“I’ve completed the first clause of our contract and have given you the reward for finding me two of the statuettes! Kid, you’re quite lucky to have gain a new Specialization thanks to that little bat! Consider it my gift to you, just don’t die on me! After all, we are sharing a soul bound now! I’m going back to slumber after this so do not disturb me unless necessary! Also kid, you’ve mistaken one thing from the start, Demons are incarnations of Darkness and Chaos so they wouldn’t find any human beings to sign contract with, but on the other hand, the Devils who follow the way of Chaos love to seduce mankind into signing unfavorable contracts, remember that!”
“Wait…”
Before Ye Qi could recover, the weird wolf had already disappeared without a trace. When Ye Qi came to, he had already returned to his normal status. Unable to get any reaction from the weird wolf, Ye Qi grumbled under his breath, “At least you have to give me your name!” as he switched open his character screen.
Name: Ye Qi
Title: Amateur Demon Hunter
Level: 5
Profession: None
Stat:
Strength: 16
Agility: 16
Physique: 14
Perception: 16 (+2)
Charm: 14
Unassigned Stat Point: 1
Specialization: Bestial Wrath; Vampire’s Touch
Unassigned Specialization Point: 1
Skill:
Appraisal: 5, Deception: 5, Focus: 8, Trap Crafting: 4, Medic: 2, Stealth: 18, Hearing: 15, Lore: 2, Lock Picking: 10, Theft: 2, Exploration: 10, Firearms: 25, Cold Steel: 20
Unassigned Skill Mastery Point: 7
Bestial Wrath: Your experience growing up among animals means that you have excellent prey-and-predator instinct. Effect: Perception +2.
Vampire’s Touch: You would become stronger as the fight draws on due to a special form of energy residing within you. Effect: After activation, you will gain 1 percent Health recovery every time you come into physical contact with your opponent(s) during combat, effect lasts for 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1/day.
Even though Ye Qi had lost the two statuettes, his strength and agility did not decrease but increase. Ye Qi closed his eyes to feel his newfound energy coursing through his veins. Thanks to this increase, Ye Qi was confident that, even facing his mentor, John, the match would end in a draw. If he used the unassigned Stat points on both strength and agility, then winning his teacher was not an impossibility. However since Ye Qi did not use the Stat point even before accepting this difficult quest, he obviously wasn’t going to waste them simply just to accomplish something ludicrous like winning a match with John.
Another rewarding find was definitely the new Specialization, Vampire’s Touch. Even though it would only recover one percent Health during combat, especially for one-on-one duel, the power would truly shine in a massive brawl.
Of course, aside from all of these rewards, reaching level 5 was the thing that made the young Demon Hunter most excited.
“Level 5, I’ve finally reached this goal, didn’t the system say I can choose a profession…”
“Do you wish to choose a profession?”
“Yes!”
Ye Qi answered without hesitation. Instantly, his world darkened and stars lit up all around him. Several exceptionally bright stars above Ye Qi’s head moved to form a milky way that crossed the sky. Among all these stars, four of them seemed to be suspiciously close to Ye Qi, like he could reach out to catch them. Ye Qi realized with a start that they were falling down at him. Just before they would hit Ye Qi, they stopped and then Ye Qi realized the true identity of these four “stars”—they were black cards the size of a billboard. Their edges were carved with ancient looking patterns and there was a distinct icon in the middle of each one.
From left to right, they were long sword, shield, dagger and staff.
“Reached level 5, you may now choose a Junior Profession: Warrior, Knight, Thief, Mage.
Warrior: Can equip any armour and weapon. A warrior can be a staunch guardian who saves others from misery, a ruthless marauder or brave adventurer.
Profession Perks:
Skill Mastery Point gain each level: +2
Gain a new Specialization every four level
Gain a new Stat point every four level
Profession level 1: Gain Skill Mastery in Armour, Cold Steel and Firearms
Profession level 3: Gain Specialization, Robust
Profession level 5: Gain Specialization, Follow-up Strike
Robust: You’ve gained impressive stamina through your training. Effect: Physique +1
Follow-up Strike: A combat skill mastered through hundreds of battles. Effect: After successfully landing a hit, you have a chance to follow-up with another hit or attack another enemy within a five mile radius.
