"Nobody will die here!"
Wuwan Liu shouted loudly, looking at the archers standing on the stairs: "Put down your bows!"
The archers exchanged glances, slowly releasing their bowstrings.
Wuwan Liu then looked at 'Yan San', wearing the Evil Ghost Mask, and no one could see his expression.
"Let's call it off this time."
Yan Qing felt a bit strange; based on previous impressions, Wuwan Liu didn't seem like such an easygoing person. But he didn't think much about it, instead noticing his health was only down to one-third. He quickly walked to the corner to eat a 'Blood Replenishing Pill' and 'Roast Chicken', then saw on the screen 'Yan San' devouring roast chicken behind everyone else.
The underground martial arts arena quieted down, and the archers took the opportunity to rest. Despite the Baibao Guards being elite, everyone's arms were surely sore after nearly ten rounds of continuous shooting.
Just as Yan Qing was pretending to be leisurely picking up dropped items, he saw Wuwan Liu walk to a corner of the arena and open a treasure chest there.
"One thousand Spiritual Jade, five bottles of Blood Replenishing Pills, three Refined Steel Ingots."
Wuwan Liu checked the items in the treasure chest and closed it, turning to see 'Yan San' watching him, and said: "Every time you re-enter the Secret Realm, everything inside reappears, including the monsters and treasure chest. Each time the treasure chest will contain the same items, so anyone who is dishonest will be immediately discovered."
It seemed the treasure chests in the dungeon were their most important gains, Yan Qing thought. But the dropped items were the real deal, so not getting anything from the chest wasn't a big deal.
After resting, they continued onward to an underground hall. The hall was filled with treasure chests brimming with jewels and gold, and in the middle of the treasure was a large bed.
Before entering the hall, Wuwan Liu instructed everyone to draw their bows aimed at the left side of the bed, and he himself switched to an iron shield before stepping into the hall.
At the instant Wuwan Liu crossed the threshold, a bewildered voice came from the bed:
"You actually found this place... you have such bad luck."
A middle-aged man with a kindly face got out of bed from the left side; if it weren't for the name "Zhen San Mountain·Zheng Shan" above his head, it would be hard to tell that this seemingly fretting ordinary person was the final BOSS.
Swish!
At this moment, the Baibao Guards fired their arrows simultaneously. If Zheng Shan weren't a coded monster, he'd surely be shot into a pincushion, but he lost less than 10% of his health and calmly drew two straight blades from beside the bed, then—
Swoosh!
He transformed into a swirling shadow, crossing more than ten paces within a few breaths, slashing Wuwan Liu's iron shield with two blades!
"Surround!" Wuwan Liu shouted, and three sword and shield hands dispersed in all directions, crashing their shields toward Zheng Shan!
Still, Zheng Shan continued to hack at Wuwan Liu like it was slicing delicacies, but being surrounded by people on all sides, he couldn't dodge at all. The archery team also switched all their bows to long spears and started stabbing Zheng Shan through gaps.
'Yan San' was already holding a long spear, so naturally, joined in the group beating of Zheng Shan. Zheng Shan's health quickly dropped, reaching one-third when the archery team suddenly retreated. Yan Qing was still confused when he saw Zheng Shan on the screen roar:
"Moon Ring!"
Zheng Shan brandished his double blades, spinning in a circle, and the chilling knife light covered the space within three steps around him. Wuwan Liu and other warriors' shields were deeply marked, but 'Yan San', who was the only idiot without defense, lost 50% health!
Yan Qing's first reaction was: People of this world truly understand the mechanics of BOSS; they should not see health bars (if they could see health bars, they'd realize Yan San has issues), yet they managed to judge exactly when BOSS was using skills.
His second reaction was: Wuwan Liu never intended to let him survive and leave!
If 'Yan San' weren't a coded character, Zheng Shan's skill would surely have seriously injured or even killed him!
Yan Qing put his thoughts into action, maneuvering 'Yan San' to withdraw from the battle circle, against the wall looking gravely wounded, then opened personal storage and quickly consumed medicine. Sure enough, nobody noticed anything wrong, everyone assumed 'Yan San' was doomed and continued savaging Zheng Shan.
When Zheng Shan's health was reduced to a sliver, Yan San immediately rushed over, finishing him off with a single stab!
"You've learned 'Basic Spearmanship', currently level 8"
"Your Qi Blood increased by 0.1"
"Your Spiritual Power increased by 0.5"
"Your agility increased by 0.5"
"You've leveled up to level 10!"
"Congratulations to the player for reaching level 10, would you like to proceed with the first career change? Note: Careers are related to the player's gaming experience and skill proficiency."
Yan Qing chose 'Yes' without hesitation!
The screen displayed three boxes, listing three selectable careers:
"Long Spear Messenger"
"Attribute Bonus: Qi Blood +5, Spiritual Power +2, Agility +5"
"Pierce (White Trait): When the weapon is a long weapon, attack speed +20%."
"Weakness Breakthrough (Blue Trait): When using a long weapon talisman, it's easier to target enemy weaknesses, critical rate +15%."
/
"Defense Messenger"
"Attribute Bonus: Qi Blood +10, Spiritual Power +2"
"Guard (White Trait): Any shield's defense power +15."
"Defensive Counter (Blue Trait): After using shield talisman, your next melee attack will definitely be a critical hit."
/
"Battlefield Messenger"
"Attribute Bonus: Qi Blood +4, Spiritual Power +4, Agility +4"
"March (White Trait): Your movement speed +25 points."
"Weapon Mastery (Blue Trait): You deal an additional 5-point damage when using any weapon talisman."
Among the three careers, both Shield Messenger and Long Spear Messenger were great options, and 'Yan San's spear skill level was the highest. However, there's one issue—they require corresponding weapon talismans to activate their traits.
If the wrong weapon talisman is obtained, these two careers' traits are essentially nullified.
In the game, this isn't a problem because there's a player market, dungeon strategies, and even helpful players—shouting on the local channel about lacking a weapon talisman can get a top-tier item tossed your way by a high-level player.
But in reality, this issue must be considered—'Yan San' probably can't pick and choose talismans; he'll have to accept whatever is available!
Ultimately, why do all careers carry a Messenger suffix?
Because in "Messenger", players, or anyone, don't possess extraordinary abilities. Even if your Qi Blood is like a mountain and Spiritual Power is like the sea, max out your attributes, you can only do things possible for humans, like punch mountains until they explode, or memorize millions of words in a second—but you can't breathe fire, soar through the sky, or raise the dead.
A messenger must rely on talismans to exhibit various wondrous abilities. Different talismans have different effects, and the messenger can only activate the 'command' within talismans, making nature and all things submit.
"By following the command, you act on behalf of the heavens, and thus are called a Messenger."
The flip side is that without talismans, a Messenger is just like any mortal.
This is why Yan Qing must switch to a career that can be immediately useful and quickly get the first talisman. Right at that moment, he noticed, through the corner of the screen, a bright white drop glow on Zheng Shan's corpse!
"Congratulations to the player for switching careers to 'Battlefield Messenger'."
"You gained Qi Blood +4, Spiritual Power +4, Agility +4!"
"You've unlocked Spiritual Power, your current Spiritual Power is: 0/20"
'Yan San's silhouette was outlined in red, and all wounds healed instantly, an unexpected bonus—had he known, he wouldn't have bothered with the blood medicine earlier.
"You... switched to messenger attributes?"
From afar, Wuwan Liu stared directly at 'Yan San', his voice of shock emanating from under the Evil Ghost Mask.