War God Hall

Wu Shaozhen quickly finished his meal, returned home, put on his helmet, and logged in. Every second counted now; he couldn't afford to waste much time. If he wanted to be stronger than everyone else in the game, he had to work harder than they did. Those rich players had gaming pods and didn't even need to log out, so his only option was to grind like mad.

When he logged back in, he was still standing in Jinling City's Class Change Hall. He immediately checked his inventory. He hadn't looked at the two Skill Books the system had rewarded him with yet. The sight of them, especially the golden one, made his breathing quicken. All his earlier frustration vanished.

[Immortal Body] Special passive skill (unique): Each time you kill a monster whose level is no lower than your own, your maximum Health permanently increases by 1.

"This skill is definitely every bit as good as my Talent, and it's unique, too. Looks like even heaven wants me to rise to the top! Assassins already have the most terrifying burst damage, but what would it be like if one were even tankier than a Shieldguard? How hopeless would their opponents feel?"

The price would be unimaginable if he sold it, but there was no way he would sell a skill like this. It was unique! Besides, he wasn't short on money anymore. With trembling hands, he took the priceless Skill Book from his inventory and silently willed himself to learn it. Only when he saw the skill appear in his skill list did he finally feel reassured. Until he'd actually learned it, it all felt too unreal. He looked at the other Skill Book in his inventory:

[Void]: Clears all negative effects from yourself and shifts your body into void space, making you untargetable for 1 second. Mana cost: 100. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Requirement: Assassin.

Another godly skill! Wu Shaozhen hurriedly learned it. Either of these two skills was worth an incalculable amount. Dragging myself through that hunger to take first place was worth it.

After learning this skill, he now had six skills in his skill list, including the Assassin's two basic skills.

[Insight]: View information on monsters up to 10 levels higher than yourself. No cost. No cooldown.

[Extreme Speed]: Increases Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 50% for 30 seconds. Mana cost: 50. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

[Stealth]: Enter an invisible state. Movement Speed decreases by 30%. Duration: 5 minutes. Consumes 1 Mana per second. Cooldown: 1 minute. Attacking, being attacked, or being touched will end invisibility. It can also be canceled manually. Note: Bosses more than 10 levels higher than yourself and normal monsters more than 30 levels higher than yourself can see through invisibility. An Archer's Eagle Eye can also reveal you.

[Backstab]: Move behind the target and attack, dealing 150% physical damage and ignoring 50% of the target's defense. Mana cost: 30. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

[Immortal Body] Special passive skill (unique): Each time you kill a monster whose level is no lower than your own, your maximum Health permanently increases by 1.

[Void]: Breaks crowd control and clears all negative effects from yourself, shifting your body into void space and making you untargetable for 1 second. Mana cost: 100. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Looking at these skills, Wu Shaozhen was itching to go grind monsters right away, but he held himself back. First, he needed to explore the Main City and see if there were any quests along the way.

Wu Shaozhen left the Class Change Hall and stepped onto the street. Most of the buildings lining the main road provided everyday necessities: weapon shops, clothing shops, jewelry shops, medicine shops, general stores, and the like.

He entered a weapon shop and opened its purchase menu. His face instantly darkened. What the hell? They're stealing my business! They sell all kinds of plain equipment here. Doesn't that mean I won't be able to sell mine anymore?

Luckily, he'd disposed of all his plain equipment back in the Novice Village and made the money there was to be made. That thought helped him let it go. It didn't matter anymore. Besides, plain equipment above level 10 had level requirements to equip it, so players probably wouldn't want it in the future anyway.

Aside from buying and selling weapons, the weapon shop also taught the profession skill Weapon Forging. Once you learned it, you could forge your own weapons. Each player could learn up to three profession skills, but Wu Shaozhen wasn't planning to learn any. They took too much time, especially early on, when they cost money and time only to produce lousy equipment. He'd be better off spending that time killing a few bosses.

The clothing and jewelry shops were probably much the same. At the general store, he bought two Town Portal Scrolls for 10 Silver Coins each-a total rip-off. Then he spotted a Map Scroll priced at 1 Gold Coin.

"What costs that much?" Wu Shaozhen took a closer look:

[Map Scroll]: Activates the map feature upon use. This scroll records monster distribution within a 10-kilometer radius of Jinling City.

"Seriously? I was wondering why this game didn't have a map! Good thing the Novice Village wasn't that big, or I'd have gotten lost. So you have to buy a [Map Scroll] to activate it. One Gold Coin-what a rip-off."

Despite his complaints, Wu Shaozhen paid without hesitation. After all, he was now carrying a fortune of over ninety Gold Coins, and every player would need one of these.

He used the scroll after buying it, and the map icon immediately lit up in his interface. He opened it, and sure enough, it displayed the terrain and monster information within a 10-kilometer radius. Everything beyond that was black and required him to explore it himself. The map would automatically reveal and record any places a player visited.

"Not bad. Worth the money," Wu Shaozhen murmured, then continued exploring Jinling City. The city was huge. Aside from the service NPC areas, there was also an NPC residential district filled with all sorts of residents. Some might offer special quests, but there were plenty of residents and very few quests. Finding one came down to luck, so he'd take them as they came. Special quests generally offered pretty good rewards.

Next was the player trading area, where players could set up stalls and trade freely without paying fees. It was much fairer than the Auction House. There were also shops for sale there. Players could put equipment in a shop to sell without having to stay there themselves, which was far more convenient than running a stall. However, shops had to be purchased with Gold Coins, and they were ridiculously expensive. Honestly, Wu Shaozhen really wanted one. Selling his loot through a shop would save him a lot in transaction fees. But when he asked and learned that prices started at over ten thousand Gold Coins, he gave up on the idea. The Auction House was still more convenient.

Beyond that, there were the Arena, restaurants, the City Lord's Manor, and more. The sheer variety left Wu Shaozhen dazzled.

As he wandered, he came to a huge building on the same scale as the Class Change Hall. Three large characters above it read, "War God Hall."

Curious, Wu Shaozhen went inside. Lifelike statues stood along both sides of the enormous War God Hall, with a passage running between them. At the end of the passage was a swirling portal.

Wu Shaozhen approached a statue of a middle-aged man and read the inscription carved into it:

Holy Light Calendar, year 356. War God Glib single-handedly slew dozens of Starshine-tier magical beasts and held off an Immortal-tier magical beast for two full hours before falling in battle! Granted the title of War God and enshrined in the War God Hall!

He then approached a statue of a noble-looking woman with silver hair and read its inscription:

Holy Light Calendar, year 487. Silver Ice Mage God transformed herself into a Forbidden Spell, freezing three thousand li and sealing the Evil Demon Lord and the million magical beasts under his command in ice. For her immense contribution to humanity's survival, she was granted the title of Mage God and enshrined in the War God Hall.