**Chapter 116 One Blade**
2014-12-12
**Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)**
Everything happened in this one second!
When Soren’s figure vanished into thin air, the world before him turned gray and white; the sky was an eternal gray hue, and even the sunlight and moonlight bore the same color. This brief second felt short, as the scenery around Soren rapidly receded, his physical body being assimilated by shadows and temporarily transforming into that of a shadow creature (physical incorporeality). The surroundings distorted, and the dimensional passage opened by shadow travel was a portal to the shadow plane, an ability similar to spell-based teleportation, lasting no more than a second—not a true entry into the shadow plane.
In the next moment, he appeared behind the Elven Ranger.
The opponent’s shadow twisted grotesquely, a fierce shadow morphing into a distorted outline, eventually becoming Soren’s shadow, followed by the sudden appearance of a blurry outline covered in shadows.
The Elven Ranger wore a malicious smile on his face; regardless, his objective had been achieved. The Predators had obviously allocated some of their manpower to deal with Soren and Gloria, significantly reducing the danger he faced. As long as the Predators were held back by the three beside him, his potential to escape was greatly increased, especially since he was also the Demon Son of Fear. He even began to plan his escape route, his expression unable to change in time when suddenly his whole body stiffened, and the sharp blade pierced through his chest in an instant, impaling his heart, followed by a loud shout as the blade twisted violently.
“Die!”
Soren’s expression was ferocious as he twisted and turned the knife, the blade tearing through the opponent’s armor. Not only did it pierce the heart, it also tore a bloody hole in his chest. A crack appeared on the exquisitely crafted curved blade; the weapon could not withstand the sudden explosive power from Soren, showing signs of fracturing. The shadow behind him continued to twist. The Elven Ranger’s shadow overlapped with his, making the whole person appear gray and shadowy—only when he withdrew the curved blade did the shadow return to its original form, and the blurred visage gradually came into focus.
The Elven Ranger’s body fell straight to the ground; unexpectedly, he was directly taken down by Soren in one blade!
The Werewolf’s sinister grin froze on his face, and the other Predators displayed expressions of disbelief.
A flood of data surged forth:
“Activate Dark Vision!”
“Activate Shadow Hide!”
“Activate Shadow Travel!”
“Activate Shadow Assassination!”
“Shadow Hide successful! … Specialty [Avoid Line of Sight] activated! … Shadow Travel successful! … Activate interdimensional Shadow Leap ability! … Shadow Assassination successful! … You gain 9 points of shadow damage enhancement! … Activate Backstab! … You deal 121 points of lethal damage to the target! … Target is dead! …”
“Extract Soul Energy! …”
“You gain 3600 points of Killing Experience! …”
“Target is a Divine Being! …”
“Extract target’s divine power! … You gain 3 points of Divinity! …”
“Target possesses Fear Divine Power!”
“Extracting Fear Divine Power failed! … Divine rank storage failed! … Divine Profession storage failed! … You have no divine rank or divine domain to store Fear Divine Power! … Target’s Fear Divine Power transferred! …”
…
Behind the dense flow of jumping data was Soren’s data from that explosive moment:
“Thief profession leveled up to level 7.”
“Gained 25 (Agility 20 + (Intelligence 20 – 10) * 0.5) skill points, HP increased by 11 points (base HP 6 + (Constitution 20 – 10) * 0.5).”
…
The 11 HP gained from leveling up, albeit temporarily, alleviated his injuries; his hearing, although still temporarily muffled, began to restore his perception of the outside world. The fury and murderous intent in his heart were intensely strong, and he unhesitatingly poured the Killing Experience into it. The Elven Ranger before him had to die; such strong murderous intent even made his pupils turn blood-red due to the dilation of tiny blood vessels.
All skill points were allocated to evasion.
In an instant, Soren met the requirements to advance to Shadow Stalker and decided to advance without hesitation.
“Advance to Shadow Stalker!”
“Advancement Conditions: [Reflex Evasion] (achieved), [Flexible Movement] (achieved), 100 points of Stealth Skill (achieved), 50 points of Evasion Skill (achieved) …”
“You have successfully advanced to become a Shadow Stalker! …”
“Shadow Stalker ability enhancement activated! … You additionally expend 5000 points of Killing Experience! … Comprehend profession talent [Avoid Line of Sight]! … Stealth skill +15, Evade skill +20! … HP increased by 13 points (base HP 8 + (Constitution 20 – 10) * 0.5).”
“You gain one point of free attributes.”
“You have successfully advanced to a Third Tier profession! … Gain the chance for bloodline purification, additionally increase 1 specialty point! …”
…
Advancing to Shadow Stalker consumed over 13,000 points of Killing Experience; besides the additional 5000 points, he also needed to expend soul energy for leveling up. However, the power of the advanced profession was undoubtedly formidable. Soren lost one skill point distribution from being a Wanderer, but gained an extra 10 points of Stealth and 20 points of Evasion, while also mastering the most useful ability of the Shadow Stalker—[Avoid Line of Sight]!
