The Talent Tree Opens

Black and white light crossed through the air, bursting into brilliant sparks.

"Ugh!"

Rhode quickly retreated, the pure-white blade trembling incessantly in his hand. The tremendous force transmitted through it left his upper body aching faintly.

Just as Rhode remembered, level-fifteen Gargoyles were indeed tough to deal with, especially two of them. The only good thing was that these creatures had a bit of battle sense. That wouldn't have been a good thing under normal circumstances, but now their excess intelligence made their movements less threatening. The Gargoyle that had taken a Shatter Blade strike earlier shrieked and immediately retreated whenever it saw white light glowing from Rhode's sword. The other one hadn't been hit, but seeing its companion's reaction made it hesitate, giving Rhode a chance to catch his breath.

But that was only temporary.

With Star Trace in hand, Rhode gritted his teeth as he watched the two Gargoyles hovering in the sky. Although they were wary of his Shatter Blade and didn't dare press their attack, he was certain they wouldn't let him go so easily. They could still hold each other in a stalemate for now, but it wouldn't last long. When he reached level eight, he had already raised his Moon Shadow Swordsmanship proficiency to 4/4. Although leveling up had reduced the Soul Power consumed by Shatter Blade, using it too often would still cause problems. Besides, this wasn't the final battle. Rhode had to save some strength for any unexpected situations that might arise. After all, he was the only one of the three who could fight. If he used up all his strength here, they would be in serious trouble.

The two Gargoyles didn't simply keep staring at Rhode, either. Instead, they swooped back and forth, extending their claws to attack him, then immediately withdrew whenever he showed signs of counterattacking. This revolving style of combat demanded a great deal of stamina, but it posed no obstacle to two artificial alchemical creatures powered entirely by magic.

For Rhode, however, it was a completely different story.

Sweat slowly appeared on Rhode's forehead. After defending himself again and again, his body was gradually growing tired. But he couldn't retreat. He knew that with his current abilities, fighting two Gargoyles alone was practically impossible, so he could only place his hopes in Lize. After all, there didn't seem to be anything particularly dangerous inside the church. But...

Did I forget to tell them to watch out for the protective arrays?

After thinking it over, Rhode merely shrugged and refocused on the Gargoyles in front of him.

Well, at least no one's going to die.

"Ahhh!!"

With a "piercing" scream, Mace fell to the ground, his whole body twitching.

"I'm dying! Help! Help!"

"It was only an electric shock! You're not dead, Mr. Mace."

Lize was rummaging through the old desk, covered in dust and cobwebs, and searching among the miscellaneous objects that had been so eroded by time that they were unrecognizable. Without even turning around, she casually cast a Healing Spell on Mace to ease his pain, then returned to her search.

Ordinary mages usually cast plenty of protective spells in their rooms to guard their secrets. But this church had been "neglected for years," and a long time had passed, so the power of its protective arrays had weakened by seventy or eighty percent. They posed no particular threat.

As a Half-Angel, Lize also had fairly strong resistance to magic. The weakened protective arrays didn't affect her much. The traps that would normally erupt in flames and lightning when triggered only flashed with a few faint glimmers of magic before fading away under her touch. Mr. Mace, on the other hand, had become the unlucky victim who restored these traps' confidence. As an ordinary person with no resistance, he had made the protective arrays feel at least a little threatening again.

"Th-this place is awful..."

Mace brushed the dust off himself and slowly got back to his feet, muttering as he furtively looked around.

Inside the dim church, the only light came from the Holy Radiance Lize had conjured, which floated quietly beside her and illuminated the otherwise pitch-black surroundings. The sight made Mace tremble with fear. In its glow, he could clearly see the dark, strange arrays on the floor and the bones scattered around. Those alone were enough to make his legs go weak, not to mention the bloody marks on the walls. He had nearly turned and run the moment he entered. If Lize hadn't been so calm that running would have made him lose face, and if he hadn't considered that there were two more immediate dangers outside the door, the fat merchant would have fled long ago.

But now he had no choice but to grit his teeth and stay, helping Lize search for the "control center," even though he had no idea what it looked like.

How could they find that strange thing in such a messy place?

Mace brushed the dust from his clothes and muttered under his breath. But when he saw Lize's serious expression, he didn't say anything else and continued searching.

Rhode was having just as hard a time.

"—!"

The Gargoyle shrieked as it swooped down. Rhode turned slightly and dodged its attack by a hair's breadth, but this time it didn't immediately withdraw after missing, as it had before. Instead, it twisted in midair and swung its thick tail down at him!

Damn it!

