The stuff that made the difference between just surviving in the Trial World—or thriving.
Less than one percent of Trial Takers ever awakened a Talent, and those who did instantly boosted their odds of completing trials by a significant margin.
Enough that the Federation kept very close tabs on every single one of them.
Talents were ranked, too. From weakest to strongest: Ordinary, Extraordinary, and Supreme.
Even an Ordinary Talent was enough to catapult a no-name household into minor nobility if used well enough.
Extraordinary? That usually came with land, titles, and an invitation to those snobby gatherings Leon hated.
There was only one known family in the entire federation that boasted a Supreme Talent—the Yakomoto Family.
But nowhere, in all the teachings, records, or even drunken old man tales, had there ever been a whisper of something called... EX Rank.
Leon stared at the glowing letters floating in front of him.
Talent Name: [Attack]
"For a Talent rank never seen before," Leon muttered, mouth twisting into a wry smirk, "the name sounds kinda... bland."
He shook his head and chuckled softly. "Guess I'll see what features it's packing."
Without wasting another second, he tapped on the hovering text, opening the Talent's full description—and immediately felt the air sucked out of his lungs.
Blown away didn't even cover how he felt.
Today had been nothing but one bombshell after another.
First, getting a never-before-seen Talent rank.
His heart thudded against his ribs as he thought, This talent... it's just like that plugin I used to cheat at games back on Earth.
Back when he was just another unlucky orphan, wasting away his life in an internet café... before fate had graciously slammed the "Reincarnate" button and dropped him into a noble family in another world.
Honestly, being born into a house of power alone would've been enough to carve out a solid future with a little elbow grease.
Now he had a Golden Finger that would make the protagonists of those old isekai novels cry tears of jealousy.
"At least the novels didn't lie," Leon mused, grin widening. "If You reincarnate into another world, you get a cheat."
Still, as amazing as it was, this Talent wasn't just a lazy copy-paste of his old-world plugin.
It had extra features—adjustments for a reality where death wasn't just a respawn timer away.
He focused on the Talent's feature list:
Critical hits have a flat 10% chance to occur, dealing x10 damage. Every time a critical hit lands, there is a random chance to trigger a higher multiplier, increasing the critical strength by an additional x10. (E.g., x20, x30, etc.) After achieving a x100 critical, multipliers increase by x100 instead.
Each successful attack grants 1 Attack Point. Up to 10,000 points can be stored per day. If the maximum is not used, the overflow from previous days still counts toward the daily cap, encouraging continuous use over hoarding.
Spending 100 Attack Points permanently increases any chosen stat by 1 point.
Burning 1 Attack Point grants a temporary boost of 10 points to a stat. (Boost duration depends on stamina and combat conditions.)
Evolution Points are earned whenever a critical hit above x10 is achieved for the first time at a new highest critical multiplier. Evolution Points can be used to evolve skills, weapons, armor, and even certain rare resources. However, only criticals surpassing the user's current record will grant new Evo Points.
Leon took a deep breath and started going over the features one by one, the system interface hovering in front of him like a digital altar.
"Critical Master, huh..." he muttered, eyes narrowing in thought.
He'd seen this mechanic before—back in those PvP-heavy RPGs where landing a critical hit could turn the tide of a fight.
"It's familiar... but this?" He gave a slow, appreciative nod. "In a real scenario, this isn't just about more damage. It's about timing and Surprise."
A grin crept onto his face.
"A sudden spike in power right when your enemy thinks they've got you figured out? That's very lethal."
He scrolled down to the next feature.
He gave it a glance, then smirked.
"So no hoarding, huh? Guess this talent wants me to go full grind mode every day."
"Not like I ever liked saving up stat points anyway. What's the point of power if you don't use it? I've always been a spend-now, worry-later kind of guy."
Then came Stat Increase.
"This one's clever. Two ways to boost my stats—one permanent, one temporary."
He clenched his fists, feeling the raw potential burning inside him.
"The temp boost is great for clutch moments, especially with Critical Master backing it up... but the real game-changer is the permanent increase."
His voice dropped, almost reverent.
"If I stack that long enough, I can reach a level no Trial Taker's ever touched."
He finally turned to the last feature—Evo Points.
And for the first time, he was quiet.
Then, slowly, he whispered, "This... this alone could be its own golden finger."
The ability to evolve not just his skills, but weapons, armor, anything that had growth potential?
That was a path to endless scaling.
He could take basic skills and turn them into divine ones.
Trash loot into legendary gear.
And it all hinged on doing what he already planned to do—hit hard.
He leaned back slightly, letting it all sink in.
"This talent..." he said, eyes gleaming, "is more than game-breaking."
His grin returned, wider than ever.
"It's heaven-defying."
He looked up toward the endless white space above.
"With this... the sky won't be my limit—it'll be my starting point."
But then, his gaze dropped, focus sharpening.
"Still... it all depends on how well I use it."
Then a quiet, steady declaration:
His fingers curled into a fist.
"My attacks... will make me stronger."
After finishing his analysis, Leon's focus shifted toward the next prompt blinking before him:
[Please Select Your Class]
Two options floated into existence, each framed in faint silver light:
Leon blinked once, then twice.
"There are really only two." he muttered, arching a brow.
It wasn't that he was being forced to pick between just these two — no, he knew better. These were simply the two broad categories available. The foundation classes. The real core of the Trial World.
Warriors were the brawlers — the ones who wielded weapons, forged aura into destruction, and relied on overwhelming physical prowess.
Mages were their mystical counterparts — manipulators of mana, nature, and the elements themselves.
Leon chuckled to himself, finding he didn't mind the simplicity.
In fact, he preferred it.
"Thank god it's not one of those 'Dragon-blooded Sword Saint' or 'Demonic Phoenix Assassin' kind of things," he said dryly.
He could already imagine the headache if dozens of overly specific classes had been thrown at him.
Not to mention — in those complicated systems, choosing something like "Archer" would lock you out of "Swordsman" or "Berserker" paths forever.
You just had to pick between Warrior or Mage.
A/N: Please send power stones and leave reviews.