A Skill Book—an incredibly precious Skill Book. If Alexander were asked about the drop rate for these books in the Apocalypse Game, he'd say it was minuscule—so minuscule it was nearly incalculable.
The reason for such an extremely low drop rate lay in the game's rules for skills. First, each player's skill capacity was technically limitless. At first glance, it might seem like a bug. But once you truly understand the drop rates, you'd see that this design is almost moot: the chance is so low that even if you do get a Skill Book, it might not even contain a skill that suits you.
This terrifying scarcity meant that—even though there's no cap on the number of skills one can have—players will rarely acquire new ones. In the Apocalypse Game, aside from the three opportunities to obtain a random skill for your current profession between Levels 10 and 80 (each granting one or two skills), there is no other method to gain skills from Skill Books. In Alexander's recollection, by the time most players reached Level 60 or 70, they still only possessed the inherent skills of their profession—so meager, so pitiful. Yet the so-called "Skill God" had a staggering 25 skills!
Alexander considered himself lucky; he already possessed 10 skills—surpassing 99% of all players. Therefore, he understood just how valuable this Skill Book before him was.
Rubbing his hands together, he flipped open the ancient-looking book. The contents read:
[Whirling Slash]: A Warrior-class skill. Throw your weapon to deal damage equal to 120% of your Strength. After striking an enemy—or upon reaching maximum distance—the weapon will fly back to your hand. The flight distance for both the throw and return is identical; during its return, if it hits an enemy, it deals an additional 80% of your Strength as damage. (If an obstacle blocks its path, the return will fail.)
"Beautiful!" Alexander couldn't hide his inner excitement. A Warrior skill that combines ranged attack, projectile throwing, automatic retrieval, plus multi-hit damage—it was an incredibly rare combination!
However, it was also clear that such a skill would have a long cooldown period until his Spirit attribute improved further.
This was a huge win!
[System: Detected skill "Whirling Slash"][System: Does player "Yazī" wish to learn the skill "Whirling Slash"?]
"Learn, learn, learn!" Alexander replied eagerly.
[System: Congratulations, player "Yazī," you have successfully learned "Whirling Slash"!]
Alexander's fingers itched with anticipation. But the room was still a bit cramped—he couldn't fully savor his newfound treasures here. So he carefully stowed every valuable item into his inventory.
He was extremely satisfied with today's haul: his level had reached 3, he'd acquired three bronze-grade equipment pieces—[Meditative Necklace], [Nightfall Ring], and [Tang Blade]—and he'd learned the powerful skill [Whirling Slash]. His inventory was overflowing with additional items that, in his previous life, would have taken him half a month to gather. And most importantly, that wretched Carrie was finally dead!
Thinking of that, Alexander grinned as he activated his supply cards—[Kyoto Roast Duck], [Two Fragrant Steamed Buns], [70%-Done Sirloin Steak], and a bottle of "Feitian Maotai." After an afternoon of relentless combat, Alexander was ravenous. Looking at the sumptuous spread before him, he didn't hesitate to devour the feast. The roast duck came with spring pancakes and sauce; the sirloin steak was accompanied by pasta and a fried egg. Bite after bite, he savored every morsel.
Truly, in the Apocalypse Game, supply cards that dropped dishes like roast duck or steak tasted as exquisite as creations from a five-star chef.
But as always, the good times were fleeting. Soon enough, every delectable dish on the table was gone. Alexander patted his full stomach and, with a satisfied sigh, tossed aside the plates, cutlery, and remains of his meal. Then he cleared the table and turned his attention to a very important task—planning his future.
He pulled out a notebook and pen that he'd scavenged from downstairs and began scribbling furiously. First, he needed to decide on his career path. The Apocalypse Game classified player professions very simply—only two exist: Warrior and Mage. That's it.
Upon reaching Level 10 and completing the profession quest, every player could choose one of these two paths. Although the system was simple, it granted complete autonomy: the fighting style and career you desired was entirely up to you.
For a Warrior, every level-up automatically added one point to Strength and Constitution, plus two free attribute points for discretionary allocation. If you wanted to build a tank, you'd invest heavily in Constitution; a berserker would max out Strength; an assassin might favor Agility. (For archers, well, accuracy is the only concern!) Of course, even after choosing Warrior, your Spirit and Agility wouldn't remain static—they'd change gradually as your power grew.
For a Mage, each level-up added one point to Spirit and Agility, along with two free attribute points to distribute. Most Mages would naturally invest all their points in Spirit. And if you wanted to be a melee Mage… well, that took some guts!
At this point, Alexander realized how precious his current 5 free attribute points were. Investing them early would greatly boost the effects once he successfully changed professions!
What he described above was the common career path that 99% of players would follow. The remaining 1% pursued hidden professions. Although there were quite a few hidden professions, the differences among them were vast. Alexander's plan was clear—he would aim for the top-tier hidden profession.
He first wrote down the word "Phantom" in his notebook. This was the hidden profession he'd mastered in his previous life—a legendary elite assassin class renowned for its sky-high Agility and explosive single-target damage. It was also the main reason Alexander had managed to evade Derek's relentless pursuit for ten long years. Even before his secondary job change, as he leveled up, he gained 2 points each in Agility and Strength along with 3 extra free attribute points—an enormous difference compared to the ordinary professions.
The method to obtain the Phantom profession was something Alexander knew inside and out. To him, it was by far the easiest hidden profession to attain. He continued writing down other hidden professions—"Holy Paladin," "Necromancer," "Asura," "Titan," "Reaper of Life" … and so on.