Rogue Advancement

The corpse of the Marilith actually held significant value.

For instance, its snake skin could be peeled off to craft Tier 1 Enchanted Leather Armor, its heart was a favorite among many spellcasters, and even its blood could be used as an alchemical ingredient. However, there was one troublesome issue: items related to demons were notoriously difficult to offload, at least in the southern cities.

By comparison.

Weapons were much easier to sell.

Moreover, Soren could not carry that much loot, and if word of the Marilith got out, it would very likely attract an investigation from the church.

Summoning a demon to the Material Plane was a crime punishable by judgment!

"Upgrade Rogue class level."

Soren briefly treated his wounds before immediately upgrading his Rogue class level.

He had no healing potions on him, so he had to rely on the class level-up to recover; at the very least, the increase in hit points would reduce his injuries to a "light wound" status.

A row of data appeared:

"Rogue class upgraded to Level 5."

"Gained 24 (Dexterity 20 + (Intelligence 18-10)*0.5) skill points, Hit Points increased by 11 (Class HP 6 + (Constitution 19-10)*0.5)."

"Learned combat skill [Shadow Kill]!"

"Rogue class level advanced to Tier 2!... Gained potential for one Bloodline Purification Ritual!..."

"Gained one additional class feat!"

Soren glanced at the notifications and ignored the rest.

The jump from a Tier 1 professional to a Tier 2 professional was significant. The former were merely gang members causing minor trouble in the city, while the latter possessed the qualifications to leave the city and go on adventures. A Tier 2 professional gained an extra feat point, though it was restricted to class feats. For example, since Soren's class was Rogue, he could only choose an additional Rogue class feat; he could not select other class feats or personal feats.

The skill points were all allocated to Traps.

This treasure cave had not been fully explored yet, and Soren needed to strengthen his trap detection ability.

A Tier 2 Rogue had three class feats to choose from.

They were:

"Blind Fight [Mastery]: After long periods of lurking in the shadows, the Rogue has gradually grown accustomed to fighting in the dark. His combat style is no longer limited by sight; hearing, intuition, scent, and more have become factors in his combat judgment. Even in total darkness, the Rogue can maintain formidable combat effectiveness. [Dodge +1, Accuracy +1]."

"Martial Weapon Proficiency [Mastery]: After long-term training, the professional is now able to use all martial weapons, including but not limited to longswords, greatswords, scimitars, heavy crossbows, two-handed greatswords, spears, flails, and so on. When fighting with any martial weapon, the professional can use them skillfully, knowing how to utilize them to deal greater damage and how to hit enemies more easily. [Accuracy +1, Damage +1]."

"Dodge [Mastery]: Through long-term combat, the Rogue has learned how to utilize his agile physique. He can perform many movements that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve in order to evade attacks. [Dodge +1, Reflexes +1]."

For that precious feat point, he undoubtedly chose the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat he had first acquired in the past.

This was a very important class feat.

The vast majority of melee-based professionals had to master it, because it meant you could skillfully use most weapons to deal with emergencies encountered during adventures. Furthermore, it was a prerequisite for learning many basic combat skills. For example, the combat skill Sword Stance - Heavy Cleave, which required mastery of Basic Swordsmanship, also required Martial Weapon Proficiency as a prerequisite.

This was a core feat for warriors.

Basically, one could possess it after advancing, but Soren did not have the time for long-term training and could only acquire it through a feat point.

If it were normal training.

Acquiring this feat would take one or two years to fully familiarize oneself with all martial weapons; in that time, he could have done far too many other things.

As for that potential for the Bloodline Purification Ritual, that was something only the wealthy could afford to play with.

Simply put.

It was the purification of one's own bloodline potential, recalculating hit points based on current Constitution and cleansing the impurities within one's body.

For example, Soren's current hit points were 52.

If he were to hold a Bloodline Purification Ritual, his hit points would become: [Class HP 6 + (19-10)*5] * 5 + 19 Constitution + 10 base HP = 84 hit points.

That was equivalent to having three more class levels' worth of hit points than he currently had!

A very ** powerful bloodline enhancement.

But it was also extremely expensive; the advancement ritual required over 1,000 Gold Thaler.

This type of ritual could be performed once every time one advanced.

The greatest increase would likely come after entering the legendary class level, because after holding the Bloodline Purification Ritual, one could acquire the special talent of Legendary Vitality.

This was the key that allowed many melee professionals to go head-to-head with adult Dragons in a one-on-one fight!

The Bloodline Purification Ritual.

