Chapter 7: Class Advancement

"No one dies here!"

Wanzhu Liu shouted, glaring at the archers standing on the staircase. "Lower your bows!"

The archers exchanged glances and slowly released their bowstrings.

Wanzhu Liu then turned his gaze toward "Yan San." Wearing a demon mask, his expression remained hidden from everyone.

"We'll let it slide this time."

Yan Qing felt a bit strange. Based on his previous impression, Wanzhu Liu did not seem like someone who would be so easy to talk to. However, he didn't dwell on it. With only a third of his health remaining, he hurried to a corner to consume a "Blood Recovery Pill" and a "Roasted Chicken." On his screen, he watched as "Yan San" clutched the roasted chicken and devoured it while turning his back to the others.

The underground arena fell silent. The archers seized the moment to rest; they had fired nearly ten rounds in succession, and even though the Hundred Guard Cavalry were all elites, their arms were undoubtedly sore and fatigued.

While Yan Qing pretended to wander around, picking up dropped loot, he caught sight of Wanzhu Liu walking toward a corner of the arena to open a treasure chest placed there.

"One thousand spirit jades, five bottles of blood recovery pills, and three refined steel ingots."

Wanzhu Liu counted the items in the chest before closing it. He turned to see "Yan San" watching him and said, "Every time a secret realm is re-entered, everything inside reappears, including the demons and the treasure chests. Each chest contains the same items, so if anyone has sticky fingers, they will be caught immediately."

It seems the treasure chests in the dungeon are their most important haul, Yan Qing thought. Still, the drops were the real prize; it didn't matter if he missed out on the chest contents.

After resting, they continued their advance and arrived at a large underground hall. The hall was filled with treasure chests overflowing with jewelry, gold, and silver. Amidst this sea of wealth sat a large bed.

Before entering the hall, Wanzhu Liu ordered everyone to draw their bows and aim at the left side of the bed. He then swapped to an iron shield himself before stepping into the hall.

The moment Wanzhu Liu crossed the threshold, a perplexed voice came from the bed:

"To think you'd find this place... You lot are truly unlucky."

A middle-aged man with a rather amiable appearance climbed out from the left side of the large bed. If it weren't for the name "Zhen San Shan · Zheng Shan" floating above his head, one would never guess that this seemingly weary and ordinary man was the final boss.

*Whoosh!*

At that exact moment, the Hundred Guard Cavalry fired their bows in unison. If Zheng Shan weren't a digitized monster, he would have been turned into a pincushion. Instead, he lost less than 10% of his health. He calmly drew two straight blades from the side of the bed, and then—

*Swish!*

He transformed into a blurred shadow, crossing a dozen steps in just a few breaths, and slammed both blades into the iron shield of Wanzhu Liu, who was at the front!

"Surround him!" Wanzhu Liu roared. Three soldiers with shields scattered to different directions and charged at Zheng Shan with their shields raised!

Zheng Shan continued to hack away at Wanzhu Liu’s shield with the precision of a slow torture, but because he was surrounded on all sides, he could not make any evasive maneuvers. The archery squad switched to spears, stabbing at Zheng Shan through the gaps.

"Yan San" had been holding a spear from the start, so he naturally joined the others in pummeling Zheng Shan. Zheng Shan’s health dropped rapidly. As it neared one-third, the archery squad suddenly retreated. Yan Qing was still confused when he saw Zheng Shan on the screen roar:

"Moon Ring!"

Zheng Shan spun around with his twin blades, and the chilling arc of light covered the space within three steps of him. Deep gouges were cut into the shields of Wanzhu Liu and the other soldiers, while "Yan San," the only one without a defensive formation, lost 50% of his health in an instant!

Yan Qing’s first reaction was: The people in this world have truly mastered the mechanics of the boss. They shouldn't be able to see the health bars (if they could, they would have noticed something wrong with Yan San), yet they were able to accurately judge the timing of the boss's skill.

His second reaction was: Wanzhu Liu never intended for him to make it out alive!

If "Yan San" hadn't been a digitized character, Zheng Shan’s skill would have certainly left him critically injured or dying!

