"Let's go," said the man hiding behind the stone peak, his hands adorned with golden gauntlets, speaking slowly. He gave Alexander a deep look and then left without any hesitation, leaving behind a dumbfounded female swordfighter.
"Master, we're... we're just leaving?" She was almost blinded by all the glimmering equipment she saw. She had even spotted a piece of equipment glowing green—a legendary item that's rarer than purple ones. She was still donning standard white equipment, while others had legendary gear!
Considering her master's skills, acquiring such an item wouldn't be a great challenge. So, why leave?
The man with the golden gauntlets, as if sensing her confusion, paused and said, "Yun, you must understand. What makes god-level players strong is never just their equipment. With the same gear, if you can tap into 100% of its power, they could achieve 500% or even more."
"Uh... I understand." Yun nodded, although she didn't quite get it. Perhaps this was the gulf between her and her master. Although she was considered the successor to the Fist Sect within the Star Club, she knew her skills were, at best, a fraction of her master's.
"But... Master, shouldn't you duel with such experts?" Her master, Fist King of Star—Li Qing, was known as a duel fanatic. Why was he acting so differently today?
Li Qing paused, glanced at his golden gauntlets—a precious gift since his birth—and shook his head. "Now is not the time for us to meet."
"Not the time to meet? Oh, alright." Yun obediently nodded, still puzzled but deeply awed.
It was indeed strange; how could a skeleton have such exquisite combat skills? The techniques displayed while soloing a level 20 hidden boss were so staggering that her scalp tingled. Even with her current abilities, she couldn't reach such heights.
What in the world had the game designers unleashed? A freak of nature?
"By the way, Master, was that blood skeleton a hidden boss? Were we witnessing a fight between two hidden bosses just now?"
Li Qing gave a mysterious smile and said, "In time, you will understand."
Seeing her master being so cryptic, Yun chose to remain silent.
As they stepped out, they encountered Thor and senior players from his guild. With guild tokens still not in the game, making for no guild chat channel, Thor looked somewhat fatigued from managing things.
However, his fatigue vanished upon seeing Li Qing and Yun, and he greeted them with a smile.
"Respected Mr. Li Qing, have you finished the boss battle?"
Li Qing nodded. "You all can disperse now. I'll remember today's favor." Without further ado, Li Qing left with Yun.
Although his attitude could be deemed quite rude, excitement surged over Thor's face. Mr. Li Qing owed him a favor—a favor that would be extremely significant when the guild wars began, providing his guild with considerable leverage.
However, he was left with a burning question. "Who were Li Qing and Yun actually guarding for the boss fight?"
Intrigued, he was itching to dive in and find out. Whoever merited protection from the great Li Qing must be no ordinary person.
...
"Mr. Skeleton, you are absolutely amazing. My God, I admire you so much," Sofia exclaimed, her graceful body trembling slightly in evident excitement.
"My heavens, how did you dodge those huge rocks while retreating and rotating your spear? Absolutely dashing!"
"And that horse...My God, it's so handsome!"
"And all these pieces of equipment..." Sofia continued on, unable to stop herself. However, she began to feel somewhat awkward towards the end.
Alexander pointed to the ground, signaling her to hurry and pick up the items before they vanished.
Sadly, Sofia's interpretation once again completely overturned Alexander's expectations.
"Oh, it's fine. I'm just a little curious, not really wanting these items," Sofia said, taking a step back with a look of fear that Alexander might misunderstand.
Left with no other choice, Alexander picked up the items himself for inspection before tossing them to Sofia. But before doing so, he glanced at the equipment.
[Cloak of Misfortune]
Quality: Elite
Level: 15
Defense: 15-30
Set Effects: Wearing the full set of Misfortune—cloak, gloves, staff, helmet, and boots—activates +100 health, +50 attack, +50 spell damage, and the Cursed Technique ability.
[Boots of Misfortune]
Quality: Elite
Level: 15
Defense: 10-10
Movement Speed +10%
Set Effects: Same as above.
[Boots of Speed]
Quality: Elite
Level: 15
Movement Speed +50%
...
