After Ye Luo left, Xiao Jie and I Want to Become Immortal exchanged a silent look.
At that moment, both began pondering the feasibility of different classes in their hearts.
Xiao Jie took Ye Luo's words very seriously.
Ye Luo was right; staying alive was what mattered most, and only by living did infinite possibilities exist. Once dead, nothing else mattered.
Yet his goal was not merely to live.
If he were truly afraid of death, he would not play this game. Gaining true extraordinary power to the greatest extent possible while ensuring his own safety was his purpose for playing.
Therefore, planning his developmental path early on was extremely important.
Some things, once missed, were never possible again.
Currently, the extraordinary powers in this game were mainly divided into four systems: divine, immortal, demonic, and ghostly. Beyond those, there were Inner Power Cultivation Methods, Yin-Yang Talismans, Mechanism Beast Taming, and professional skills, but compared to supernatural forces like immortals, deities, demons, and ghosts, they were obviously a step weaker.
The power he wished to pursue was naturally the top-tier kind.
Deities relied on Faith; he wouldn't consider that. His Faith was only 7. Why it was so low, Xiao Jie could roughly guess—living in the new society and growing up under the red flag, he naturally felt nothing for gods and ghosts, always feeling they were deceptive.
Even now, exposed to such a miraculous game, Xiao Jie hadn't changed much.
As for ghosts, he didn't fancy them either; they didn't feel like good things.
That left only two choices: immortal and demon.
Of course, the best was to Become Immortal. Just hearing it gave off a full-of-aura vibe, feeling very high-end and sophisticated. But as a secondary option, if he truly couldn't become an immortal, learning some sorcery was acceptable.
As for choosing a class path, it was nothing more than advancement or dual-transition.
It was definitely impossible to follow the miscellaneous three-loose-class path.
Having played games for so many years, Xiao Jie understood one principle clearly: never go against the game designers.
If they were going to play, they had to play the version-strong classes.
Combining the skills, equipment, and information he currently mastered, Xiao Jie quickly mapped out a few routes.
Route 1: Swordswoman -- Taoist -- Sword Master.
Suppress to level 9 first to learn swordsmanship in the city, then level up to 10 after learning it. Qualify for the Swordswoman class at level 10. Try to trigger a Serendipitous Encounter between levels 10-19 to gain spellcasting abilities, take a secondary Taoist class at level 20, and dual-transition into a Sword Master at 30.
The reason he wanted to learn swordsmanship was mainly that swordsmanship felt like the best match for immortals, and the Sword Master class sounded relatively impressive. The so-called riding the wind to tour the four seas, wielding swords across the eight wastes, incarnating as a sword immortal with white clothes like snow and a sword like a rainbow—just thinking about it felt handsome.
Route 2: Ranger/Swordsman -- Taoist -- ????
Grind levels according to the current situation, smoothly rising to level 10. Unlock either the Ranger or Swordsman class at level 10. Try to trigger a Serendipitous Encounter between levels 10-19 to gain spellcasting abilities, take a secondary Taoist class at level 20, and combine sword techniques with Taoist arts at level 30 to get a dual-transition.
This route was similar to Route 1. The advantage was that it didn't require suppressing levels to learn swordsmanship, reducing some risks in the early stage. The disadvantage was that whether a dual-transition class could be unlocked at level 30 was hard to say, but Xiao Jie felt that swords and sabers fundamentally had little difference; there was no reason why saber + Taoist arts couldn't transition. A similar class surely existed, and as long as he studied more, he would always dig it out.
Route 3: Taoist -- ???? -- ????
This route was extremely dangerous; spirituality needed to be piled high before level 10. Xiao Jie felt it needed to reach at least 30, and to be safe, 40 to possibly trigger a Serendipitous Encounter. His current spirituality was 12, meaning he had to add 28 points of spirituality—roughly five levels' worth of attribute points had to be invested.
Consequently, the early foundational attribute bonuses would be very small, and fighting monsters would become extremely difficult.
Of course, once a Serendipitous Encounter was successfully triggered and spells were learned, he would take off instantly. It was also the fastest route to getting stronger.
As for what route to advance into later, it would depend on his fortuitous destiny, but magical-system advancements would definitely grow stronger and stronger; they surely wouldn't be bad.
This route's risk and opportunity were equally enormous; a single misstep would cause a wipeout, so he had to be extremely cautious.
Route 4: Beast Tamer -- Shaman/Taoist -- Sorcerer.
Xiao Jie felt this line was the safest. He was herding sheep and feeding dogs; later, he would arrange pig-feeding too. That way, at level 10, there was a high probability the Beast Tamer class would unlock. Having a baby naturally made early leveling much safer.
