Martial Artist

This should be the place where Gray Dwarf Chieftain had his stroke of fortune.

Just now, while swimming in the underground river.

Roger saw many broken pieces of ceramics at the shallow riverbed.

Along with some old items eroded by water beyond recognition.

On the riverbank, similar things were scattered about as well.

He estimated that Gray Dwarf Chieftain's White Raven's Crown and Fire Aversion Pearl were picked up right here.

Walking about two kilometers upstream along the riverbank, he reached the end of the road.

There, a huge stone wall blocked the way ahead.

A few clumps of Fluorescent Fungus exuded a faint glow.

Beside his ears was the light, flowing sound of the underground river.

A gentle breeze blew in gusts.

A long-absent sense of comfort unexpectedly arose in Roger's heart.

He leisurely came to the stone wall, reaching out to gently touch the mysterious protrusions on it.

Suddenly, a faint, seemingly non-existent chuckle came from beside his ear.

Immediately following.

An unprecedented cool sensation surged onto his fingertips like an electric shock, instantly reaching his heart.

This touch vanished in a flash.

That wonderful feeling made Roger irresistibly want to reminisce about it.

Yet for some reason, clearly having just happened, he could not remember it no matter what.

He glanced at the data bar.

"You have felt the existence of 'Qi'."

Qi?

Roger was not all that surprised.

In the Hidden Hero template, there was also the concept of Qi, though it seemed to be a power only attainable after tier 4.

What he cared more about was.

If Mystra truly possessed a once-brilliant martial arts civilization, did they have any connection with the Hidden Hero class? In this regard, there were two relatively conventional conjectures.

The "Hidden Hero" was indeed just a mod casually cobbled together by some player.

Even if Mystra's martial arts civilization and the Hidden Hero template shared commonalities, it was merely a coincidence.

The second one was rather conspiratorial.

Connecting it to his transmigration.

Roger could brainstorm a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering epic within a minute.

And in this epic, he was merely a pawn of some big figure.

The true secret of the Hidden Hero class might be related to the lost martial arts civilization.

However, after thinking it over carefully.

Roger still leaned more toward the first.

The reason was also very simple.

If some big figure had truly orchestrated his transmigration single-handedly.

They probably wouldn't have let him squat in the starter village for ten years, right?

After all, urging him to leave Tongma Town without arousing suspicion wasn't that difficult.

He could have just used the Hidden Hero template to issue a few quests.

Looked at from this perspective, the probability of the conspiracy theory was indeed quite low.

Unless the big figure operated on a higher level than Roger imagined.

Then it would fall into a state of infinite matryoshka nesting.

Roger never wasted brain cells on such matters.

He touched the stone wall for a long time, but could no longer sense the existence of Qi.

He took out White Raven's Crown and Master Qu Feng's Fire Aversion Pearl.

Attempting to find some catalyst.

Yet it still yielded nothing.

After fussing for a long time, Roger felt somewhat discouraged.

Can I really be inferior to even a gray dwarf?

Just as this thought popped up, the wind and clouds suddenly shifted on the stone wall.

Roger widened his eyes and took several steps back—

This was to get a clear view of the full picture of the wind and clouds on the stone wall.

A faint shimmer shone from behind the stone wall, and countless human figures suddenly appeared on it! Not just human figures.

On the stone wall were mountains, water, clouds, trees, and human homes.

Suddenly, clouds and mist rose.

The scene on the stone wall seemed to arrive at a seaside.

A new sun slowly rose from the east.

Rolling waves fiercely battered the reefs.

On the beach.

There were hundreds and thousands of human figures.

They were practicing martial arts against the wind.

Every single move and stance was so strong and forceful.

Their shouts could be faintly heard by the ear.

Abruptly.

Dozens of meters of wave crests came rushing forward, pouncing straight toward the beach.

Those tens of millions of figures transformed into a peerless grandmaster.

He stood upon a reef, gently pushing his palms forward.

In an instant.

The wave crests rolled backward into the sea!

Unawares, Roger became engrossed in watching.

He seemed to have arrived at a magical God's-eye view, able to witness firsthand the peerless elegance in the strikes and kicks of prehistoric martial artists!

By the time he came to his senses.

The stone wall had returned to its original state, and all the phantoms had vanished.

Roger noticed.

The few clumps of Fluorescent Fungus near the stone wall had also grown dim, drooping limply onto the ground.

On the data bar, a new prompt arrived.

"You have comprehended the Mystic Art of Martial Arts of Clear Spring Sect on Immortal Leaving Wall."

"You have acquired a new class: Martial Artist."

"Martial Artist options: 1. Multiclass 2. Advance 3. Expansion Module 4. Abandon"

No wonder it's called 'Martial Art Thief'; that gray dwarf must have comprehended martial arts on this very stone wall.

Roger fell into deep contemplation.

He was mainly weighing the pros and cons of the first three options.

After obtaining the Martial Artist class, the most intuitive benefit was that the martial arts manuals on hand could now be studied.

Perhaps he could also use this as a catalyst to come into contact with more of Mystra's prehistoric civilization.

There was only one downside.

He worried that biting off more than he could chew would ruin his meal.

After all, he was a very pragmatic person.

First, rule out option 2.

Advancing directly was definitely out of the question; he had no bottom line in his heart regarding just how strong a martial artist was.

But he had expectations for the IMBA degree of the Hidden Hero.

The Hidden Hero Module came with advanced classes in the later stages; he couldn't waste precious advanced qualifications in the early stages.

As for "Multiclass", it seemed like a decent choice.

This meant he would form a cultivation structure centered on the Hidden Hero and supplemented by the Martial Artist.

With Roger's patience, it was sufficient to ignore the experience penalty brought by multiclassing.

Yet considering that the Hidden Hero and Martial Artist actually overlapped to a certain extent, it might become a hidden danger in the later stages.

The information he had access to right now was far too little.

Setting the final class combination right now was somewhat inappropriate.

After weighing it repeatedly.

He still chose the third option.

Consuming an "Expansion Slot" to incorporate the Martial Artist's class abilities into the Hidden Hero's "Expansion Module".

This was also the overpowered nature of the Hidden Hero Module.

Doing this could turn the "Martial Artist" class into a part of the "Hidden Hero".

The price to pay was consuming a very precious expansion slot! You must know.

The initial expansion slot of the Hidden Hero template was only one.

In theory, this thing could be increased.

However, Roger had not yet figured out the specific methods to increase expansion slots.

"You possess the expansion module of 'Martial Artist'."

"You can now comprehend martial arts through 'Martial Arts Manual'."

"You have acquired a new basic attribute: Comprehension."

"Your initial Comprehension is 13 points."

"Comprehension (13): You possess extremely high comprehension toward martial arts, and your speed in comprehending martial arts manuals is extraordinary; the upper limit of martial arts skills you master will also increase."

Ah, refreshing.

Looking at the 13 points of Comprehension, Roger knew this expansion slot was not spent in vain.

This was the highest basic attribute he possessed!

Could I be the legendary martial arts prodigy of legend?

Just as his thoughts were running wild.

A corner of the stone wall suddenly collapsed, revealing a tiny cave opening.

A very polite voice drifted over from a great distance:

"I've finally waited for you."

"Although it's a bit embarrassing, but... um... could I trouble you to crawl over?"