Chapter 36: XB's Class Breakdown
The diary ended abruptly, and so did everything about him.
The second promotional episode still had a few minutes left. The next scene was set in a dimly lit room, where several people were hatching a plan.
Unexpectedly, among the people in the room—besides members of the Life Alchemy Society—there were also robed cultists from the Curse God Cult.
As the camera focused on them, players learned that the alchemy bomb plot was actually a joint conspiracy between the Curse God Cult and the Life Alchemy Society.
To ensure the plan went smoothly, a council member from the Life Alchemy Society would even be coming from the Kingdom of Ruins to oversee the operation.
This entire alchemy bomb plot had never occurred in the game's previous timeline. Clearly, Zhou Ning's presence had already caused some major shifts in the storyline.
Just when they were about to reveal the council member's identity and discuss the plan in detail, the second episode cut off.
That's it?
Zhou Ning trembled with anger. Shaking, seething, he couldn't believe even the AI director had learned to cliffhang like this.
Would it kill them to just give him a little more intel? Seriously?
That said, after watching the episode, even he was starting to believe he might really be the main character.
Think about it: the major events so far—the Curse God Cult sacrificial ritual, the Alchemical Phantom incident, and the upcoming alchemy bomb plot—every one of them revolved around a single person: him.
At this point, at least the early game narrative had been completely altered by his actions.
But hey, it's not like he had a choice. He could only take things one step at a time.
Shaking his head, Zhou Ning opened the game forum.
To be honest, this game really had breakout potential. After just a few days offline, the number of registered users had already surged to twenty million—and the game hadn't even entered closed beta yet.
It was just like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077—hype first, release later.
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of threads on the forum were about him. After all, he was the only person to take center stage in both promotional videos.
Zhou Ning squinted as he scrolled through the forum posts. Most were useless chatter, but after some digging, he finally found something with a bit of substance: a thread titled "Learn Apocalypse in 5 Minutes (Part 1) — A Beginner's Guide to Class Selection".
The author? A guy named XB—male, and an old acquaintance of Zhou Ning's.
Aside from Apocalypse, there was also a wildly popular MOBA on Blue Star, and XB had once been a pro player for it.
In one crucial international team fight, XB had taken control of a CC-based hero and was instructed to initiate on the most killable target. The team executed flawlessly—only for XB to lock down a squishy... ranged minion.
The team lost the match, and XB was torn to shreds by netizens. After that disaster, he left the pro scene and devoted himself to Apocalypse. In the previous timeline, he and Zhou Ning had even teamed up in the arena for a while.
Though his reflexes were slow and his humor a bit much, XB was actually quite knowledgeable when it came to games.
Reading the post of a former acquaintance from the perspective of an NPC was oddly surreal.
Without hesitation, Zhou Ning clicked on the thread.
XB: "What's up, folks! It's your old pal XB. Super excited to see y'all in Apocalypse! Starting today, I'm hanging up my pro player title to join you in this brave new world. By now, I'm sure everyone's seen Episode 2 of the miniseries. My husband continued his badass streak from the first episode, taking down that invisible mutant freak. He absolutely showcased the power of the Ranged Gunslinger class."
Zhou Ning: …
Bro. Chill. You're scaring me.
He kept reading.
XB: "Enough chit-chat. Based on current intel, I'm gonna break down the pros and cons of each class."
He'd even uploaded a video analyzing class balance frame by frame.
video.mp4
After watching it, even Zhou Ning—who had lived the events—almost believed him.
XB: "In Episode 1, we saw at least three classes: Wayne Sturwell's Ranged Gunslinger, the cultists A, B, and C who seem to be melee warrior types, and cultist D with a ranged casting class—likely a mage. Notice at 17 minutes in, when A, B, and C all attempt to charge and stun Wayne. Their hands twitch upward—classic charge animation—but the charge range is probably limited to 25 yards. Wayne keeps his distance perfectly. The warriors can't do a thing. Also, look how he targets the monster first, then the mage, and finally the warriors. Clearly, in his mind, warriors are the least threatening—and he's proven right. In my opinion, the warrior class is sluggish, lacks mobility, and can't hit or catch anything. A total noob trap. Unless you've always dreamed of playing a tank, I don't recommend it."
XB: "Now, the mage class looks decent in terms of raw damage and seems to have some CC. But the cast time is an issue—it could be a liability in PvP."
XB: "Episode 2 introduced three more classes: Wayne's Ranged Gunslinger, Sherlock's Meteorologist, and monster Holwig Gai's Psionic class. The Meteorologist seems like a hybrid support-DPS type, great for girls. Not much data on Psionics yet, but they seem powerful. All things considered, Wayne's Ranged Gunslinger is likely the current meta pick—high damage, high mobility, and loads of potential. It's the class of the game's golden boy. Trust me—don't fight the patch. Go with the strong choice. That said, if you want to play something else, don't worry. Every patch has its turn. You never know what's gonna be OP next time!"
Honestly? The analysis seemed airtight.
Zhou Ning was floored.
Classic XB.
The analysis wasn't wrong—it was entirely wrong.
The class he trashed—warrior—was actually the strongest in the early game. It was the class of Leondro, the previous timeline's protagonist. Even XB himself had once swung a giant sword around like a maniac.
And the Ranged Gunslinger he hyped up? Still in its infancy—barely even a real class.
He should rename that post to "5 Minutes to a Swift Death in Apocalypse"...
The funniest part? Tons of players agreed with the nonsense in the thread. The official forum even pinned it as a featured post.
Zhou Ning: …
This game might be doomed.
Still, the post did give Zhou Ning an idea. He really did need to establish his own original class system soon. With the game's popularity skyrocketing, all he needed to do was present a polished, complete class—and the playerbase would swarm to it.
According to the game's internal standards, a full class system required at least six class specialties, two core buff skills, and over ten active skills.
His Ripple Breathing, Precision Machinery Crafting, Occultism, and Marksmanship Mastery could all qualify as class specialties. His Rapid Pursuit skill, which passively boosted combat ability, could count as a core buff.
What he lacked now were enough active skills.
But looking at it that way, he wasn't too far from completing the framework.
After closing the control panel, Zhou Ning washed up and headed to the Alchemy Tower to begin his daily routine.
By the next morning, the atmosphere at Vick University had changed completely.
After Sherlock left in the early hours, the police arrived to collect Holwig Gai's body and officially announced that the Alchemical Phantom case had been solved.
Because the incident involved supernatural forces, the students were buzzing with excitement. They were still gossiping non-stop. One of the main parties involved, Maggie's cuckolded ex, was so scared he nearly pissed himself—though he did have Holwig to thank for sparing his life.
As for the faculty, they were all breathing a sigh of relief.
An extraordinary monster hiding among the student body had been rooted out—that was definitely a good thing. Sure, a few people had died, but at least more lives had been saved.
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