…
Knight: Can equip any armour and weapon. A dexterous user of shields who can block all forms of attack or use it the deliver devastating blows. The Eight Holy Law of the Knight: Humility, Honor, Bravery, Sacrifice, Kindness, Honesty, Fairness, Intelligence. A friend of the people.
Profession Perks:
Skill Mastery Point gain each level: +2
Gain a new Specialization every four level
Gain a new Stat point every four level
Profession level 1: Gain Skill Mastery in Armour, Cold Steel and Shield
Profession level 3: Gain Specialization, Robust
Profession level 5: Gain Specialization, Shield Slam
Shield Slam: The key defending item becomes a devastating weapon in your hands. Effect: Slam into your enemy with shield, causing 120% damage, 10% knockback. Cooldown: 5/day.
…
Thief: They are the trickster who could manipulate the environment to confuse and befuddle their enemies. Jack of all skills and on rare occasion, master of all. Wanderers have sixth sense that will warn them of imminent danger…
…
Mage: A learner and practitioner of arcane arts. They normally avoid close quarter combat and due to the need for mobility, are unable to equip any armour. A mage can focus on a specific school to become an Elementalist, which greatly improve the effect of their magic, however, in exchange they will have to surrender other schools of magic which they did not choose to focus on…
…
“System detects that your Detection has reached 16 and strength, agility and physique has reached 14. You have satisfied the condition to unlock a hidden profession. Do you wish to unlock it?”
Ye Qi picked yes without hesitation.
Ye Qi truly had a hard time choosing among the four available options. If following his original plan, Ye Qi would select the Mage—there were simply too many qualities within Ye Qi that made him a perfect Mage. In fact, Ye Qi believed being a Mage was no different from an Apostle and he had always been interested in pretending to be one. However, when he saw Mage could not perform well in close-quarter combat, he hesitated—the Apostles were so powerful because other than mastery of magic, they also had great physical prowess. An Apostle who could only do damage from afar? That was unheard of! He might pretend to be an Apostle but he still would be torn apart in combat!
Losing the ability to fend for himself at close range and would easily die from being ambushed, that was definitely not a prospect Ye Qi was looking forward to! However, he was unwilling to give up his dream to pursue other professions either. Therefore, when the system offered the possibility of hidden professions, he chose yes immediately—according to his understanding of such mmorpg games, hidden professions were normally more powerful than official professions.
After Ye Qi chose yes, another black card fell from the sky. However, different from before, the patterns around this new card was in gold, unlike the previous ones which were in silver.
The icon on the cards was different as well, it was a living dragon. Even though Ye Qi was not familiar with the looks of an Eastern Dragon, he was still impressed by its presence.
“Hidden profession: Draconeer unlocked.
Draconeer: A natural affinity to magic. Draconeers do not rely on textbooks or mentors, but themselves and the world in their path of training. Powerful in close-quarter combat with their mastery over light armour and dexterous sword skills. Certain draconeers believe they are descendants of the Dragon. This might not be unbelievable since it is common knowledge that extremely powerful dragonfolk could morph into human form and quite often romance the common human folk…
Profession Perks:
Skill Mastery Point gain each level: +3
Gain a new Specialization every three level
Gain a new Stat point every three level
Profession level 1: Gain 4 Level 0 Spell and 2 Level 1 Spell; Gain Specialization, Battle Mage; Gain Specialization, Spell Identification, Arcane Knowledge
Profession level 2: Gain 1 Level 2 Spell and Gain 1 additional level 1 Spell.
Profession level 3: Gain 1 Level 3 Spell, Gain 1 additional level 2 Spell. Gain Specialization, Intense Focus
Profession level 4: Gain 1 Level 4 Spell, Gain 1 additional level 3 Spell.
Profession level 5: Gain 1 Level 5 Spell. Gain 1 additional spell for all the levels beneath 5. Perception +1
Combat Mage: Ability to cast spell in the middle of combat. Effect: Gain the ability to move during casting.
Intense Focus: Your natural tendency for calm thinking means that you work more efficient than others. Beneficial for spell casting and learning. Passive Effect: Increase the power of all spells by 20%
…
It was as Ye Qi expected, the hidden profession was indeed more powerful than official professions!