This game didn't restrict what weapons players used; he could completely use bow and arrows + beast pets, using a saber for close combat. It could be called ranged and melee capable, with a tank and output.
Leveling and fighting monsters would be absolutely formidable, guaranteeing personal safety to the maximum extent in the early stage.
Try to trigger a Serendipitous Encounter between levels 10-19 to gain spellcasting abilities, take a secondary Shaman or Taoist class at level 20, and dual-transition into a Sorcerer at level 30.
Although the class title Sorcerer sounded a bit unpleasant, it should be on par with the Immortal Cultivator class and definitely wouldn't be weak.
As for other classes, Xiao Jie didn't consider them much. Perhaps there were more powerful classes, but the one that suited oneself was the best. The difficulty of this game was so high that sometimes one had to learn to follow the trend and couldn't force it too much.
Rethinking the gains and losses of these four class paths repeatedly in his mind, Xiao Jie suddenly sighed.
The first one he eliminated was Route 3, the pure magical-system advancement route, which was also the route he yearned for most.
For no other reason, it was too dangerous. Without adding foundational attributes before level 10, he himself would be extremely fragile; he was afraid he would forfeit his life if he casually encountered a slightly powerful monster in the wild.
Xiao Jie wasn't someone who harbored wishful thinking. Pinning his hopes on not encountering strong enemies in the wild, or hoping to successfully escape every time he met a strong enemy, was simply not his style.
He wasn't the male protagonist of a webnovel; doing that was definitely court-death behavior.
Next to be eliminated was the Sword Master.
Running to the prefecture capital to learn swordsmanship was admittedly safer, but going there carried dangers along the road, and learning swordsmanship cost money—certainly not cheap.
If he wanted to walk this path, there were too many uncertain factors and the consumed resources were too great. Besides, swordsmen and swordsmen felt little different, just slightly handsomer. There was no need to take that risk for this tiny bit of value.
Then the remaining choices were Swordsman -- Taoist -- unknown dual-transition class,
and Beast Tamer -- Shaman/Taoist -- Sorcerer.
Neither of these two lines required special maneuvering; he just needed to keep playing according to the current situation. Anyway, his saber techniques and Dog Training both needed to be used. Once he learned Dog Training and went out to fight monsters and level up with a dog and a saber, both the Beast Tamer and Swordsman classes would most likely unlock by level 10. In other words, these two lines didn't conflict before level 10.
He could completely check which of these two skill sets worked better first, and make a decision when he reached level 10.
Moreover, his current plan might not necessarily go completely according to schedule. Perhaps if his luck turned good later, he would trigger some other Serendipitous Encounter and unlock a completely unheard-of hidden class—that wasn't impossible either.
With Xiao Jie's mind made up, I Want over there seemed to have made a decision too.
"Following Wind, what class path do you plan to take?"
"Swordsman or Beast Tamer. How about you?"
"I want to cultivate immortality."
Xiao Jie was somewhat speechless. "The problem is that among the classes Ye Luo mentioned, there are no immortals at all. The various advancements of the Taoist barely count as one."
"No, there definitely will be, there must be! Only by becoming an immortal can I resurrect my brother. The freedom in this game is so high, maybe we can cultivate immortality after all," I Want to Become Immortal said decisively.
Hearing this, Xiao Jie couldn't help sighing inwardly, thinking that this fellow completely disregarded reality.
If resurrection spells truly existed, the server had been open for over three years—why had no one ever seen them?
Once this sort of thing appeared, it would definitely be known to everyone. Whoever possessed this spell could completely sell resurrection slots, and no matter how much money or equipment was requested, people would probably be willing to pay that price.
Furthermore, since people could die in this game—though he didn't know if this was deliberately done by the designers—Xiao Jie had a feeling that the creators probably definitely didn't want anyone to escape the death penalty of this game.
Besides, even if they were immortals, wanting to bring the dead back to life wasn't that easy, right?
However, looking at I Want to Become Immortal's resolute expression, he didn't say anything.
"If that's the case, then let's go fight monsters and level up. Becoming an immortal isn't something that can be achieved just by thinking about it."
I Want to Become Immortal nodded. "You're right, Following Wind. Let's go fight monsters and level up together."
The two looked out toward the outside of the village together. Having experienced the crisis of that night, the two of them were finally stepping out of the village's safe zone once again.
Perhaps they would encounter unknown risks, but for their respective goals, both had made up their minds.
It was time to go fight.
Before you continue