“[Avoid Line of Sight] [Profession Talent]: Shadow Stalkers possess extraordinary shadow techniques, incomparable to other professionists using shadow abilities. As long as they are in the shadows, Shadow Stalkers can confuse the enemy’s line of sight with shadow energy, activating stealth skills in any situation (even in combat). Even while exposed to the enemy’s gaze, the Shadow Stalker can successfully vanish into the shadows and disappear from view.” (Can be activated a number of times equal to Shadow Stalker level per day. Level 1 means 1 time per day.)
The Stealth ability of Wanderers also has limitations.
You cannot directly disappear from the enemy’s sight; Stealth is a process of merging oneself into the shadows. This process involves the omnipresent shadow energy. Only two classes of advanced Wanderers can make someone seem to disappear in broad daylight, one is the Stealth Assassin mastering [Slip into Shadows], and the other is the Shadow Stalker mastering [Avoid Line of Sight].
The former directly disappears into the shadow plane, while the latter blinds your sight with shadow energy.
The Stealth Assassin is no longer in the material plane during that second of slipping into shadows. They temporarily enter the shadow plane and return, but when they come back, they are completely integrated into the shadow energy. The Shadow Stalker confuses your sight with shadow energy in that moment. Although you cannot see their existence, fundamentally the Shadow Stalker is still right before you. You can still attack them.
“Shadow Stalker profession leveled up to level 2.”
“Gained 25 (Agility 20 + (Intelligence 20 – 10) * 0.5) skill points, HP increased by 13 points (base HP 8 + (Constitution 20 – 10) * 0.5).”
“Advanced Profession Specialty Comprehended! …”
“You comprehend profession talent [Dark Vision]! … Half-Elf night vision effects stack! …”
“Wanderer’s total profession level is 9 (7th level Thief, 2nd level Shadow Stalker), you gain an additional specialty point! …”
…
A single level of Thief brought 11 points of HP increase, while two levels of Shadow Stalker brought 26 points of HP increase.
As an advanced combat profession, Shadow Stalkers possess powerful evasion abilities, improving the efficiency of evasion specialties. Additionally, their innate profession levels are 2 points higher than Wanderers, with Wanderers having a base HP of 6 and Shadow Stalkers having a base HP of 8, consistent with the base HP of most agility-based warriors. Specialties must be trained or acquired through specialty points; however, profession talents can be mastered directly.
Talent, as the name implies, refers to an innate ability! Many talent specialties do not require specialty points to master special abilities!
Talent specialties primarily come from advanced professions and innate bloodlines.
The total increase of 37 HP greatly returned Soren from a severely injured state, his sight fully restored, his ears still bleeding but gradually able to hear sounds, and the internal organs shaken by some supernatural sound wave forces quickly recovered. The heavily injured body that had burst from Vivian’s attack fully regained its combat strength. His gaze locked onto the Elven Ranger before him, and without hesitation, he leveled up the Shadow Stalker to level 2.
In a dual-class scenario, secondary professions only calculate half of the profession level.
With a level 7 Thief and a 2nd level advanced Shadow Stalker, Soren’s total Wanderer level is 9, and the 5th level Wizard counting half brings his total profession level to about level 12. Three profession levels grant an additional specialty point, entering the third tier at a total profession level above 10, with each advancement also granting an additional specialty point.
Soren outright abandoned other specialty improvements, including [Intuitive Evasion], [Master Reflex Evasion], [Summon Shadow], and other powerful abilities.
He invested all specialty points into the specialty of [Shadow Mastery]!
“Spending one specialty point! …”
“Profession specialty [Shadow Mastery] upgraded to [Shadow Control]! …”
“Spending one specialty point! …”
“Profession specialty [Shadow Control] upgraded to [Shadow Weaving]! …”
“Prerequisites met! … Stealth 150 (achieved), Shadow Weaving (achieved), Advanced Shadow Stalker (achieved) … You master the Shadow Stalker advancement ability [Shadow Travel]! …”
…
Soren leveled up three times!
He gave up the combat skills of Shadow Stalker, also forfeiting the valuable opportunity to master [Intuitive Evasion]. Even more so, he relinquished the additional quasi-spell ability to summon shadow life.
He almost abandoned the vast majority of core abilities just to master [Shadow Travel] early!
One Blade.
Soren, executing Shadow Travel, took down the Elven Ranger before him with one blade.
…
“[Intuitive Evasion] [Supernatural Specialty]: Your perception will predict all attacks against you, whether spell attacks or physical attacks; any attack directed at you will necessarily trigger a perception check. If the perception check passes, you will be able to anticipate all actions aimed at you, including all attacks, such as targeted spells. You will gain an additional perception-enhanced evasion ability.”
[Note: This supernatural specialty can stack with the supernatural talent of enhanced Sixth Sense.]
“[Shadow Travel] [Supernatural Ability]: You completely assimilate yourself into the shadows. During Shadow Travel, you transform into a shadow life form. In Shadow Travel status, any shadow within a distance of 100 meters can serve as a landing point for your interdimensional jump. This supernatural ability is akin to a blink teleport spell with a distance of 100 meters. It can only be activated when entering stealth state and into shadows, and this ability cannot jump across dimensions to places without shadows.]
[Note: Preceding ability of the legendary skill Shadow Step, can only be used once per day.]
… (To be continued ~^~)
