Hidden Classes

Skill books.

Incomparably precious skill books.

If you asked Lin Zhiluo what the drop rate for skill books was like,

he'd say it was negligible—so low it couldn't even be calculated.

To understand why the drop rate was so low, you had to know the rules governing skills in the Doomsday Game.

First of all, there was no limit to how many skills a person could have.

At first glance, you might think this was a bug-like feature.

But once you understood the drop rate for skill books, you'd realize this feature was practically useless.

The drop rate was vanishingly low.

And even if a skill book did drop, it might not be suited to you.

This terrifying scarcity meant that, despite having no limit on the number of skills you could learn, it was difficult to acquire new ones.

Throughout the Doomsday Game, players had only three chances to obtain a random skill from their class, between levels 10 and 80.

And each time, they received only one or two skills.

That meant unlucky players could end up with just three skills.

Aside from those opportunities, there was no other way to obtain skills besides skill books.

As Lin Zhiluo remembered it,

even later on, when most players had reached level sixty or seventy, they still only had the skills that came with their class.

That was how meager things were. That was how pitiful.

And the person known as the "Skill Archmage" had more skills than anyone else in the world—a full twenty-five!

Lin Zhiluo was lucky, too. He'd had ten skills before, already putting him ahead of 99 percent of players.

So it was easy to imagine how precious the skill book in front of him was.

Lin Zhiluo rubbed his hands together, then opened the ancient-looking book.

[Whirlwind Slash]: Warrior-type skill. Hurl the weapon in your hand, dealing damage equal to 120% of your Strength. The weapon returns to your hand after hitting an enemy or reaching its maximum range. It travels the same distance on the way back; if it hits an enemy while returning, it deals damage equal to 80% of your Strength. (If an object or other obstruction gets in its way, it will not return.)

Beautiful!

Lin Zhiluo couldn't help feeling a surge of delight.

A Warrior-type skill—and one that combined ranged attacks, throwing, automatic retrieval, and multiple hits.

A skill with so many features was incredibly rare!

Still, it was clear that this kind of skill had a long cooldown. He'd have to wait until his Spirit increased before he could shorten it.

What a huge score!

[The system has detected the skill "Whirlwind Slash"]

[Would player "Yazi" like to learn the skill "Whirlwind Slash"?]

"Learn it, learn it, learn it!" Lin Zhiluo said eagerly.

[Congratulations to player "Yazi" for successfully learning "Whirlwind Slash"]

Lin Zhiluo was itching to try it out.

But the room was a little too cramped to use it properly.

He could only suppress the urge and put his newly acquired treasures away in his Storage Space.

He was very pleased with what he'd gotten today.

His level had reached 3.

He'd obtained three Bronze-grade pieces of equipment: the [Meditation Necklace], the [Ring of Nightfall], and the [Tang Hengdao].

He'd learned one powerful skill: [Whirlwind Slash].

And there was a whole pile of items in his Storage Space.

Before this, it would have taken him half a month to get all of that.

Of course, most importantly, that woman named Yao Jinghan was finally dead!

Thinking of that, Lin Zhiluo happily took out a Supply Card and activated it.

Beijing Roast Duck, two fragrant steamed buns, a medium-well sirloin steak, and a bottle of Feitian Moutai.

After fighting all afternoon, Lin Zhiluo was so hungry his stomach was practically touching his back.

He looked at the delicious food in front of him and dug right in.

The Beijing roast duck came with spring pancakes and sauce, while the sirloin steak came with pasta and a fried egg.

Lin Zhiluo stuffed bite after bite into his mouth.

This was bliss.

He had to admit, the food cards dropped in the Doomsday Game—especially prepared dishes like Beijing roast duck and steak—were incredible.

Their texture and flavor could easily rival those of a five-star hotel's head chef.

Good times were always brief.

Before long, Lin Zhiluo had swept all the food off the table.

He rubbed his stomach.

So satisfying.

He tossed the plates, chopsticks, knife, and fork aside.

Then Lin Zhiluo cleared the table.

Next, he had something very important to do.

He had to plan his future.

He took out the notebook and pen he'd picked up downstairs and began writing furiously.

First, he had to decide what kind of class to pursue.

The Doomsday Game had divided player classes very simply.

There were only two: Warriors and Mages.

It was that simple.

Once they reached level 10 and completed their class quest, everyone could become one of those two classes.

But even with classes divided that way, you were still entirely in control of your own path.

What kind of fighting style and class you wanted was still up to you.

As a Warrior, you gained one point of Strength and one point of Constitution with every level, along with two free attribute points to distribute however you liked.

For example, if you wanted to be a tank and soak up damage, you could put everything into Constitution.

If you wanted to be a hard-hitting Warrior, you could put everything into Strength.

For an assassin, you could consider putting points into Agility.

As for a marksman, um... there was no need to think about where to put your points.

The only question was whether you could hit anything.

That didn't mean your Spirit and Agility stopped changing once you chose the Warrior class.

Their growth would simply be much smaller, though they would still increase as your strength grew.

As a Mage, you gained one point of Spirit and one point of Agility with every level, along with two free attribute points to distribute however you liked.

Most Mages, though, put all their points into Spirit.

Of course, you could put your points into Constitution or Strength and become a melee Mage...

Great. That took guts!

This showed just how precious the five free attribute points Lin Zhiluo had now were.

After all, if he assigned those points in advance, the extra attributes would significantly increase the benefits he gained after successfully changing classes!

That left Lin Zhiluo with no choice but to be cautious.

What he'd just described was only the most common class path.

Ninety-nine percent of the world's population would follow one of those two paths.

The remaining one percent would take the path of a hidden class.

So there were quite a few hidden classes, after all.

But there were also huge differences between them.

Naturally, Lin Zhiluo was aiming for a top-tier hidden class.

First, he wrote the words "Phantom" in his notebook.

That was the hidden class he'd had in his previous life.

He'd earned it with a scar across his face that would never heal and by repeatedly teetering on the brink of death.

Phantom was the most legendary top-tier assassin class.

It maxed out Agility and dealt explosive single-target damage.

That was the most important reason Lin Zhiluo had been able to evade the Li Family's pursuit for ten years.

Even before his second class change, each level gave him two points in Agility and Strength, as well as three free attribute points.

Compared with ordinary classes, it was on a completely different level.

Lin Zhiluo knew exactly how to obtain the Phantom class and what the process involved.

For him, it was definitely the easiest hidden class to get.

Lin Zhiluo thought for a moment, then wrote "Holy Knight of Light," "Necromancer," "Asura," "Titan," and "Life Reaper" on the page...