Instead of every 4 level, Draconeer would have Stat every three levels, that was one level faster than the rest! Furthermore, draconeer could cast spells without losing the ability to deal with close range threats. This was exactly what Ye Qi wanted!
“Yes, profession selection: Dracooner!”
“Selecting profession…”
“Completion of E Quest: First Profession Choice. Reward: 100 experience…”
“C Quest: Second Profession Choice. Select the choice for advanced profession when character level reach 10 and profession level reach 5.”
The character optimization was much more painful than the first time when Ye Qi found the system. It was as if ants were crawling all over his body, Ye Qi gritted his teeth to shoulder the pain. However, the sudden headache did make the young Demon Hunter moan aloud.
Ye Qi felt like his brain was cracking open. He shook and collapsed to the floor. In his daze, Ye Qi swore he saw a figure with a black cape, silver scale armour and thin cutlass appear before his eyes. The figure seemed to be in battle as he dashed across the place, the cutlass in his hands flashing and bursts of flame, ice hail and lightning shooting out of his palm. The tip of the cutlass was like a living viper, lunging at his opponent’s vital weaknesses…
The scene before his eyes became faster like someone had hit the speed up button and Ye Qi’s brain screamed with pain. Finally, he could not withstand it anymore and collapse after unleashing a mighty roar.
“Ye…”
After some time, the Black Market Dealer’s voice pulled Ye Qi out of his unconsciousness. Staring at the Black Market Dealer who was supporting his body, the young Demon Hunter could not help but laugh awkwardly, “How long have I been out?”
“About half an hour, Ye, are you alright?” Marley’s concern made Ye Qi laugh even harder, “Of course, just washed over by fatigue. Marley, everything here should be done! After you clean up everything, remember the rewards you’ve promised me!”
“No problem!”
The Black Market Dealer nodded with ease. Honestly speaking, Marley was still hesitating about wiring the money to Ye Qi before entering the building, however, those hesitation went out the window after he saw the desiccated creature beside the young Demon Hunter and the scary looking Blood Dolls around the room—Certain things had to be left to the experts and experts needed to be paid accordingly for their service. Furthermore, Ye Qi had done him a great deal of favour by holding up his end of the bargain. His claim over Mad Dog’s territory would repay itself in the long run. The Black Market Dealer had learnt that long-term investment was often better than short-term profit ever since claiming his first underground territory.
The Demon Hunter who was lying on the sofa desperately wanted to check his character screen but it was not that convenient while the Black Market Dealer was still around.
Therefore, Ye Qi stood up from the sofa and tried to work some warmth into his body. Then, he squatted down to finish up his quest—to cut off the vampire’s wings. That was the proof that the quest had been a success.
Thankfully, the wings itself were made out of mostly bones or else it would have been sucked dry by the weird wolf already. Ye Qi could imagine the explanation he would have to do to Old Walter should that happen. Even though the vampire wings were a bit dry to the touch, it was enough to prove that he had completed the quest. Of course, the Demon Hunter did not forget about the fangs of the few Blood Dolls.
After placing all the quest items into a makeshift bag formed from the coverlet of the sofa Ye Qi was lying on earlier, Ye Qi collected all the equipment that was still useable from the floor and bad farewell to Marley. He was anxious to check his status so he dashed out of Mad Dog’s territory and crawled into one of the nearby unoccupied dark alleys.
…
Name: Ye Qi
Title: Amateur Demon Hunter
Level: 5
Profession: Draconeer Level 1
Stat:
Strength: 16
Agility: 16
Physique: 14
Perception: 16 (+2)
Charm: 14
Unassigned Stat Point: 1
Specialization: Bestial Wrath; Vampire’s Touch; Combat Mage
Unassigned Specialization Point: 1
Skill:
Appraisal: 5, Deception: 5, Focus: 8, Trap Crafting: 4, Medic: 2, Stealth: 18, Hearing: 15, Lore: 2, Lock Picking: 10, Theft: 2, Exploration: 10, Firearms: 25, Cold Steel: 20, Spell Identification: 10, Arcane Knowledge: 10
Unassigned Skill Mastery Point: 10
Available level 0 spell slot: 4
Available level 1 spell slot: 2
Ye Qi’s eyes burned with excitement reading about the available spell slots—Spells were the main reason why he chose the profession of draconeer. However, before he could get into that, as usual, he assigned his Skill Mastery point first—assigning both Cold Steel and Firearms 5 points.
