Buzz!
Several cold flashes gleamed, and the black-robed elder let out a series of miserable screams.
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...
The black-robed elder was an undead mage, and his physical defense was inherently low. John's Assassin skills dealt terrifying damage.
His health plummeted instantly. He glared wide-eyed at John, full of resentment, before collapsing to the ground.
[You have slain a level 60 epic boss, Undead Sorcerer, and gained 1680 experience points.]
[Plunder talent activated: Spirit +50, Skill Points +10, Spell Crit +1. You have acquired the basic spell Dark Orb.]
[You have completed the advancement quest, successfully advancing to Tier 2 Wrath of the Gods Mage and Tier 2 Phantom Assassin.]
[Your level has increased: Spirit +4, Strength +3, Agility +2, Free Attribute Points +12, Skill Points +2.]
[Your level has increased: Spirit +4, Strength +3, Agility +2, Free Attribute Points +12, Skill Points +2.]
...
The continuous notifications displayed John had plundered a substantial number of attribute points from the black-robed elder and had gained a dark-type basic spell, Dark Orb.
He also successfully completed his second career advancement, raising his level directly to 35, just below Tracy, placing him second on the leaderboard.
With his breakthrough to Tier 2, he gained an additional 12 base attributes with each level-up.
Along with the hidden class bonuses, his strength saw another significant boost.
"Old man, was your advancement quest to kill an epic boss?" Tracy asked, astonished, noticing John's level increase.
John nodded and looked at the items dropped by the undead sorcerer.
There were 30 skill stones, 100 enhancement stones, 10 first-level magic stones, and a black diamond-shaped jade stone.
No equipment had dropped.
"A talent upgrade stone!" John exclaimed, his gaze fixed on the black diamond-shaped jade.
[Basic Talent Upgrade Stone: Increases the level of a talent. It can raise an A-level or lower talent by one level.]
John was thrilled. Talent upgrade stones were rare and precious, with only an extremely low chance of dropping from epic bosses and above.
Even in the later stages of the game, they were highly sought after and scarce.
The basic talent upgrade stone could elevate a talent below A-level by one tier.
John had three choices.
His B-level Wrath of the Gods talent, B-level Spell Combo talent, or B-level Physical Damage talent.
Since Wrath of the Gods talent could be leveled up by killing monsters, John decided not to waste the stone on it.
He also disregarded the B-level Physical Damage talent.
With his SSS-level Plunder talent, which allowed him to plunder attributes, he didn't lack physical damage.
Upgrading the B-level Spell Combo talent seemed the most beneficial.
If he could acquire a magic damage talent later, his mage's damage would be explosive.
Having made up his mind, John used the basic talent upgrade stone to enhance the Spell Combo talent.
[You have used the basic talent upgrade stone. Spell Combo talent has been upgraded to A-level.]
[Spell Combo: A-level talent, 60% chance to trigger a combo when casting spells.]
The A-level Spell Combo increased the trigger chance by 10%, further boosting John's power.
"Old man, add me as a friend. I want to level up with you in the future," Tracy approached, looking at John expectantly.
"Alright," John agreed, and they exchanged friend requests.
Tracy was overjoyed. Meeting John, she had leveled up five times in less than half a day and had also acquired a fine staff.
She yawned and, somewhat reluctantly, said, "Old man, it's getting late. I need to log off."
"Wait," John stopped her and took out the Life-Sustaining Pill, saying, "I remember the old patriarch of your family is severely injured and nearly at the end of his life. This Life-Sustaining Pill can heal his wounds and extend his life."
Tracy instinctively took the Life-Sustaining Pill, puzzled. "Old man, this is an in-game item."
She had heard of some martial arts fanatics who isolated themselves for training and ended up losing their minds. Could playing games also make someone lose their mind?
John explained, "Attributes from the world of Gods can be reflected in the real world. Healing wounds here can naturally be reflected in reality."
Though the world of Gods hadn't fully merged with the real world, it had already started subtly improving players' physical qualities.
