Chapter 10: Extraordinary Awakening
2014-11-28
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
Two days passed. The slaughter in Cross Alley had settled down. Soren initially thought it would cause some commotion among the guards of Amber City, and he had even prepared for an escape, but he did not expect that they had no intention of caring about the lives or deaths in the slums. It wasn’t until Soren had lingered around the dock area for two days and raised his Thief Profession Level to 3 that he became aware of some events, and understood why the guard squad had completely ignored the escalating gang conflicts in the slums.
The reason was simple!
A more serious incident had occurred in Amber City.
Although the guard squad had done their utmost to suppress news of this major event, some details still leaked out one after another.
—“Someone was flayed alive!”
This message had been quietly circulating in the gray areas of the dock district. The victim was a poor porter; when the guards found him, there was only a bloody corpse left. This was not a simple flaying incident, as the skin removed was perfectly intact, without even a hint of damage, and it was placed in a conspicuous corner as if mocking the incompetence of the guard squad!
There are only two types of people in this world capable of such advanced flaying techniques.
One is a fallen believer of a Hell Evil God, and the other is a follower of Abyssal Demons. Those who learned of the news felt a sense of panic, especially the nobles who worked hard to put pressure on the guard squad, as the porter had been flayed while reporting in the noble district.
An Evil God believer or a Demon follower had infiltrated Amber City and was operating near the noble district!
The guard squad was now in chaos.
They were desperately searching for any trace of evidence, and they had no time to care about the lives or deaths in the slums.
Once this news spread,
many factions inside and outside the city became more cautious, especially those wandering in the gray areas of the dock district, who had clearly begun to limit their activities. Since a flaying incident occurred, things could not just end there; based on the understanding of the Dark Realm from the gray areas, those maniacs couldn’t just stop like that.
There would likely be more bloody incidents to come!
When Soren heard this news, his heart sank a little, and he realized something.
This was a sign that the chaotic era was about to arrive!
Before the Dawn of Gods war erupted, the first to attack were the Hell Demons, whose followers initiated bloody slaughters, among which flaying incidents were the most common. This was an ancient and evil ritual, representing that new souls had fallen into the ranks of chaotic evil, and it also meant that some kind of evil sacrificial ceremony affecting the entire Southern Duchy had begun. “Has the chain flaying incidents already started?”
Soren’s figure stood in the corner of the dock district, his expression unusually grave, and he murmured, “Amber City!”
“This should be the territory of the Southern Duchy.”
“Although it feels unfamiliar, it seems I’ve heard this name before. There must have been some major events in Amber City before the turmoil began!”
“Otherwise, so many cities wouldn’t leave such a distinct impression.”
“What exactly happened?”
Soren furrowed his brow and strained to recall, but unfortunately, there were still not enough clues; the major events back then were simply too many.
An Ancient Red Dragon even showed up!
Many people seemed to have gone mad trying to slay dragons, and no one cared about the happenings in a city in the Southern Duchy.
At that time, Soren was also busy in the northern plains, intent on finding a way to hunt that hill giant.
Slaying a dragon?
He wasn’t that naive.
But, with a Profession Level of 5 as a Thief, without any auxiliary classes or advanced skills, intending to independently hunt a hill giant was considered a bit crazy and extremely risky. After all, a hill giant had a Challenge Level of 10, meaning a team of adventurers with Profession Levels above 10 would only have a half chance of defeating it.
“The flaying events have begun.”
Soren glanced at the bustling traffic in the dock district and seemed to foresee the impending turmoil, murmuring, “It looks like I should visit the hidden treasure cave.”
Power.
This was the most important thing in an era of turmoil.
Because only power could ensure one’s survival, and only power could protect everything one cherishes!
The arrival of the Gods was imminent.
The age of the Saints had already begun!
Mortals had no right to interfere with the course of history, nor could anyone stop the arrival of this catastrophe. What tens of millions of players failed to do back then, Soren did not believe he could accomplish alone. All he could do was to accumulate more strength before the true chaotic era arrived, at least to ensure his self-preservation when faced with danger!
……………
Two days’ time.
It was enough for Soren to figure out the general location of the hidden treasure cave!
Almost every city had such a hidden treasure cave, said to be the work of a powerful Lich, seemingly intended for some conspiracy, but unfortunately, it had yet to be completed before its fall. Many had explored these treasure caves in the past and found many assorted items, including parts for crafting Lich bodies. However, what truly attracted Soren were the extraordinary equipments inside the cave; extraordinary equipments in this world were extremely rare, and the difficulty of obtaining them was higher than anyone imagined!
Treasure caves were the only places where one could obtain extraordinary equipments early on, and there was a certain chance of acquiring legendary items.
Since it was a location set up by a Lich, the clues must be related to the undead.
As long as he inquired about haunted places in the city and performed a simple elimination, he could find the location of the hidden treasure cave.
