Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Inside Ye Kong’s backpack, there were three new items. They were “Skill Book – Interrupt,” “Honorary Token – Thors’ Proof of Honor,” and a different skill book – “Skill Book – Ground Slam”!
The first two items were rewards from the Super Grade story event, and the last skill book was the system reward for being the first to complete a Super Grade story event.
“I actually got ‘Interrupt’ and ‘Ground Slam’!”
Ye Kong’s face was filled with joy. These two skills were the signature skills of the Swordsman class. Under normal circumstances, only Instance Dungeons above level 30 had a chance of dropping the skill book for “Interrupt,” and the drop rate was exceedingly low!
Interrupt (not upgradeable): Block one attack from an enemy in front of the user. Requires the use of one Soul Essence. The cooldown time is 30 seconds.
The ability to block an attack!
This was an incredibly practical skill, and if it was used wisely, it would yield remarkable results!
Character Class Skills capable of blocking attacks were very rare, and the huge demand from players had made the price of these skills skyrocket. However, even if people were willing to pay, nobody was selling them, because the large guilds and top tier teams would keep these skill books for themselves if they dropped, or use them as a “bargaining chip” in important trades.
Now that Ye Kong had gotten his hands on the “Interrupt” skill before level 30, it would be a huge boon to his future development!
Even then, the “Ground Slam” was more valuable than “Interrupt”!
Ground Slam (LV1): Raise your sword and slam it into the ground. This will result in damage equal to your Attack x130% to all enemies within a four-yard radius. If the player uses this skill in the air (at least three yards above the ground), the damage dealt by the skill is increased from 130% to 200%, and mobs in the radius will be Dazed for two seconds. This skill requires the use of one Soul Essence. The cooldown time is 60 seconds.
Note: Players will still receive Fall Damage. Please pay attention to the height of your fall and your remaining HP.
It was an Area of Effect (AOE) damage skill!
When cast in the air, it even provided extra bonuses!
This skill was the best AOE option available to the Swordsman!
In his past life, “Ground Slam” was an item found in the level 50 Instance Dungeon – Eternal Thundering Abyss. It only dropped from the Nightmare Grade difficulty instance dungeon boss, and there was only a mere 5% chance of it dropping the skill book for “Ground Slam”!
It was so rare for “Ground Slam” skill books to drop that nobody could get ahold of one. It rarely ever appeared on the market, and even when it did, the selling price was so exorbitantly high that a regular player could never afford it!
In his past life, in order to acquire the “Ground Slam” skill, Ye Kong had taken up many PK quests (objective was to kill players from enemy guilds) from the Ethereal Mirage Guild. He even delayed his leveling progress to save up enough contribution points to redeem a “Ground Slam” skill book.
Back then, Ye Kong was already a Nyx Swordsman, but even he had such a hard time getting the “Ground Slam” skill book. One can clearly see, then, how precious and strong this skill was!
“It’s still the early stages of the game, and even the earliest level five instance dungeons aren’t open yet, so the level 50 instance dungeons are out of the question! This is the only copy of the ‘Ground Slam’ skill book in the entire Demon Realm right now, and if not for the system announcement reward, I never would’ve gotten my hands on it!
“Even if other Swordsman players manage to complete a Super Grade story event now, because they’re not the first to complete one, they won’t receive this skill!”
Ye Kong excitedly took out the skill books and decided to learn the skills right away.
The very next moment, the skills “Ground Slam” and “Interrupt” were added to his Character Overview Window.
In the world of “Demon Realm,” the only way for players to learn new Character Class Skills was by reading the corresponding skill book, or by bumping into wandering special NPCs and receiving their skill set.
However, the latter event was as rare as hitting the lottery. Out of ten million players, there might not even be a single player lucky enough to meet those NPCs.
“With these two key skills, I’m much more confident about what I’m going to do next.”
Ye Kong exhaled deeply, then looked in a certain direction.
“Now that the Stygian Night Invasion of Qingmu Town is over, the next event should be the Luna Lake ‘Disaster Incident.’ If I can get some decent results during this event…
“When the main event, the Stygian Labyrinth, finally opens, I can carry out ‘that plan’!”
It could be said that Ye Kong knew the upcoming Yggdmillennia story events like the back of his hand, and he wouldn’t make a single mistake!
It was also because of his knowledge that Ye Kong decided to “turn traitor,” abandoning the Stygian Night Kingdom story events and jumping back onto the Yggdmillennia plotline. After all, Ye Kong was a Yggdmillennia player in his past life, so he could only make full use of his advantages by staying in Yggdmillennia!
Ye Kong also knew a little about the story events in the Stygian Night Kingdom, but he had far more detailed knowledge of those in Yggdmillennia. In other words, Ye Kong had strong roots in Yggdmillennia. If he had moved to the Stygian Night Kingdom, he would have deliberately sold himself short. It would have been a foolish maneuver!
From the very beginning, Ye Kong had no intention of defecting to the Stygian Night Kingdom.
Ye Kong’s motive for looking up the Blind Sect was to simply gather some benefits. He didn’t mind losing some reputation with the Horticultural Church as long as his reputation with the Starry Duchy stayed intact. This way, he still had the option of going to Yanan Town to develop himself, and would in any case still be in Yggdmillennia.
He didn’t expect what fate had in store for him.
The entire story event, starting from the assassination of Pulitzer, was heading toward a dead-end for him. Fortunately, Ye Kong had managed to grab hold of a fleeting lifeline and broke through all the obstacles in his way to finally taste the fruit of victory.
“I should go.”
Ye Kong glanced into his backpack. The remaining Honorary Token – Thors’ Proof of Honor, was the reward for the Super Grade story event, and also a token for the “Clean-up Quest” (Thors’ plan to cleanse Qingmu Town).
However, because nobody in his past life had completed the spring water quest, nobody had received the “Hero of the Counterattack” story event or Thors’ Proof of Honor. As such, there was no information available on the “Clean-up Quest,” and Ye Kong could only guess about its contents.
Thankfully, there was still some time left before Thors returned to cleanse Qingmu Town, so he didn’t need to worry about that story event for now.
Ye Kong got his bearings, then headed to Qingmu Town’s south entrance.
On the way there, Ye Kong chose the less-traveled roads, trying his best to avoid contact with other players.
After all, Ye Kong had a LV3 tag above his head, and at this stage in the game, it would draw far too much attention!
This was especially true after the “Stygian Night Invasion” had started early, as many of the guild players outside the city had suffered heavy casualties.
Even some of the elite players in those guilds had been close to reaching level two, but faced with the Stygian Army’s encirclement, they met a tragic end, and were beaten back down to their starting level…
Conversely, the regular players who had stayed in the city managed to avoid the brunt of the invasion.
The current situation was very different from what it had been in his past life. Most of the players in Qingmu Town were at level zero or one, though a few exceptional elite players had survived and been promoted to level two (by killing a lot of Stygian mobs). As for level three players…
Besides Ye Kong, there wasn’t a single one!
Whoosh!
A black shadow weaved through the town at extreme speeds. He was moving so quickly that ordinary players already lost track of him before they even realized he was there. They thought it was just a light gust of wind blowing past…
Not long after, Ye Kong snuck out of Qingmu Town and rushed through the now desolate Eastern Plains.
Thanks to his fast speed, it only took Ye Kong a short time to arrive at his target destination—
The Dark Mist Forest!
“I’m here!”
Ye Kong’s eyes grew focused, because he had found…
A Forest Watchman!