Yan Qing’s mind raced. He controlled "Yan San" to retreat from the skirmish, leaning against the wall to look as if he were on the verge of death, then opened his personal inventory to quickly consume medicine. As expected, no one suspected anything; everyone assumed "Yan San" was finished and continued their frantic assault on Zheng Shan.

When Zheng Shan’s health was down to a sliver, Yan San immediately rushed forward and landed the killing blow with his spear!

"You have mastered 'Basic Spear Techniques,' currently level 8."
"Your Qi and Blood increased by 0.1."
"Your Spirit and Soul increased by 0.5."
"Your Dexterity increased by 0.5."
"You have reached level 10!"
"Congratulations to the player for reaching level 10. Would you like to perform your first job advancement? Note: Your profession is related to your gameplay experience and skill proficiency."

Yan Qing didn't hesitate and chose "Yes"!

Three boxes appeared on the screen, listing three optional professions:

"Spear Messenger"
"Attribute bonuses: Qi and Blood +5, Spirit and Soul +2, Dexterity +5"
"Thrust (White Trait): When the weapon is a polearm, attack speed +20%."
"Weakness Strike (Blue Trait): When using a polearm artifact, it is easier to strike enemy weaknesses; critical hit rate +15%."

/

"Defensive Messenger"
"Attribute bonuses: Qi and Blood +10, Spirit and Soul +2"
"Steadfast (White Trait): Shield defense +15."
"Counter-Defense (Blue Trait): After using a shield artifact, your next melee attack is guaranteed to be a critical hit."

/

"Battlefield Messenger"
"Attribute bonuses: Qi and Blood +4, Spirit and Soul +4, Dexterity +4"
"March (White Trait): Movement speed +25."
"Weapon Mastery (Blue Trait): You deal an additional 5 points of damage using any weapon artifact."

Among the three professions, the Shield Messenger and the Spear Messenger were both good, and "Yan San" had the highest proficiency in spear arts. However, there was one problem—they required artifacts of the corresponding weapon type to be effective.

If he obtained a different type of weapon artifact, the traits of these two professions would become useless.

In a normal game, one wouldn't need to worry about such things, as there would be player markets, dungeon guides, and even helpful players—if you shouted in the local channel that you lacked a weapon artifact, high-level players might just toss a decent one your way.

But in reality, one had to consider this. Even if "Yan San" could obtain artifacts, he would likely have no choice but to use whatever he could get his hands on!

Ultimately, why did all professions use "Messenger" as a suffix?

Because in "Messenger," players—or anyone, for that matter—do not possess innate supernatural abilities. Even if your Qi and Blood were like a mountain and your Spirit and Soul like the sea, even if you maxed out your attributes, you could only achieve what a human is capable of—such as shattering a mountain with a punch or memorizing millions of words in a second—but you could not breathe fire, soar through the sky, or bring the dead back to life.

For a Messenger to unleash various bizarre and miraculous abilities, they must rely on artifacts. Different artifacts have different effects; a Messenger can only activate the "command" within the artifact, compelling the heavens, the earth, and all things to submit to it.

To hold the command of faith and act in the name of the heavens is what it means to be a Messenger.

Conversely, a Messenger without an artifact is no different from an ordinary mortal.

Therefore, Yan Qing had to choose a profession that he could put to immediate use and secure his first artifact as soon as possible. Just then, through the small window on his screen, he saw a bright white glow emanating from Zheng Shan's corpse—a drop!

"Congratulations to the player for advancing to 'Battlefield Messenger'."
"You have gained Qi and Blood +4, Spirit and Soul +4, Dexterity +4!"
"You have unlocked Spirit Power, current Spirit Power: 0/20."

He watched as the outline of "Yan San" glowed with a crimson hue, and his wounds healed instantly. This was an unexpected bonus; if he had known, he wouldn't have wasted those blood potions earlier.

"You... you advanced to a Messenger?"

Not far away, Wanzhu Liu stared fixedly at "Yan San," his shocked voice echoing from beneath his demon mask.