Somewhere inside the Dark Mist Forest...
Rustle, rustle...
Ye Kong was sprinting through the forest at high speeds, and as he ran, he opened his backpack and took out the skill book for "Dynamic Equilibrium."
This skill book was the system announcement reward for the "region first Illusory Realm exploration."
Dynamic Equilibrium: Improves the player's reaction time, allowing their body to move in sync with their thoughts. The player's natural instincts are also improved by a fixed amount.
Any other player would probably think the Dynamic Equilibrium skill was useless. Not only did it take up a skill slot, but it also didn't improve any active skill effects.
In the world of Demon Realm, first character classes only had 20 skill slots (innate skills didn't take up any slots). The exception to this was the Bard class, which had the passive innate skill "All-rounder's Talent. It increased the player's skill slot limit by +5, bringing their total number of skill slots to 25.
As slots were limited, players had to be smart about how they organized the skills in their skill slots. Generally speaking, melee classes would learn 9-12 active skills, and in their remaining skill slots, they would have passive skills that "improved their active skills."
For example, Warrior classes had a signature skill called "Whirlwind Slash," which was the skill the Qingmu soldier used to attack Ye Kong. This skill's effect dealt damage in a circular radius around the user.
Under most circumstances, Warriors chose to pair this skill with "Favorable Winds Technique." This was a passive skill, and its effect increased the damage and the effective radius of "Whirlwind Slash."
For melee classes, a large portion of their passive skills had effects that "improved the active skill." For this reason, melee classes planned their character around core active skills and matched them with corresponding passive skills to create a holistic system.
These types of preferred passive skills were also relatively cheap.
This was the situation with melee classes.
As for ranged classes, they took an opposite approach with their skill pairings—
They tended to use passive skills as their "core," pairing them with many active skills to construct an entirely different kind of holistic system.
This was because the passive skills of ranged classes generally didn't "improve active skills," but had powerful effects that "improved the player's character." For example, Intelligence-type classes had a very precious skill book that taught the skill "High-Speed Divine Words," which shortened the chanting time for casting spells!
In summary, the passive skills of ranged classes were very precious.
This was especially true for mages, who had far more active skills to choose from. They would generally use around 14-16 active skills, leaving them with only 4-6 skill slots, which they could then use for learning essential passive skills.
It was no exaggeration to say that because mages had a shortage of skill slots, finding a good core skill (passive) could bring their overall strength to the next level!
The ranged passive skills were far more valuable than melee passive skills.
And the skill book Ye Kong received, "Dynamic Equilibrium," just happened to be a melee passive skill book!
However, Ye Kong was a top-tier Swordsman, so he knew better than anyone the true value of "Dynamic Equilibrium." Coupled with his thinking ability, which was that of a top-tier Swordsman, this skill would bring out his fullest potential!
A player's physical ability was mainly divided into physical strength, instinct, and thinking.
Physical strength was determined by one's physical attributes, and it directly expressed a player's physical ability. However, players needed instinct and thinking in order to apply their physical strength. Ye Kong's thinking ability would already pass any test, but he was currently still lacking in terms of instinct.
After all, he had been reborn into this world, so his soul hadn't spent enough time integrating into this new body, and he hadn't had sufficient training to bring out this body's"'instincts." It was just like if a person suddenly changed a cog in a machine that had been running for many years—it would take some time for the machine to run smoothly again.
Fortunately, "Dynamic Equilibrium" saved him the trouble of going to such lengths, allowing him to utilize the advantage his instincts provided!
The combat instincts of a top-tier Swordsman!
.......
Soon after...
Ye Kong found his way back to the Gray Fog Village. Everything looked just the same as he left it, as though nothing had changed at all. The residents of the Gray Fog Village were still the same as well, with their impassive expressions.
The villagers chose to ignore Ye Kong's return to their village.
All the same, Ye Kong didn't bother with them. Instead, he got his bearings and headed over to Clement (the Gray Fog Village Chief) in a mad dash.
In a flash, Ye Kong found Clement, who hadn't moved since Ye Kong had left. Clement was facing the village exit, seemingly thinking about something, but the sound of Ye Kong's footsteps interrupted his musings—
"Oh! Brave explorer, you've finally returned!"
After welcoming Ye Kong, Clement quickly asked: "If you've returned here to me, you must have made some kind of discovery. Tell me, quickly, what clues did you find in the Dark Mist Forest?"
Ye Kong bowed forward slightly, and answered politely, "Mister Clement, sir, I used the Fog Ball you gave me in the central clearing of the Dark Mist Forest, and discovered a hidden Illusory Realm. Furthermore, the backdrop of that Illusory Realm...
"It was mankind's ancient city - Theus City!"
