"Completion of D- Quest: The Fight over Vampire's Wings. Reward: 500 Experience…"
Following this audio reminder, the voice from earlier was like a match that lit up the explosive keg that was the second floor of Old Timer's Bar. Those who knew Ye Qi looked at the young Demon Hunter with widened eyes, those who didn't know him started to ask about him from people around them. Instantly, other than the space directly next to Ye Qi, the bar was noisy like a night market.
"Dear customers, Old Timer's Bar is now closed for business, sorry for the inconvenience! Do come back tomorrow."
The merchant corralled Ye Qi into a small door behind the bar counter as he chased the rest of the room out—this was the merchant's private room, normally only he alone was allowed entry. Even if Ye Qi was John's disciple, he had never seen the inside of this room before. This was his first time.
Therefore, as he entered, he started to study his surroundings. However, to the young Demon Hunter's disappointment, this place was even smaller than his hostel room. It had no furniture beyond the single bed and a bedside table, the room was also painted in a monochrome colour, which reminded Ye Qi instantly of a jail cell… No, as the young Demon Hunter thought about it, this was worse than a jail cell, at least the jail cell would have a toilet stool…
"Ye, when did you awaken?"
The merchant cut straight to the point and Ye Qi who expected this answered with ease.
"During this mission! My opponent happened to be a Noble Vampire and when he had me in his grasp, I thought I was dead but before I knew what was happening, fire was exploding from my body…"
Ye Qi's explanation sounded quite believable, because other than the few unusual cases, most Apostles had their awakening during life-threatening situation.
"Noble Vampire, you say…" The merchant's brows frowned but they quickly relaxed, "Ye, you have done such a wonderful job this time! You have not only killed a Noble Vampire but also have awakened into an Apostle! John must be so proud of you. You have even surpassed him because he had spent seven years in the job before he managed to take out his very first Noble Vampire! Ye, congratulation on finishing this quest!"
"Completion of C+ Quest, Curious Expansion. Reward: 5000 Experience…"
"Congratulations, your character has levelled up to level 6, your profession to level 2. Your wounds, and mana have been fully recovered. You have been rewarded with ten Skill Mastery Points."
As the merchant said so, it was registered by the system audio. It brought immense joy to Ye Qi. Even though he had predicted the level up from completing this C+ quest, when it was confirmed, it was still quite exciting and Ye Qi could not wait to pull up his character screen.
"Ye, since you have awakened, you should go register at the Headquarters and take the test to gain the official Apostle title!" The merchant continued babbling on his own, "I will write you a recommendation letter in a bit and you take it and go to the Headquarters…"
"Old Walter, wait, the test for Apostle is only in December right? It's only August, there are still four months! Don't get ahead of yourself!" Ye Qi who had his own plan interrupted the merchant, "I plan to meet up with John to tell him the good news in person before I head to the Headquarters!"
After all, Ye Qi had already decided to meet up with John after finishing the C+ Quest. Now that the quest was done, he had to carry out his original plan. The test for Apostle? As he said before, there were still four months to go.
The merchant nodded slowly, "Yes, after all, John is your mentor, you should tell him the good news! In any case, you are just a two-month old rookie and John is a veteran with over twenty years of experience, so theoretically speaking, you are not supposed to go the area where he's at! However, since you've already awakened, then I shall announce, Demon Hunter Ye Qi from Tarlin State is to venture to Winter Forest to help Demon Hunter John with his mission!"
"C+ Mission: Assist John. Head to Winter Forest as soon as possible to assist John who is in trouble. Eliminate all hidden threats."
Ye Qi was surprised to be suddenly given this mission—well, not so surprised by the mission itself but the difficulty of it. The thought of John being a part of it made Ye Qi worry even more.
C+ quest, Ye Qi who had just survived a quest of similar difficulty knew the implication… absolute danger. Even though John was an Expert Demon Hunter, Ye Qi did not think he could finish or even escape this quest unscathed. After all, Ye Qi who trained under John knew how capable his mentor was. John might have experience but on the basis of power level alone, he was no better than Ye Qi at his current state. If he stumbled across an opponent like that Noble Vampire… Ye Qi dreaded to think of the consequences.
Ye Qi's heart started to pound thinking about the possible danger John could be in. After getting more quest information from Old Walter, he left Old Timer's Bar with the merchant's blessing.
A handy tool makes a handy man.
After leaving Old Timer's Bar, the Demon Hunter did not head towards Winter Forest immediately but instead returned to his hostel room at Fraser Street to get all his gears. Then he opened his character screen. He added five more skill mastery point into Cold Steel and just like Firearms from before, it upgraded into Cold Steel Proficiency.
Cold Steel Proficiency: An everyday contact with melee weapons means that you had honed a masterful control of such weapons. Effect: Increased damage 10% when using Cold Steel.
The remaining five Skill Mastery points, the young Demon Hunter did not apply after noticing the effect from upgraded Firearms and Cold Steel skills. For one, there was no other skill that he could apply where he would achieve the same upgrade effect as Cold Steel and Firearms; For another, Ye Qi wanted to confirm his hypothesis whether the skill mastery could increase through experience and practice.
If his hypothesis was confirmed, then these Skill Mastery points would be more precious than he previously believed—it was common knowledge that mastering a skill is an uphill battle. To put it simply, the skills could be improved easily at early stages but it would require a lot of commitment and investment to master the skill at a later level. Therefore, if he was proven right, the higher the skill, the more valuable these Skill Mastery points would be.
When others reached a bottleneck in their skill training, Ye Qi would be able to surpass that with a simple application of Skill Mastery points. The thought of that cheat made the young Demon Hunter's lips curve into a smile.
For the newly acquired 1 level 1 spell slot and l level 2 spell slot, Ye Qi already had his plans.
Identify: Using the power of magic to examine the properties of magical items. Effect: Appraisal of various magical items.
Bear's Endurance: Summon a giant bear spirit to bind with the caster's body, granting the caster superhuman physique. Effect: The affected's physique +4, last for 1 minute per level.
Identify was a handy everyday spell, if not for his greater need of an offensive and defensive spell, this would have been the Demon Hunter's choice when he was made to choose the first time. After all, it would have been impossible for him to appraise magical items using his Lore skill of 2.
For his level 2 spell, the reason why Ye Qi chose a defensive spell instead of an offensive one was because of combat. Battle was practically a way of life for Demon Hunters, so his current physique of 14 was definitely not enough. After all, using Burning Hands 4 times would have completely exhausted his health, and the Demon Hunter could not guarantee his future battles can be solved by expanding just one level 1 spell so Bear's Endurance which could improve the Demon Hunter's physique and thus his ability to cast more spell was a fine choice indeed.
After complicated calculation of how each addition of Stat point would be more than half of a normal addition, Bear's Endurance would give the young Demon Hunter the ability to cast Burning Hands 9 times in battle, this was almost twice his current amount. This would give him enough firepower should he needed it.
After settling everything, the Demon Hunter left his room and departed for Winter Forest in his car.