Game Master! We're Saved!

[Game Master: S-Rank Talent/Lv-, Innate Skill, Active Skill. This was the manifestation of your personal talents as a game master well-versed in countless video games.

Whenever you entered an entirely new dungeon, the Mind Palace constructed deep within your brain from vast amounts of video game-related memories would enter an automatic search state. Based on your current circumstances, it would randomly select a relatively suitable game character and temporarily load them onto you in the form of different types of "Character Templates," providing assistance in clearing the dungeon.

"Character Templates" were like character status effects (BUFFs) that could not be dispelled. You could actively load or Uninstall them according to your needs. Both loading and Uninstalling had cooldown periods. Under normal circumstances, Character Templates could perfectly stack with the Player's current state.

Character Templates could be divided into three major categories and three derived forms—

"Protagonist Template," "Supporting Character Template," "Villain Template"; "Original Type," "Reinforced Type," "Perfect Type."

Protagonist Template: the core central role of the Game Blueprint, the absolute protagonist.

Supporting Character Template: teammates from the Protagonist Faction, plot NPCs, Neutral Units, and so on.

Villain Template: Grunt Units, elites, BOSSes, and so on from the enemy faction.

Original Type: highly restored to the character's Original Setting. You would gain the corresponding combat power while inheriting the corresponding weaknesses.

Reinforced Type: gained the corresponding combat power, but discarded the weaknesses of the Original Setting.

Perfect Type: eliminated the weaknesses of the Original Setting while receiving comprehensive enhancements.

Based on your current physical condition, dungeon intensity, and capacity limit, Game Master would automatically adapt a suitable template and form for you.

Each Dungeon Blueprint could only trigger the effects of "Game Master" once. When entering a dungeon with a new blueprint, you could only use the new Character Template corresponding to that dungeon, and that Character Template could not be used outside the corresponding dungeon area.

When you cleared the current dungeon while a Character Template was loaded by fulfilling certain specific conditions or earning a high mission completion evaluation, certain abilities or traits of the temporary Character Template would become permanently fixed in the form of "Extra Skills," "Special Equipment," "Carried Accessories," and so on. They could then be used normally in other areas.]

[Additional Evaluation: That's great! It's Game Master! We're saved!]

Just as Green Skin left and Demon World Village officially began Monster Grinding, Cheng Tian's "Game Master" talent formally activated.

From its enormous pool of available templates, Game Master selected this Vampire Hunter, who was irreconcilably opposed to all evil and had been entangled with the vampire Earl for generations.

The whip in Cheng Tian's hand, named Vampire Killer, was a holy relic used by the Belmont Family to ward off evil.

Naturally, Cheng Tian had no idea how to use a weapon that could already be classified as an unconventional weapon. Yet the instant he gripped the long whip's handle, his body automatically gave him the answer.

Cheng Tian, who could easily whip himself even when merely swinging a belt, flawlessly lashed out with the first whip of his life and snapped the neck of the zombie pouncing on One-Ear in a single strike.

If someone inspected the zombie's broken neck now, they would find marks resembling severe burns.

This was the Holy Power clinging to the body of the Vampire Killer!

Not only that, starting from the broken neck, the Holy Power rapidly spread across the zombie's remains. Within only a few breaths, the zombie turned to ashes and vanished.

When Cheng Tian spun around and blew apart the Red-Eyed Crow with a whip, then turned his gaze back, he saw a small red heart floating above One-Ear's chest, swaying as it fell freely amid the zombie ashes covering him.

Both the whip in his hand and the falling little red heart had the most direct connection to the Vampire Hunter template he currently had loaded.

[Vampire Hunter: Native Protagonist Template. Template Blueprint: Simon Belmont, protagonist of the original Castlevania. The first member of the Belmont Family to enter the Player's field of vision, he excelled at using the family's inherited evil-banishing holy relic, Vampire Killer, and devoted his entire life to destroying the evil led by the vampire Earl Dracula.

When you chose to load the Vampire Hunter template—

You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive armament, Demon-Breaking Whip Vampire Killer.

You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive skills "Soul Salvation," "Relic Domination," "Damage Dodge," and "Dissolve Upon Entering Water."

Both loading and Uninstalling this Character Template had a fifteen-minute cooldown.]

[Demon-Breaking Whip Vampire Killer: Long whip, Template Armament. Equipment Requirement: Vampire Hunter/Belmont Family bloodline. Weapon Damage: 1-1. Durability: -/-.

A holy relic of the Belmont Family used to ward off evil, possessing the potential to be further strengthened.

When the target was an evil creature or Dark Creatures, every effective attack dealt an additional 10 points of Holy Damage.

When the target was a "vampire," the added Holy Damage doubled. Whenever the attacked target used any healing ability, its effect was reduced by 50% for 5 seconds. Effective attacks could refresh the duration.

Template Armaments could stack with the equipment currently held by the Player. The closer the equipment types, the better the stacking effect.]

[Soul Salvation: Template Skill, Passive Skill. While destroying monsters, Vampire Hunters would also purify the influence of evil, dark magic, thereby saving Innocent Souls. Innocent Souls would repay the favor by providing Vampire Hunters with a certain degree of aid.

When you killed any evil or dark-type monster, or destroyed candlesticks or torches, there was a high chance of dropping 1 heart-shaped "Innocent Soul Small (1 point)" or "Innocent Soul Large (5 points)."

"Innocent Souls" could replenish the remaining quantity of consumed thrown items, serve as Casting Material for certain spells, or replace MP as casting consumption.]

Zombies were naturally evil, but they had been revived under the control of the Demon King's evil magic. Before their deaths, the vast majority of them had merely been ordinary people, with no need to distinguish whether they were good or bad.

The entire Belmont Family indeed took a kill-without-mercy attitude toward nearly all monsters, but that did not stop them from purifying those monsters along the way and attempting to save Innocent Souls.

The souls that had been saved would generally choose to help Vampire Hunters in their own ways. From another perspective, these souls were also taking revenge.

By assisting Simon and the others in killing monsters, the innocents could ascend to heaven in peace.

Only death was the sole salvation for evil monsters!

Cheng Tian strode forward at high speed. A gust swept past One-Ear, blowing the zombie ashes off him while also snatching away Cheng Tian's Innocent Soul.

Beside Cheng Tian's personal health and mana bars, a "01" indicator directly appeared, representing his stored Innocent Soul points.

One-Ear was still badly shaken, but a powerful tug on his wrist yanked him straight up from the ground.

"Dead or not?"

Hearing the question, One-Ear instinctively shook his head. The stabbing pain from the side where his ear was missing made his body jolt.

"If you're not dead, keep chopping. Kill one and you break even. Kill two and it's pure profit."

The Whiteboard Hand Axe that had fallen to the ground was stuffed back into One-Ear's hand.

After doing all that, Cheng Tian twisted his waist and whipped fiercely. The explosive crack of the whip rang out once more.

One-Ear's expression swiftly changed from confusion and panic to realization and fury. Then, from behind Cheng Tian's head, came One-Ear's heartfelt roar, along with the sound of his blade and axe hacking into zombies like chopping spare ribs.