Saying this, Ye Kong immediately studied the Village Chief's face. As he expected, Clement's expression changed dramatically, and the man asked hurriedly, "Theus City? Aside from Theus City, did you discover anything else?"
Ye Kong hesitated for a moment before finally replying, "I also met with an incarnation of a certain god. The incarnation took what seemed to be a box. As for what actually happened there, because I was standing too far away, I couldn't make out the details."
"An incarnation? A box?!"
Clement muttered to himself, as though he had thought of something. Then, in the next moment, with an exceedingly solemn expression on his face, he bowed to Ye Kong. "Mister lacuna, thank you for providing me with this information. This news will prove to be extremely important to us!"
As he finished saying this, Clement removed a simple, unornamented ring from his finger, and placed it in Ye Kong's hands.
When he did so, Ye Kong received the sound of a notification—
System Notification: You have completed the Story Event - "Clement's Request"
You have received 500 points of experience.
You have received Clement's Ring.
You have received Gray Fog Water.
Then, Ye Kong looked at the equipment he had just received, which was in his backpack—
Clement's Ring (Pinky Ring Equipment - Unique)
Ring Attributes: Inventory Slot Limit +50
Level Requirement: None
Note: This piece of equipment does not take up a ring slot, and can be worn on the pinky finger.
"He actually gave me a 'pinky ring' equipment?"
Ye Kong raised his eyebrows as he looked at the equipment attributes. He seemed to have received a "space ring."
"Space ring" was a nickname players jokingly used to refer to the pinky ring, because the pinky ring's sole purpose was to increase the upper limit of players' inventory space.
In essence, the pinky ring was less like equipment, and more like a type of high-grade backpack.
In the world of Demon Realm, players could only carry two backpacks at one time. Aside from the newbie backpack the system provided, all other backpacks would cost players money to purchase, and even a starting grade backpack (with 10 slots) cost about eight Silver at the store.
Fortunately, potions and scrolls were also exorbitantly expensive in Demon Realm, and regular players couldn't afford to buy them. As such, they only needed to use their backpacks for storing materials, and since materials could be "stacked" into a single slot, players could stack a large amount of the same type of material.
Given that their backpacks didn't provide enough storage space, most regular players had to make sure to stash away any unneeded inventory in their "storehouse" before they left town.
Bag space was severely limited, but players had the option of waiting for the starting grade backpack's in-game currency price to drop, and buy one at the store (together with the newbie backpack, they would have 20 slots), which would basically meet their needs.
However, professional players frequently ran out of backpack space, even if they had two medium-grade backpacks (with 15 slots each).
This was because they were often in the wilderness doing PK or forming parties for instance dungeons, and would often find "loot," so they quickly found their backpack space lacking.
For these players, the "pinky ring" showed its value. Aside from being independent of the backpack system, each pinky ring also came with a lot of storage space. With this ring, a regular player wouldn't need to buy a second backpack!
Of course, it was practically impossible for a regular player to get their hands on one, and even if they got one by some stroke of luck, they would immediately sell it. Any kind of pinky ring was 10 times more valuable than a "premium-grade backpack"!
With the pinky ring equipped, Ye Kong didn't have to worry about running out of backpack space for the time being.
"Mister lacuna, we still have things to attend to, so I'll bid you farewell."
Clement said his goodbyes, then turned to wave to the other villagers. In response, all the villagers stood up and recited a prayer in unison.
In the vicinity of the Gray Fog Village, a dark, smoky mist immediately rose up, surrounding the village.
Except for Ye Kong, everything else was shrouded in the gray mist.
When the mist had dispersed, Ye Kong looked up and scanned the area, only to find that there was absolutely nothing left. Where would he even find a trace of the villagers?
Even the Gray Fog Village, which had been standing right in front of him, had completely vanished!
"As usual, the Gray Fog Sect is a group that does some crazy stuff..."
Ye Kong shook his head and was about to walk away, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks—
"How come even though I finished an Elite Grade story event, I didn't receive any reputation with the Gray Fog Sect?!
"Something's amiss here. Logically, I should have been awarded some reputation after I helped Clement. Unless, deep down, he had some reservations about me... No, could it be?!"
Ye Kong violently raised his head and turned around to look back at the old site of the Gray Fog Village, which was now completely empty—
"The Theus City Illusory Realm, Prometheus' Fire Spark, Pandora's box, Orion's incarnation, the investigation requested by the Gray Fog Sect, and the Badge of the Three Stars on the Forest Watchman—somehow, the Gray Fog Sect is connected to all this!
"In the Age of Turmoil, which is soon to come, Orion will meet with misfortune in the Elven Court. Then, most importantly...
"Artemis will start a catastrophic war."
After saying all this to himself, Ye Kong sucked in a deep breath and turned to leave, though his footsteps had noticeably grown heavier.
"It seems like the truth about this history...
"Is not as simple as it seems!"