Gathering the King's Souls

Watching Sykes in midair, Guan Canghai moved after him but arrived first, instantly appearing in the path of Sykes's flight. He tightened his grip on the Shining Silver Greatsword and swung it straight down at Sykes.

Sykes clearly hadn't reacted to everything that had happened in an instant. He had only just begun to mobilize the Qi within him when the back of Guan Canghai's sword slammed him into the ground.

The instant Sykes was slammed into the ground, Chen Yun, Xia Lin, and the others arrived as well.

Seeing Sykes's entire body embedded in the ground, Chen Yun and Xia Lin rushed over without hesitation and pressed him down to keep him from resisting.

Seeing Sykes pinned down, Guan Canghai raised his foot and kicked him in the head.

With the experience of the first attempt, this kick sent Sykes's helmet flying.

The next moment, the blade sliced across Sykes's neck, decapitating him.

Watching Sykes's head fly into the air, Guan Canghai tossed his sword to Chen Yun.

As the Shining Silver Greatsword flew toward him, Chen Yun released his grip on Sykes and caught it by the hilt.

The next moment, the blade cut through the air, and three streaks of silver sword light sliced Sykes's head into several pieces. Chen Yun had finished off Sykes's head.

[Defeated boss · Warrior Sykes lv10. Obtained 0 experience points (experience full, unable to gain experience). Obtained exclusive material: King's Soul]

Hearing the system notification and watching Sykes's body slowly dissipate, Chen Yun returned the Shining Silver Greatsword to Guan Canghai.

Looking at the loot the boss had dropped on the ground, Guan Canghai said, "Let's divide the potions like we did the first time. As we agreed earlier, the equipment goes to Chen Yun this time."

"Okay." None of them objected to Guan Canghai's distribution of the equipment, and before long, all the potions and equipment had been divided.

Afterward, Guan Canghai and the others began discussing their advancement.

"We should be able to gather all the King's Souls we need for advancement today."

For the rest of the time, Lin Yu kept setting up rituals to strengthen his teammates and recover Mana. When it was his turn to kill Sykes and obtain a King's Soul, Guan Canghai and the others worked together to bring the boss to the brink of death, then let Lin Yu finish him off with magic.

Getting the kill on the boss was much more troublesome for Lin Xiaotong, who played a life priest. Life priests had hardly any skills with strong burst damage. If Lin Yu's ritual hadn't boosted her attributes enough for her to wield the Shining Silver Greatsword, it might have been even more troublesome.

Time slipped by as they kept farming the boss. During that time, the boss dropped so much loot that Guan Canghai had to call someone over to take the extra weapons and equipment back.

[Defeated boss · Warrior Sykes lv10. Obtained 0 experience points (experience full, unable to gain experience). Obtained exclusive material: King's Soul]

Lin Yu raised his hand and cast a Wind Blade Spell to finish Sykes off, taking his last bit of health. He checked the time; it was already eight in the evening.

After Guan Canghai had someone take the weapons and equipment back and divided the potions, he handed the Dimensional Bag to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu took the Dimensional Bag Guan Canghai handed him and tied it to his waist. Looking at the ten Dimensional Bags on his person, he nodded in satisfaction.

With these Dimensional Bags, he could carry even more items.

Guan Canghai checked the time and said, "All right, we've farmed enough King's Souls. Everyone, let's head back!"

With that, Guan Canghai led the way toward the Newbie Village.

On the way back, Lin Yu found it hard to join in as the others chatted and laughed, so he could only listen to their conversation in silence from behind.

Along the way, Chen Yun and the others sent Lin Yu friend requests. Lin Yu opened his panel and accepted them one by one.

The others chatted about everything from the game to their lives, and Guan Canghai and the others also tried to strike up a conversation with Lin Yu. But Lin Yu mostly responded with silence; he really didn't know what to say.

At one point, time stopped throughout the world, and a pitch-black rift appeared beside Lin Yu. A 'girl' in a long white robe, whose appearance was eighty to ninety percent similar to Lin Yu's, slowly emerged from the rift. (Her appearance can be imagined as Pandora from Re:Zero.)

"Mm, this time, I finally got the timing right." The 'girl' surveyed her surroundings, then turned her gaze to the frozen Lin Yu. She slowly floated up to him and raised a hand to stroke his cheek.

"My past self, you probably can't imagine how ridiculous the future gets, can you? Fuck, not a single one of those cheaters has a brain." The 'girl'—or rather, the future Lin Yu—began to complain.

"Seriously, a bunch of idiots fighting over a thousand authorities, and not one of them condensed a divine ability. The vast majority of Era's knowledge was sitting in the library, and not a fucking one of them went to read it. In the end, every last one of them got stuck at Ascension to Godhood, leaving me to fight that whole horde of monsters and freaks alone. Fuck, good thing I became a god and could bear the cost of fully activating the relic, so I could come cover for you idiots." Staring at Guan Canghai nearby, [Lin Yu] found him more irritating the longer she looked and began cursing outright.

For Lin Yu, who wasn't good at expressing himself, to change so much, it seemed he really had been driven to anger.

"Forget it, enough of that. Let's get this done quickly so I can get some rest. Sigh! I don't want to keep doing time!" After finishing her complaints, [Lin Yu] raised her hand and pressed a finger to Lin Yu's forehead. Some kind of power entered Lin Yu's soul, and his thoughts changed in certain ways.

"Done, just in time." Looking at her gradually fading body, [Lin Yu] nodded in satisfaction. Then she glanced at Guan Canghai beside her. Unable to resist, [Lin Yu] went up and slapped him across the face several times.

"That felt good!" After the slaps, [Lin Yu] wore a satisfied expression.

As [Lin Yu] disappeared completely, time began to flow again.

Just as they were nearing the entrance to the Newbie Village, Lin Yu, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke. "What kinds of Battle God Armor and Natal Divine Ability are you planning to condense when you advance?"

For some reason, Lin Yu suddenly wanted to remind Guan Canghai to condense special abilities. He didn't know why he had that thought.

"Huh? What Battle God Armor? What Natal Divine Ability?" Hearing Lin Yu's question, Guan Canghai was the first to ask in return.

The terms Lin Yu had used were simply too unfamiliar. Guan Canghai and the others had never heard of them.

Hearing Guan Canghai's question and seeing their puzzled expressions, Lin Yu found that, just as he had expected, they really didn't know about condensing these special abilities.

"Let's talk once we're in the village." Seeing their puzzled expressions, Lin Yu was in no hurry to explain.

After entering the Newbie Village and finding an empty corner at random, Lin Yu turned to face Guan Canghai and the others.

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Lin Yu gave them a brief introduction to the special abilities an Apprentice could condense when advancing to Official Rank.

First, Lin Yu introduced Era's cultivation systems. There were only five major categories of cultivation systems in Era, while Faith System classes existed separately from those five systems.

The reason was simple: Faith System classes improved by relying on blessings from gods, communicating with concepts to obtain the power within them, and so on. Their strength didn't come from cultivation at all.

If they had to be classified, those among the Faith System classes who followed the Worship of Deities and those who followed the Worship of Nature could form a separate Blessing System, while those who practiced Imitating the Strong depended on the cultivation system of the mark's owner.

After briefly introducing the five major cultivation systems and some details of the Blessing System, Lin Yu began introducing the special abilities these classes could condense.

After briefly introducing the Innate Spell that his own Caster System could condense when advancing from Apprentice to Official Rank, Lin Yu began introducing the other systems.