In his past life, such treasure caves had long been explored, and now there should be no one competing with Soren. However, since he couldn’t find trustworthy companions to act with him, he could only venture into the exploration alone. He only hoped that the Challenge Difficulty inside wouldn’t exceed Level 5; after all, there had been treasure caves with Challenge Difficulty above Level 8.
At that time, six teams of adventurers were wiped out, and only the last team managed to succeed, obtaining a Lich’s life box.
Unfortunately, it was already damaged!
After bustling around the dock area for two to three days, Soren’s Profession Level had risen to 3, and his attributes had also improved.
Name: Soren.
Race: Half-Elf.
Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 20, Constitution 15, Intelligence 18, Perception 15, Charisma 16.
Faction: Lawful Evil.
Profession: Level 10 Commoner / Level 3 Thief.
Health: 30/30.
Experience: 360, 120 points.
Skill Points: None.
Attribute Points: None.
Status: Normal.
Profession Skills — Stealth 78, Theft 35, Lockpicking 45, Traps 30.
Legendary Skill — Universal Skillful Hand.
Personal Specialty — Agile Left Hand, Photographic Memory.
Professional Specialty — Shadow Mastery.
……………
From Level 3 onward, the profession experience gained from picking locks as a Thief would drastically decrease.
Only some complex and advanced locks would yield profession experience, and the most basic alarm traps wouldn’t improve Thieves’ skills either. Locks that could initially provide dozens of experience points would now yield only a few. Therefore, Soren had no need to waste time on them, as after Level 5, it would be quite difficult for Thieves to gain any profession experience from lockpicking.
Every adventurer profession would have a noticeable improvement upon reaching Level 3!
For example, Wizards could gain a spellcasting specialty upon reaching Level 3, and could learn Second Tier Arcane Magic. Paladins could master the specialty for Judging Evil at Level 3, Druids could gain the Animal Sense specialty at Level 3, and so on. The biggest gain should be from Warriors, who could receive a ‘Resilience Awakening’ professional specialty, permanently increasing their health by 10 points and granting a 5% physical damage immunity.
This was a prerequisite for future legendary warriors to understand ‘Absolute Resilience’ and ‘Unyielding Tenacity’!
For other professionists.
The first professional specialty acquired by the Thief was quite ordinary; it was the most basic Shadow Mastery.
In this unique world, a person’s strength encompasses many aspects, including abilities afforded by their profession and abilities trained and understood personally. Just like the specialties possessed, personal specialties are exclusive abilities trained and comprehended by oneself, while professional specialties are abilities and skills shared by the majority of the same profession.
For example, Thieves.
Almost all Thieves above Level 3 possess the professional specialty of Shadow Mastery unless their personal attributes are too low to even grasp the most basic Shadow Mastery. Therefore, most other Thieves have the professional specialty of ‘Shadow Mastery’, but may not necessarily have the personal specialties of ‘Agile Left Hand’ and ‘Photographic Memory’.
“Shadow Mastery: Through long-term training and fighting, the Thief gradually senses the power of the shadows, a power that has gradually seeped into their bloodline, allowing them to hide better in the shadows. When a Thief stealths in shadows, their skill level increases by 5 points, and when attacking after leaving the shadows, they can additionally inflict 1 point of shadow damage.”
Once the profession reaches Level 5, they can become a Second Tier Adventurer.
At that time, the Thief can master a combat skill — ‘Shadow Assassination’! Currently, learning Shadow Mastery is a prerequisite for learning Shadow Assassination!
This stage brings a significant improvement for many professions, but Soren prefers to call it ‘Extraordinary Awakening’.
Because other professional specialties are similar.
“Resilience Awakening: Through long-term training and fighting, the bloodline power within a Warrior has gradually transcended that of ordinary people, making ordinary injuries difficult to pose a fatal threat to him! The Warrior permanently increases their own health by 10 points and gains a 5% physical damage immunity, alongside an additional +2 advantage when assessing abnormal states!”
Then there is the Paladin’s professional specialty.
“Judging Evil: The steadfast faith of the Paladin endures numerous trials; when encountering evil targets, he can always judge them easily, thereby avoiding being deceived and manipulated by evil targets. When a Paladin fights against enemies of the Evil Faction, he can beseech a thread of order divine power, a power that has seeped into their bloodline, and thus each successful hit on an evil enemy can inflict an additional point of holy damage.”
This is the prerequisite specialty for ‘Evil Breaking Strike’ and also the reason why so many Paladins remain alive in the world.
They have a keen intuition against evil!
Otherwise, this bunch of stubborn fools would have long been eliminated.
The differences in professional specialties are minor, as most awaken a certain extraordinary ability due to an increase in profession level; such specialties gradually strengthen as levels rise, and many professional specialties are crucial to mastering top-tier abilities in the Legendary Domain. For example, a Thief must grasp professional specialties above ‘Lord of Shadows’ to comprehend the combat skill ‘Shadow Step’.
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