Training (Seeking Recommendations! Collections!)

"Family... Witch Hunter... professional path... transcendent..."

Inside the bedroom, Sulu sat in a chair, holding the black paper inscribed with the 'Doom Ritual' in his hand, various thoughts flashing through his mind.

[XP+100]

As he read, a large wave of experience points emerged.

"Previously... I gained 50 XP from the skill page of [Corpse Maiden Creation]. This Doom Ritual is clearly of a higher grade!"

Sulu muttered to himself, glancing at his attribute panel:

Name: [Sulu Portley]
Profession: [None]
Rank: [0]
Title: [None]
Strength: [1.6], Agility: [1.3], Constitution: [1.1], Spirit: [1.6]
Skills: [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1], [Krav Maga Combat Arts LV5]
Passive: [Common Hebraic LV3], [Basic Physics LV4], [Demon Hunting Lore LV1], [Ancient Hebraic LV2]
XP: [110]

As his reading progress continued, a prompt box appeared:

[Ding! Detected Tier 2 profession information--Doom-Bringer. Advancement requires Tier 1 prerequisite profession: Apprentice, Spirit requirement 2.5!... Conditions not met! Cannot advance!]

"As expected, there's no way to skip levels! Even if I could, and met the hard requirements, I wouldn't have enough experience..."

Sulu calculated rapidly.

To become a professional, one must first obtain a Tier 1 profession.

Currently, the only complete heritage he had access to was [Witch Hunter]! Of course... he would certainly decline anything as bizarre as an Idealist Demon.

Beyond that, there was Catherine, but that was basically impossible.

The final remaining path was to join the Church of the Goddess of Light or the Federation in exchange for corresponding rewards.

"But... I don't want to surrender my faith, nor do I want to be an agent!"

Sulu was an atheist by nature, but in a world with true gods, he dared not perform any act that would deceive the divine.

As for working for the Federation?

He thought about it, then shook his head quickly.

Although the Federation government was powerful and surely possessed many transcendent professional systems, the constraints on transcendents would inevitably be severe. If they implemented military-style management where you had to go die if ordered, what then?

"None of these are very reliable... Does the only remaining option involve waiting, hoping that Rhode can seize someone else's heritage, or going out to try my luck?"

Sulu curled his lip.

If it were before, he would indeed have had the patience.

But now... Beatrice might be growing rapidly. If he let her pull too far ahead, to the point where she could retaliate, would he even survive?

"Furthermore... even if some special Tier 1 professions were seized, Rhode might not let me take them."

Some widely practiced professional paths, such as [Apprentice] and [Soldier], had certainly produced many Master-level and even higher Tier 5 or Tier 6 figures, proven by history, and everyone felt at ease with them.

But if it were some obscure heritage, like one that only went up to Tier 3 Expert level, or worse, only Tier 2 Elite, the practitioner would inevitably face the awkward situation of having no path forward later on. They would be forced to give up and re-spec, and the time and energy consumed, or even system conflicts, might completely extinguish his hope of reaching the peak in his lifetime!

"That is why Rhode suggested I take up [Apprentice], a Tier 1 profession with high potential! That is only because he doesn't know I have an attribute panel... As long as I pay attention to the power conflicts between various professions and have enough experience, multi-classing is nothing to me!"

In this regard, Sulu was very confident.

"Therefore... I must find information on a Tier 1 profession as soon as possible, preferably a spellcaster's, so that I can maintain a certain advantage in my confrontation with Beatrice, even if it is only in terms of spirit..."

Suddenly, Sulu paused, thinking of the corpse in the sewer.

That was also a possible source of transcendence.

The parchment pages left behind by that person were still being deciphered; he needed Alanis's research notes on the Gulam Language.

Sulu realized he had never been so desperate for a piece of information.

Rhode was a Tier 2 [Witch Hunter], his strength far exceeding Sulu's, so there was naturally no need to worry about his safety.

However, he did not accept Sulu's kindness in renting him a room. In his words—"Spacious, bright, and tidy houses make me feel uneasy; that is the influence of the demon upon me! It is a common, slight influence that all Witch Hunters have..."

But Sulu felt the man was just born to be poor! He simply couldn't bear to live in an apartment outside, preferring to make do in a bridge tunnel or some such place.

Inside a certain abandoned factory building.

Sunlight spilled into the room through broken windows, illuminating the thick dust on the floor.

Scattered all around were heaps of discarded trash, yet ironware was rarely seen—most of those items had already been scavenged away.

It was said that this factory originally belonged to a textile mill owner who had once employed a large number of female workers and amassed a considerable fortune.

However, following the improvement of steam-powered spinning machines, product prices plummeted, leading to bankruptcy and insolvency. Everything of value was hauled away, leaving behind only a desolate plot of land, frequented only by stray cats, dogs, or vagrants.

Rhode was quite satisfied with such an environment and decided to use it as his temporary base of operations.

He sought out Sulu, and together, the two cleared out a space to serve as their classroom for remedial lessons.

"Most of the occult knowledge I possess concerns demons!"

Before beginning the lecture, Rhode started with an overview: "This world is too vast. With the arrival of the Dawn of Gods, beyond the demons of the Abyss, even more evil gods and wicked entities are awakening in the darkness... The abilities of their kin are diverse, but the only thing that is certain is that they generally harbor malice toward humanity!"

"So... the Seven Gods are the true gods? Because they harbor goodwill toward humanity?" Sulu asked, lost in thought.

"No!"

Rhode corrected him: "What do you think? What are gods?"

"Gods?"

Sulu was taken aback, impressions from his past life surfacing in his mind: "Mysterious, powerful, nearly omnipotent... perhaps they also require human faith?"

"Wrong! With our limited thinking, how could we possibly comprehend such magnificent existences?"

Rhode shook his head: "Their existence, their way of thinking... perhaps they are completely different from what we imagine! The reason the Seven Gods are considered true gods is simply because they harbor no malice toward the majority of humanity! The so-called 'churches' are merely organizations established by common mortals to cling to the Seven Gods; those beings simply did not refuse! Perhaps to such existences, our faith is relatively important, but it is by no means essential!"

"No malice, but not necessarily goodwill? The so-called churches, the so-called praises, are just things established by ordinary people to cling to them..."

Sulu suddenly felt a chill: "If a fanatic heard your words, you might be burned alive!"