When the taxi driver arrived outside his house, Eren was surprised to find the same driver who had dropped him at the Awakener Association yesterday.
"...!"
The driver's widened eyes confirmed that he recognized Eren as well.
On the way to the outskirts, Eren took a look at his current real status.
[Name: Eren Morrow
Job: Shapeshifter
Tier: I
Level: 5 (0.00%)
Type: Combat Profession
Strength: 37.0
Agility: 37.0
Spirit: 1300.0
Constitution: 48.0
Skills: [Beast Transformation (Moonborn Silver Wolf) (Active Skill Lv.10
[Eternal Masquerade Lv.1: Authority-Type Skill: An authority that exists between illusion and reality. The user can wield dominion over perception, information, and disguise.
Authority 1: Absolute Observation — The user may view the status, attributes, skills, and other concealed details of a target without triggering detection. Detection is only possible if the target's spiritual sense far exceeds the user's and possesses Divine-grade sensory abilities.
Authority 2: Information Manipulation — The user can manipulate any information within status windows or items below Divine grade.
Authority 3: Form Alteration — The user can change their own appearance or that of a chosen object. The range of alteration depends on the level of [Eternal Masquerade]. At the current level, the user cannot alter their core essence, only minor aspects of outer appearance.
Authority 4: Dungeon Deception — The user can deceive dungeon restrictions in Level 10 or below dungeons by submitting false information.
Spirit Cost: Varies depending on usage.
Cooldown: None]
"This is...!"
Eren was stunned not only to see his Spirit attribute increased to 1300, but also that his skill had risen to an absurd level.
He took out his phone and tried to search for details about Authority-type skills, but found no information.
Eren's gaze paused on the description of his first authority.
"Detection is only possible if the target's spiritual sense far exceeds my own and the target must also possess a Divine-grade detection skill..."
A chill crept down Eren's spine as he realized that the girl named Lyssara met both conditions to detect his skill.
"Who the hell is she?"
From her appearance, she didn't seem older than him, yet she already possessed a Divine-grade skill while her job had advanced to the pinnacle of Tier 2 as well.
"Is she someone from a prominent clan? Then why is she manipulating her status to deceive others?"
Most people who used deception skills tried to hide their true strength to catch their enemies off guard.
But she did the opposite, she faked her level to that of a Tier 4 expert while she was actually Tier 2.
"Is she not afraid of others finding out? Or is she that confident in her ability to match her faked level?"
But Eren immediately shook his head, dismissing his own conclusion.
"Tier 2 as strong as Tier 4... That's impossible... She must be some kind of scammer pretending to be a big shot..."
Tier Up was a concept the Gaya System had established after numerous trials and errors, the evolution of the human body into higher forms of existence.
Level 1 to 10 was called the Mortal Stage.
Level 11 to 25 was the Awakened Stage.
Level 26 to 50 was the Transcendent Stage.
Level 51 to 75 was the Sovereign Stage.
Level 76 to 100 was the Saint Stage.
And finally, Level 101 to 125, the Demi-God Stage, the current pinnacle of human power.
Only eleven people in all of human history had reached that stage.
According to what Eren had learned in school, a hundred years ago humans could only reach Tier 5 at most. Tier 6 was a concept that only became possible in the current century.
According to studies, it was entirely possible for humans to attain true godhood by advancing further through Tier Ups.
Not only did each increase in Tier elevate the human body into a higher lifeform, but it also dramatically increased lifespan, even for lifestyle professions.
While those in the Mortal Stage could live up to 80 to 100 years, those in the Awakened Stage could easily live between 130 to 160 years.
In current humanity, many people fell under this stage.
This was also the average lifespan of modern humans, as many reached Tier 2 without much difficulty.
But from Tier 3 onward, Tier Up became significantly harder.
This was also the reason his father had remained stuck at Tier 2 for over a decade without being able to advance.
The gap between Tiers didn't just represent a difference in attributes, it represented a difference in existence itself.
So, Eren found it absurd to believe that a Tier 2 girl could possess strength comparable to a Tier 4 expert.
"Whatever she is doing... It has nothing to do with me..."
Eren's gaze fell upon his other authorities. The more he read, the more absurd his expression became.
"Form Alteration and Dungeon Deception..." he muttered the names of the newly gained authorities.
His other two authorities were very similar to the two skills he previously had before they were combined.
Eren's face hardened as he read the description of his Dungeon Deception authority.
"I can even deceive dungeon mechanisms and enter them?!"
Although the authority that allowed him to change appearance shocked him as well, the potential and effect of Dungeon Deception were on a completely different level.
Every dungeon had a fixed recommended level range for awakeners to enter.
Even the beginner dungeon his school prepared for students to level up had a recommendation of Level 1 to 5, while the dungeon Eren selected today, Gloomfang Den, had a recommendation level of 5 to 10.
Awakeners who were not within the required level range could not enter these dungeons.
It was one of the core mechanisms every dungeon possessed, to prevent stronger or weaker beings from entering.
According to humanity's findings so far, dungeons were living entities that took the form of landscapes within confined spaces.
Every being that died inside a dungeon was completely absorbed by the dungeon core, regardless of whether they were monsters or humans.
Just like the Shadow Smite that Eren had killed inside the beginner dungeon, it had instantly vanished into thin air.
Its corpse had been absorbed by the dungeon core immediately.
Since every creature that made its habitat inside a dungeon bore the mark of the dungeon core, the absorption rate was insanely fast when they died.
On the other hand, dropped items, humans, or other creatures who died or were abandoned inside the dungeon would be absorbed at a slower rate compared to monsters.
The more corpses the dungeon absorbed, the more power and spiritual energy accumulated within it.
Eventually, the space would give birth to higher-level monsters.
Thus, the restrictions of dungeons were created to protect the dungeon cores and maintain environmental balance.
The dungeon cores listed under the Awakeners Association were all under the control of the Empire.
Yet even with control over those cores, the Empire's research teams had never found a way for higher-level beings to sneak into lower-level dungeons.
Only a very few artifacts discovered over the centuries had the ability to allow higher-level humans to enter lower-level dungeons.
However, in such cases, those who forcefully entered would lose a portion of their strength due to the level cap.
But Eren's skill did not mention any such restriction.
That meant he could deceive the dungeon mechanism with false information and use all of his powers inside without worry.
And with his cheat-like ability, he could continuously farm Life Essence and level up endlessly, even within lower-level dungeons.
This was yet another cheat-level authority he now possessed.
Eren had a hard time stopping the wicked smile that threatened to spread across his face.
***
Author's Note:
Sorry, guys, this chapter turned into a bit of an information dump.
I felt like I've been neglecting a lot of the worldbuilding lately, so I wanted to properly lay some of it out.
If you feel these details are unnecessary, I can move the story forward at a faster pace instead.
Thank you all for reading!