Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“This is just the thing I’ve been looking for.”
A handsome youth dressed as a hunter said apologetically to Ye Kong, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t hand this over to you.”
Ye Kong couldn’t hold back his surprise.
The youth had appeared too suddenly. It was like he had appeared out of thin air, and there hadn’t been a single trace of him before he showed up.
For this reason, Ye Kong became gravely serious, and his eyes grew hard—
“When did this guy get so close to me?
“I didn’t detect anything at all!”
It’s important to remember that Ye Kong had the Emblem of Potential equipped, and had a special bonus of Sense +3. Even a level seven Assassin wouldn’t be able to evade his perception!
Once anything came within five yards of him, with his perception ability and the Sense +3 attribute—
He could perceive a level seven Assassin hiding in Stealth as clearly as he could perceive an ordinary player!
(Note: Aura Perception is linked to a player’s Dexterity, while Mental Perception is related to Intelligence. The combination of these two abilities make up the player’s “Perception Ability.”)
Furthermore, at present, no player had been promoted to level five yet.
Currently, the highest level a player had attained so far was level four, the same as Ye Kong.
As such, there was no player in the world who could avoid Ye Kong’s perception!
Therefore…
This newcomer had to be an NPC!
And he must be an incredibly strong NPC!
After all, Ye Kong couldn’t see the youth’s “personal information.” Obviously, the young hunter had used some sort of special method to hide his information!
At this point, Ye Kong was already alert and guarded. Still, he decided to try and take control of the encounter by making the first move. “Hey mister, I saw that box first. Aren’t you being unreasonable by swooping in and snatching it away from me?
When he asked this, Ye Kong was on full alert, prepared for any sudden moves the youth might make. Even so…
He didn’t think the youth would attack him.
As Ye Kong expected, the young hunter simply shook his head and replied, “No, I ‘set my eyes’ on this box long before you did. Since a very long time ago, from a time even before you were born, I’ve had my eyes on this box.
“The only problem was that until now, I couldn’t get ahold of it.”
Ye Kong’s appraisal of the young hunter was right on the mark; he wasn’t someone who easily resorted to violence. Otherwise, from the very beginning, the youth could’ve launched a sneak attack on Ye Kong, instead of talking to him and revealing his presence.
However, the things the young hunter said were very unusual, and Ye Kong was unable to wrap his head around it all.
“You ‘saw’ it a long time ago?”
When Ye Kong heard what the young hunter said, he was stunned, unable to decipher what the hunter meant.
To this, the young hunter offered no further clarification, instead deliberately changing the topic. “Of course, I’m very grateful for your ‘assistance.’ Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to get ahold of this box.
“Thus, I can offer you a small compensation as thanks.”
Saying this, the young hunter stretched out a hand, and a burst of green light gathered in his palm, condensing into a book—
“This is my skill. I believe someone like you will find it useful.”
Seeing this, Ye Kong’s eyelids twitched, and he thought to himself, “Skill Transference?!”
As mentioned previously, aside from reading skill books, the only way to acquire new skills was to find a special NPC and gain their trust!
The most unique characteristic of special NPCs was their ability to condense their own “skills” into the form of a skill book. This was known as “Skill Transference. They could then give this skill book to a player, which was equivalent to them “teaching” the player the skill!
Special NPCs were extremely rare, and each one had formidable strength. It definitely wasn’t easy for players to try and gain their trust.
Most importantly, the skills special NPCs granted were all “unobtainable”—It was a skill only known by that particular NPC.
To put it simply, they would only perform their “Skill Transference” once, and after a player had received the skill, they would never teach it to anyone else again—In every sense of the word, it was a one-of-a-kind skill!
“I’ve struck it big this time!”
Ye Kong didn’t dare to hesitate, and immediately reached out his hand. As he touched the book, it morphed back into a green light, automatically assimilating itself into his body.
System Notification: Congratulations, you have received the passive Innate Skill – Ghost Walk.
Ghost Walk: When you activate the “Aura Suppression” skill, you gain the ability to move around freely. However, doing so will remove the “visual” concealment effect, while maintaining all other cover effects.
“A passive innate skill?!”
Ye Kong’s excitement caused his heart to skip a beat. He never would have expected the youth’s reward to be a passive innate skill book!
Each first character class started with three innate skills—one active skill, and two passive skills. To acquire more innate skills, players had to undergo a job change or job advancement, or like Ye Kong had just done—
Receive one as a gift from a special NPC!
From this, it should be clear that when it came to importance, innate skills outstripped regular skills!
Most critically, the passive innate skill Ye Kong had received, Ghost Walk, had the skill effect of “empowering” another of his innate skills, which also happened to be his only active innate skill—Aura Suppression!
Compared to Stealth, Aura Suppression’s greatest drawback was that the user had to remain stationary!
However, because of “Ghost Walk,” Ye Kong could use Aura Suppression while moving around. Even though he’d lose the “visual” concealment effect, he’d retain all his other concealment effects. Moreover, Ye Kong was a top-tier Swordsman player, so it wasn’t a big deal for him to lose the ability to hide from sight!
“With this gift, we should be ‘even’ now,” the young hunter said with a light smile. However, the smile only lasted a few seconds, as in the next moment, he softly exclaimed in surprise—
“Huh?”
The young hunter drew closer to Ye Kong and made an unexpected request: “You seem to be carrying a treasure related to the ‘forest’ on you. I wonder if you could give it to me?”
“A treasure related to the ‘forest’?”
Ye Kong’s mind went blank for a moment. Then, he recalled the Forest Crystal Core in his backpack, which fit the description of what the hunter was asking for.
Did Ye Kong have to give it to him?
Ye Kong was now faced with a choice. One should know that the Forest Crystal Core was extremely valuable, especially in the early stages of the game. Aside from the region first reward, there was no other way to get a piece of enchanting material at this point in the game!
And it was even a high-grade enchanting material!
Currently, Ye Kong was at level four, and wasn’t too far off from level five. When he reached level five, he could look for a regular blacksmith (an NPC not affiliated with the Horticultural Church) in Qingmu Town, and, using his reputation level (Friendly with the Starry Duchy in addition to the “Glory” special bonus), he could quickly craft an enchanted weapon!
Who could even imagine owning an enchanted weapon in the early stages of the game?
Even a Platinum Grade weapon couldn’t match the power of an enchanted Black Iron weapon!
Platinum Equipment referred to Silver Equipment that had “maxed out” its potential. Under ordinary circumstances, only 10% of the Silver Equipment dropped by mobs would be Platinum Grade, while the remaining 90% would be Silver Grade.
A piece of Platinum Grade equipment gave attributes that were 20% higher than those of Silver Grade equipment, but it still wouldn’t be as good as an enchanted weapon!
The power of enchantment effects was apparent!
Handing over the Forest Crystal Core would mean that Ye Kong would lose an enchanted weapon…
As such…
Ye Kong had to take a few seconds to consider his options before making up his mind—
“As you wish, Sir Hunter.”