These three blue-tier items didn't excite Alexander much, especially since two of them were in overlapping equipment slots. However, he did find a green gem that brought a bit of pleasant surprise.
[Heart of Misfortune]
Quality: Legendary
Features: No level or class restrictions.
Overview: Embed in a weapon to acquire the Misfortune attribute, reducing the enemy's attack and defense by 10%.
"Good stuff. I wonder if my weapon can use it?"
However, his current weapon had no available slots for gems. After handing the Heart of Misfortune to Sofia, Alexander gestured to her to keep it safe. Whether she understood or not, she kept nodding vigorously, so Alexander left it to fate.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
What followed were more mundane items—various potions and gold coins. However, it was an inconspicuous piece of parchment that caught his attention.
[Necromancer's Parchment]
Overview: Special Item
Upon use, you can accept the hidden class quest for becoming a Necromancer.
"Sofia is finally about to get stronger," Alexander mused with a slight smile. For Undead players at level 10, there are only two available professions—Undead Summoner and Undead Mage—whose attributes aren't that different from other classes.
Hidden classes, however, offer double the attribute boosts per level, making them twice as strong as regular classes. What's more, the Necromancer is a hybrid between the Undead Summoner and the Undead Mage. This parchment alone would be worth at least fifty million US dollars.
"Wow! Is this for me?" Sofia took the parchment, her entire being bursting with excitement. "Should I... use it?"
Alexander nodded, not uttering a word. It was about time this mascot-like Sofia got a power boost. Otherwise, if something happened to her, the loss would be far greater than the gain.
"Wow, I got a quest, and there are hidden rewards too—two five-star gem slots and a classless skill book!"
Two five-star gem slots? Alexander felt a jolt of excitement. This was some good fortune.
It was time to complete the quest promptly. Mounting his skeletal steed, he extended a hand to a blushing Sofia.
"Um... are you inviting me to ride?" Sofia lowered her gaze, feeling both bashful and eager.
"Riding on the same horse with Mr. Skeleton, does that mean I'll have to hold..." Her thoughts wandered, causing her to flush even more deeply.
Fearful of making Alexander think she was wasting time, she suppressed her shyness and lightly reached for his hand. A chill washed over her as she touched the skeletal hand.
In the next instant...
"Ah!"
Sofia let out a startled cry as she felt herself being lifted effortlessly onto the horse. The scenery around her blurred as they rode at speed. Her raven-black hair covered her delicate face before being swept away by the wind.
Clinging to Alexander out of fright, she leaned into his back, her heart pounding uncontrollably.
And so, a skeleton, a woman, and a horse galloped through the stone woods, making their way toward the triggering point of the class-change quest in the Level 25 wilderness, the Gloomy Swamp.
As they journeyed, guild members who had come to investigate the situation caught sight of them, immediately erupting into exclamations.
"Holy crap! What did I just see? Am I hallucinating? Why is there a skeleton riding a horse, and with a beauty, no less?" The player rubbed his eyes, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Such an awe-inspiring skeletal warhorse. Someone already has a mount at this stage? I'm a knight and I can't even get a donkey, but someone already has this kind of mount?"
"Dang, a skeleton riding with a beauty... this is too thrilling! Am I actually worse off than a skeleton?" A crowd of players stared at the retreating silhouette of Alexander on his skeletal steed, their eyes filled with envy and resentment.
"Skeletal warhorse? Blood Skeleton? Undead female player?" Thor narrowed his eyes, pondering for a while. "Could it be that the top-ranking Undead player is being guarded by the great Li Qing?"
Shaking his head, Sol dismissed the thought. "Unlikely. Anyone who can top the leaderboard must have a massive backing. How could they be a solo player?"
...
"Shh!" Alexander positioned a blood-red spear on the left flank of his skeletal steed, charging through the winds until they burst out of the stone wood and into the Gloomy Swamp, meeting a group of Level 20 swamp undead.
The warhorse's skill activated—Leap!
"Whoosh..."