This bagged him another surprise.
“Firearms skill reached 30, Skill upgraded to Firearms Proficiency…
Firearms Proficiency: Your everyday use of firearms means that you are familiar with how to unleash their damaging potential. Effect: The damage of firearms increase by 10%”
The sudden information shocked Ye Qi. Since the Skill Mastery did not have an obvious effect like Stat point or Specialization, Ye Qi had been ignoring the Skill Mastery points. However, from what the system just told him, that was untrue! Even though it was only a 10% increase, the damage increase affected all types of firearms, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers! Even though the effect might not be obvious with a pistol, it would definitely be discernible with a rocket launcher! Furthermore, this was only a Proficiency level, who knows there might be even more mastery thresholds later on? If there was, how much power it could still provide?
This made Ye Qi excited. After noticing the effect of firearms proficiency, Ye Qi desperately wanted to find out the effect of other skills after levelling up. However, he knew he had to be patient, even with the Op-ness of his new profession, maxing out all the Skill Mastery could take forever.
Ye Qi suddenly realized most of these skills, he learnt them through John’s training and not given by the system! A thought cropped up in his mind, could it be that these skills could be gained and levelled up through normal training?
Of course, this was merely a hypothesis, Ye Qi would have to try it out first before it can be confirmed, however, this was not yet time for that yet—After assigning the Skill Mastery point, Ye Qi moved to assign the Stat point he had accumulated before into Perception, increasing it to 17—From the introduction to the draconeer profession, the most important Stat was most likely Perception that was related to spell casting! Since Ye Qi had chosen to walk the path of a draconeer, of course, he had to focus on the Stat most relevant to him! Regarding Specialization, Ye Qi held off making a choice, even though there were new options in the system like Heavy Armour, Ye Qi was not satisfied—After gaining three Specializations, Ye Qi’s standard had become unconsciously high. He was not going to settle with Specialization that could not improve his profession’s prowess or the growth of his own Stat.
After dealing with all that, Ye Qi finally could focus on the choice of spells.
“Do you wish to select Level 0 and 1 spell?”
“Yes!”
“Opening the list for level 0 and 1 spell!”
Instantly, a list with spell names appeared before Ye Qi’s eyes. At the same time, the system audio explained to Ye Qi the details of spellwork.
“Spell can be delineated into eight general classes: Invocation, Enchantment, Protection, Conjuration, Necromancy, Transformation and Divination [1]… From lowest to highest, there are level 0 to level 9… Available level 0 spell slot: 4; Available level 1 spell slot: 2. Please make your choices…
“Level 0 Spell choices: Strengthen Resistance, Pathfinder, Reader’s Companion, Mage’s Reach
“Level 1 Spell choices: Burning Hands, Mage’s Armour”
Through the introduction, Ye Qi knew level 0 spells were also known as tricks. They were practically useless in combat when the caster’s level was too low. Therefore, Ye Qi merely chose several that had the most unique uses. On the other hands, level 1 spells were real spells, their damage could not be underestimated. The choice of spells were many but Ye Qi’s available spell slots were limited. In the end, Ye Qi chose one offensive spell and one defensive spell.
Burning Hands: Conjure a cone-shaped flame to burn all enemies caught in its range. Effect: Cause 1d4 damage at each level (Maximum damage: 5d4) [2].
Mage’s Armours: Summon a shapeless and formless armour to protect the caster. Effect: Caster gain +4 Armour point.
…
“Mage’s Reach!”
The young Demon Hunter could not help but try out one of the tricks on an empty bottle lying on the floor. Ye Qi cheered twice when the empty bottle levitated into the air as he had ordered it to—He reached out for the bottle and tossed it into the air. Then, he pulled the bag on his back and rushed happily towards Old Timer’s Bar—Even though he was overjoyed from many tricks he was given to play with, the young Demon Hunter had not forgotten about the quest giver.
[1] The raw also only gave me seven… So I too have no idea what’s the eighth type.
[2] Probably some D&D reference. I don’t play D&D so I wouldn’t know.