Hearing the rush of air behind him, Rhode's heart sank. He hurriedly turned around, and the longsword in his hand immediately came up to block.

Rhode had reacted quickly, but the Gargoyle's attack was no slower. He had barely turned when he felt a tremendous force slam through the blade. The sheer power not only bent the bright white sword in his hand but sent him flying. He rolled across the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.

"Ugh!"

Rhode struggled to his feet. His head was spinning and his blood was surging; half his body was numb, and he had almost dropped the sword in his hand. He was about to shake his head and clear it when a faint sound from behind made him tense up at once.

"Hiss..."

Along with the faint sound, a chill rose behind Rhode. Without even thinking, he rolled across the ground on instinct, barely dodging the attack. When he looked up, he saw three Wraiths slowly approaching him.

The Gargoyle's attack hadn't hurt Rhode, but it had knocked him from the church entrance all the way to the edge of the barrier. The Wraiths had been unable to approach the church because of the barrier, but they hadn't left. They had been circling the invisible barrier, waiting for an opportunity by instinct.

And now, that opportunity had finally arrived.

Rhode had no intention of giving the Wraiths their chance. Facing the enemies closing in on him, he clenched his teeth and gave up on conserving his strength. A burst of white light suddenly flared from his longsword and shot forward.

A blade of pure white light burst from Rhode's sword, spinning and splitting apart as it slammed into one of the Wraiths, tearing through its defenses. Without hesitation, Rhode lunged forward, his longsword tracing a perfect arc through the air before piercing the Wraith's core. As the unfortunate Wraith shrieked and crumbled into dust, Rhode had already passed through its body and returned to the safety of the barrier.

What should he do next?

Just as Rhode was pondering the question, a line of system notification appeared before him and made him freeze.

[Experience: 4000/1800, level-up available, Talent Tree available, Level 8]

Had he already reached level ten? But before entering the Mist Ruins, he had only been level eight.

Rhode was taken aback, then remembered that he had indeed seen a system notification about having enough experience to level up along the way. He had simply ignored it when the Gargoyles ambushed him. Now it seemed that the experience from all the Wraiths he had killed along the way had been enough to gain him another level. It wasn't surprising, after all. This was a five-person dungeon, and Rhode had gained almost all the monsters' experience by himself. On top of that, his level had been low to begin with, and he had earned bonus experience for killing monsters above his level. Reaching level ten was perfectly normal—the only strange thing was that experience points existed in a world that was supposed to be reality.

But now wasn't the time to worry about such trivial matters. Rhode quickly opened his stats and made his choice. This might be his only chance to gain an advantage.

[Experience: 4000/1800, level-up available, Talent Tree available, Level 8]

[Experience: 2200/2000, level-up available, Talent Tree available, Skill Point gained: 1, Level 9]

[Experience: 200/2500, Talent Tree available, Skill Points gained: 2, Level 10]

[Open the Talent System?]

"Open!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Rhode replied. In less than a second, three different talent trees appeared before him.

In the Dragon Soul Continent, every class had three talent paths available after reaching level ten. They could choose one as their main path or use the stats and skills granted by other talents to support it. These talent stats were also obtained with skill points. This left players confused at the beginning, because they only gained one skill point per level, and not only the talent tree but also skills like swordsmanship and magic required plenty of points to improve their proficiency. This left players with very few skill points to distribute at first. Fortunately, after entering the middle tiers, players could obtain extra skill points to improve their skills through Awakening Scrolls and by completing some high-difficulty quests.

Rhode's Summon Swordsman also had three different talent paths: "Summon Master," "Soul Envoy," and "Hell Lord."

The "Summon Master" gained additional summoned spirits for its wielder every few levels. The "Soul Envoy" focused on strengthening the power of summoned spirits. As for the special power of the "Hell Lord," after its wielder killed a nonhuman creature, there was a chance of converting it into a summoned spirit. Of course, any creature converted this way would be undead.

Each of the three talents had its own strengths and weaknesses. The "Summon Master" relied on numbers, while the "Soul Envoy" focused on quality. But considering how rare magical beasts were and how expensive Soul Cores were, "Hell Lord" was also an excellent choice.

An ordinary person would probably have hesitated, unable to give up any of the options. But for Rhode, it wasn't a problem. After all, he had been playing the Summon Swordsman class for seven years. The insights and techniques he had developed for the class had long since become classics that many players treated like a textbook. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the players who chose Summon Swordsman used Rhode's insights and techniques as the standard for building their characters. So while this choice was difficult for many new players, Rhode had already made up his mind the instant he saw the talent tree.