With a rear kick from its hind legs, the warhorse propelled them skyward, sending leaves scattering. Alexander, spear in hand, pierced through the hearts of the swamp undead at a descending velocity, enhanced by absolute charge.
A charge speed bonus of 150%, multiplied by 1.5.
The speed of descent added another 30%, making it 1.8.
Critical strike on vital organs, 3.8 times the damage.
Annihilation trait, 30% critical damage.
40% damage boost for using the spear on horseback.
All these bonuses compounded to a staggering 4.5 times the damage.
"-2795!"
"-2178!"
"–1179!"
"Killing a Level 20 Swamp Undead grants 150 experience points, evolution points, over-level killing rewards an additional 50 experience points, evolution points."
"Killing a Level 20 Swamp Undead grants 150 experience points, evolution points, over-level killing rewards an additional 50 experience points, evolution points."
"Killing a Level 20 Swamp Undead grants 150 experience points, evolution points, over-level killing rewards an additional 50 experience points, evolution points."
In a split second, the spear pierced through three Swamp Undead creatures, each with only 1000 hit points. Their bodies skewered together, Alexander twirled his blood-red spear in intricate maneuvers—jabbing, lifting, and parrying.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
Without the charging speed, the Swamp Undead had higher defense, so the damage dropped dramatically.
"-780."
"-768."
"-764."
Nevertheless, Alexander was undeterred. With a 40% damage boost while on horseback, dispatching 1000-hitpoint Swamp Undead was merely a two-strike affair.
【Swamp Undead】
Race: Undead
Level: 20
Hit Points: 1000
Attack: 90–137
Defense: 40–50
Skills: Swamp Poison Mist, Wading
Talent: Poison Infusion
Overview: Humans who died in the Gloomy Swamp with deep resentment come back to life to harbor animosity against the human race. They roam the edges of the swamp, attempting to kill any adventuring humans.
"The skills and talents aren't that great; this is hardly an ideal place to grind levels," thought Alexander. Without any lingering attachment, he dispatched the group of Swamp Undead, accumulating around 5000 evolution points, before continuing northward.
"Mr. Skeleton, you're so amazing! This horse-riding experience is just so thrilling!" Sofia, who was embracing Alexander, sat atop the skeletal steed. She patted her chest as her heart pounded excitedly.
Leaning against the blood-red cloak on Alexander's back, Sofia watched as he effortlessly vanquished the monsters along the way, filling her with a sense of security.
She felt like a celestial favorite, favored by heaven. How else could she have summoned such a god-level skeleton like Mr. Skeleton?
The only downside was that Mr. Skeleton was rather hard-bodied. The jostling ride on the speeding steed left her chest sore…
As Sofia's thoughts meandered, Alexander suddenly stopped before a section of the swamp. A pungent swamp gas wafted around them. Although Alexander no longer had a nose, his sense of smell remained intact.
Red flames flared in his eyes as he carefully surveyed the surroundings, his senses on high alert. He had a feeling that something lurked in the misty swamp gas, silently watching him.
"Find the mission's target point," Alexander signaled with his hand, using gestures to communicate his intention to Sofia.
She was still lost in her daydreams and hadn't realized he was trying to get her attention. It wasn't until Alexander shook his cloak that she snapped back to reality. Remembering her recent woolgathering, her face flushed as red as a ripe apple.
"Oh, Mr. Skeleton, head that way. There's an Undead Altar over there, and Necromancer Natalie is located there," Sofia finally understood Alexander's intention and replied in a more attuned manner this time.
However, Alexander didn't move forward immediately. Instead, he paused to upgrade his skills.
Since a Necromancer was a hidden class, the quest to change jobs was naturally much harder than for common classes. Just half an hour ago, he had swept through the Swamp Undead and gained another 14,856 evolution points.
Now, with the 400 enhancement points he had obtained from the Mountain Troll, he could attempt a skill breakthrough. He was keen to see what changes would occur and how it might bolster his capabilities for this quest.
It would add an extra layer of insurance, so to speak. Moreover, he was genuinely excited about the prospect of a skill breakthrough. After all, he'd never encountered such a phenomenon in his previous gaming experiences.