- [Cursed Affliction]

Agility : D-

Intelligence: C

Wisdom: C+

Charisma : B+

Jack : N/A]

I read the screen and recognized that it was the character I had made. I was really in the game.

'Jack? What kind of stat is that? And my class... it's Joker'

"For fuck's sake.." I bitterly groaned.

'If I was going to go into the world of the game, could it at least not have been on one of my max level characters? Or at least on a normal character. Hell, I even chose Hell mode out of my veteran instinct. This is the worst possible scenario. I don't even know what this class does!'

'Well... I should be able to make it through this game. I've completed it so many times by now. The Joker class is Mythical... so it should be extremely powerful.

I continued to look at the screen and clicked the class menu.

[Class: Joker

Passive Skills:

Confusion Stacks - Confusing your opponents gives them a stack of confusion. Continuously confusing your enemy gives them multiple stacks of confusion. Attacks may also apply confusion stacks.

Current Rank - MAX

Jack, First Game - For every stack of confusion, you become slightly stronger for the remainder of the battle. If the enemy is able to compose themselves, you lose your gained strength. This effect maxes out at 21 stacks.

Current Rank - MAX 

Jack, Second Game - Upon reaching 21 confusion stacks, this skill activates. The confusion stack capacity increases to 42, and instead of you growing stronger, the enemy begins to grow weaker, maxing out at 42 stacks.

Current Rank - MAX

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Active Skills:

Confuse - Add 1 stack of confusion to an enemy. Can only be used once every 60 seconds.

Current Rank - F

Winning Streak - After an enemy accumulates 42 stacks of confusion, you may consume all of them at once. This will steal part of your enemy's strength, permanently increasing one of your stats or skills. The enemy will lose their confusion entirely. This skill can only be used once per enemy. The stolen strength will be higher if the enemy is stronger than you, or lower if the enemy is weaker. 

Current Rank - MAX

Mana Bolt - Basic attacking magic, fire a bolt of mana at a target. May apply confusion stacks.

Current Rank - F]

"Damn." It took me a moment to take in all of the information, but upon reading everything, I felt a surge of excitement.

"Winning streak... isn't it a bit overpowered? I can steal people's strength?" I exclaimed in amazement.

"But how effective exactly is confusion?"

Another panel appeared before me with a ding!

[Confusion Levels

People may become confused from acts outside of combat. If the user unintentionally confuses someone with no interest in attacking them, they will not feel the side effects of confusion, but if the person becomes a target of attacks, confusion shall begin working as intended.

1 - 5 (Low)

Enemies will feel slight discomfort, and may momentarily make mistakes in their attacks. At times, they will lose their focus in combat.

6 - 10 (Moderate)

Enemies will feel a sense of discomfort, and may feel dizzy. They will be more prone to making mistakes and will lose their focus consistently throughout the fight. Enemies may hear sounds that do not exist.

11-16 (High)

Enemies will feel a high sense of discomfort, they will feel dizzy and will have many openings in their attacks. They may enter a dazed state upon being hit. They will struggle to maintain focus at all in the fight. Enemies may hear and see things that do not exist, having their senses fooled.

17 - 21 (Very High)

Enemies will feel great discomfort, will feel nauseous and be unable to perform certain high concentration attacks. They will enter a dazed state upon being hit and will face extreme difficulty to focus in combat. Enemies are likely to have their senses fooled, seeing, hearing and feeling things that do not exist.

22 - 32 (Extreme)

Enemies will feel extreme discomfort, feeling sudden sensations that do not exist. Enemies will feel extreme nausea and be prone to vomiting. Certain skills will be locked from use and enemies may be instantly knocked out upon being hit. They will not be able to focus in combat. Enemies will have their senses tricked consistently, seeing apparitions and hearing things that do not exist. They will feel immense phantom pains from time to time.

33 - 42 (Breakdown)

Enemies will feel an unbearable discomfort, feeling horrific feelings that do not exist. Enemies will fall into a state of fear and panic, feeling extreme nausea, dizziness and may vomit. Many skills will be locked from use, only leaving the most basic abilities to be used. Enemies will not be able to discern reality and illusion, being assaulted by many apparitions and having their senses fooled, unable to tell if they have actually been attacked or not. There is a very small chance that the attacks from an apparition may pass over into reality, appearing as an actual injury. ]

A/N : Sorry for being wordy but it's necessary to give you guys a good understanding of the abilities. Hope you like them.

"Yeah, nah, this is pretty damn overpowered isn't it?" I looked over the varying levels in shock.

'Sealing off skills... isn't that too damn good? Even classes like [Rune Lord] or [Seal Master] can't seal abilities to this degree.'

'Even if I'm on Hell mode, this class may actually make it quite doable.' 

'With my knowledge over dozens of runs, and my ridiculous class... yeah, I'll get through it.' A spark of hope entered my eyes as I thought of the possibilities of my class.

I heard another ding, with one last panel appearing.

[Hello ######... no, should I say Ares? I hope you like your new world. But don't worry, you're not stuck here forever. Complete the game, and achieve the 'True Ending'. Otherwise, you will never make it back to your world. That's all I have to say, lol.

Good luck nerd.

- Admin.]

"So you're the one who put me here?" I looked at the screen with an irritated expression.

'Well, the good news is I can make it back.' A flash of hope appeared in my eyes.

'But the bad news is... I've never managed to make it to the true ending'

Yes, even I, who could be described as the number 1 pro of Etherium Academy RPG, had never once seen the true ending. I had collected 20/21 endings, yet I had never once been able to find the true ending. 

Throughout my last ten playthroughs, I had finally managed to begin unravelling the secret behind it, yet now I actually have to do it if I want to go back to my world.

"Ugh... this is a fucking mess." I groaned 

Suddenly, the carriage that I was in stopped moving. I looked outside the window and saw a familiar scene, Etherium Academy.

"Young master, we have arrived." The carriage driver announced.

I stepped out and made my way into the entrance ceremony, anticipating the beginning of the story.