Major forces on Earth, including the Ancient Martial Arts families, had discovered this secret.
However, the Blues Family had remained secluded and was unaware of this development.
It seemed Tracy was the only one with a game helmet, a gift from a family member who had gone down the mountain to procure supplies.
"Really?" Tracy examined the Life-Sustaining Pill in her hand, still skeptical.
John continued, "Just try it. It won't do any harm to your grandfather."
"True," Tracy agreed, happily accepting the pill. "Whether it works or not, thank you, old man. I'm logging off now."
As she prepared to log off right where she stood.
John stopped her again, exasperated. "Can you be a bit more careful? This is the wild. And don't lose that Life-Sustaining Pill; it's very important."
He couldn't shake the feeling that this girl was a bit scatterbrained.
Tracy stuck out her tongue and took out a Return Scroll. "Got it, old man. You're even more nagging than my dad."
John was speechless.
"Oh, by the way, old man, what's your name?" Tracy suddenly remembered she didn't know his name and asked curiously.
"John," he replied, not hiding it. Once he saved the old Blues Family patriarch, the lie about knowing Tracy's mother wouldn't matter much.
"John," Tracy repeated, committing it to memory. "Old man, I'll remember that. Goodbye."
With that, she crushed the Return Scroll and disappeared on the spot.
John continued to sort through his spoils.
Nearby, there was a pile of equipment, over two hundred pieces, all Tier 2.
Among them were seven pieces of fine equipment, with good attributes, though none were suitable for a mage or assassin.
He stored them all away, knowing they could be sold for money or used to develop his own forces.
In addition to this gear, the rare equipment dropped by the skeleton bosses on the third level of the Dark Cave was suitable for him.
The Morning Dew Robe and the Red Practice Dagger were both rare Tier 2 items.
John equipped the new items, which provided a slight boost to his attributes.
Next, he approached the altar.
On the altar lay a corpse of a young man, handsome and free of any signs of decay.
This was the undead lord that the dark-robed man had mentioned.
Curious, John stepped back and cast Wind Blade.
Whoosh!
The powerful Wind Blade struck the corpse but did no damage.
-0
A damage number appeared, but the corpse remained unaffected.
John's attack couldn't break through the man's defense and only forced a reduction of 1 HP. It seemed the man's HP was depleted, but he was not entirely dead.
John had a hunch that this body might still have some use.
"I need to find a way to take him," John thought. He tried storing the body in his inventory or Storage Ring, but to no avail.
This confirmed his suspicion that the man was still alive.
As living entities couldn't be stored in those spaces.
He couldn't very well carry a corpse around everywhere.
Then it struck him: Death Land!John recalled the hidden, unopened map at the Temple of the Night.
The last time, he hadn't had the strength to refine the Death Land Token.
But now, having completed his second job advancement and significantly boosted his attributes, he wondered if he could do it.
Taking out the Death Land Token, he attempted to refine it again.
This time, there was no prompt indicating failure.
Whoosh!
A light enveloped him, and his HP and MP began to drain.
Startled, John realized that the token was absorbing his HP and MP to refine it.
The rate of consumption was 10 points per second for both HP and MP.
Without enough healing potions, he wasn't sure how much it would take to refine the token.To be safe, he messaged Sini, trading for 100 basic HP recovery potions and 100 basic MP recovery potions.
Each basic potion restored 10 points per second for 10 seconds, perfectly offsetting the token's absorption rate.
The potion's duration could stack, but the recovery amount could not.
John carefully monitored his HP and MP, taking a potion whenever either dropped below half.
...
[You have refined the Death Land Token. You now control Death Land. The token cannot be traded or dropped.]
Notification appeared.
John calculated that only 10,000 HP and 10,000 MP were consumed for the process, meaning he could have succeeded without the potions.
He studied the token and felt a deeper connection to Death Land.
He could sense hundreds of powerful entities, all imprisoned by the dark elves, representing various major races.