Soren was not thinking about it for the time being, because it made no difference when this ritual was held; it was merely a way to recalculate and increase hit points based on Constitution and class level. This kind of ritual required many rare materials and also necessitated foundational skills in Spellcraft and Lore, making it very difficult to meet the requirements in the early stages.

He remembered a sorcerer teammate who wanted to advance into a Draconic Sorcerer, which had drained the private savings of Soren's entire team.

A conservative cost of 1,000 Gold Thaler.

That much money would be enough for Soren to arm himself from head to toe and more than double his combat effectiveness!

At this moment.

After becoming a Tier 2 Rogue, Soren's attributes became:

"Name: Soren.

Race: Half-Elf.

Attributes: Strength 12, Dexterity 20 (+1), Constitution 19, Intelligence 18 (+1), Wisdom 15, Charisma 16.

Alignment: Lawful Evil.

Class: Level 10 Commoner (Max Level) / Level 5 Rogue (0/3000) [Tier 2].

Hit Points: 52/52.

Experience Points: 950 (Kill Experience), 0 points (Class Experience) [Unassigned].

Skill Points: None.

Attribute Points: None.

Status: Normal.

Class Skills--Stealth 102, Pickpocket 35, Open Lock 45, Traps 54.

Legendary Skill--Sleight of Hand [Sealed] (Weakened State).

Personal Feats--Nimble Left Hand, Eidetic Memory, Force of Perseverance.

Class Feats--Shadow Mastery, Martial Weapon Proficiency [Mastered].

Combat Skill--Shadow Kill.

..."

Starting from Tier 2, the experience points required to increase one's strength began to increase significantly.

However, at the same time, he had also mastered a powerful combat skill, which was the Shadow Kill ability that Soren had been looking forward to.

"Shadow Kill [Combat Skill]: An advanced Rogue has gradually touched upon the power of the Shadow Domain. When launching an attack against an enemy, he can rely on his mastery of shadow power to trigger a spell-like attack. Shadow Kill can be activated simultaneously with a Backstab assassination, dealing an additional 5 points of shadow damage to the target that ignores physical defense.

This ability increases damage by 1 point and usage frequency by one time for every Rogue class level."

(Requires Rogue prerequisite feat [Shadow Mastery].)

This was a very powerful ability.

With Soren's current Rogue class level, he could use Shadow Kill 5 times per day. As long as the opponent did not have shadow resistance, it would directly deal 5 points of shadow damage that ignored defense.

For the relatively meager hit points of low-tier professionals in the early stages, this was a lethal threat!

Tier 2 is a watershed moment.

Wizards begin to master level 3 arcane spells, finally shedding their reputation for low combat effectiveness. Warriors start to master Qi Slash, preparing for future advancements into Knights, Sword Saints, or Weapon Masters. Monks also begin to master Qi abilities; whether they aim to advance into Ascetics or Fist Masters, they need to lay a solid foundation starting now.

Basically, all professionals experience a significant boost after reaching Tier 2!

Rogues also begin their path toward specialization here, whether it be the Master Thief with god-like pickpocketing skills, the Stalker with incredible bonuses to stealth, or the Assassin who has mastered the techniques of assassination.

Everything must be decided now for the future.

However, Soren had no plans to advance for the time being. Not to mention the harsh requirements for advancing into special classes, the mere fact that advancing into a special class costs 5,000 points of Kill Experience was enough to make him hesitate. Native NPCs in the story require long periods of training to advance into special classes; although Soren could skip this step, he would need to use Kill Experience (soul energy) as compensation.

Advancement is not necessarily a good thing.

Master Thieves have low combat power, Stalkers lack burst damage, and while Assassins have high lethality, their overall capabilities are lacking.

When it comes to survival, the base Rogue class is still the strongest!

At the very least, before one has more than ten personal feats, no advanced class is as useful as the base class.

Of course.

If you have mastered dozens of feats, including but not limited to personal feats, class feats, talent feats, and so on, any class you advance into will be powerful. For example, if you have Unarmed Combat [Grandmaster], One-Inch Punch [Legendary], Blind Fight [Legendary], Super Sixth Sense, Uncanny Dodge [Legendary], Reflexes [Legendary], and so on, you could even take down an entire army alone while running naked with your eyes closed, if you wanted to.

Class level is, after all, only a part of one's strength.

Life-and-death combat depends on your comprehensive strength. It is not just about class level, but also the power added by attributes, the abilities brought by feats, and the lowest plank in the bucket. (The lowest plank in a bucket determines how much water it can hold.)

That is the key to whether or not you can stand tall until you reach the legendary realm!