Fourth month, nineteenth day.
Despair Valley.
For the past three days, the humans of the Oasis haven't dared to approach the central area within the Oasis, because the Hero resides there temporarily.
They weren't afraid of the Hero, of course, but rather the giant dragon captured by the Hero. A terrifying pressure enveloped that area.
The mother who lost Xiao Nick wanted to see the giant dragon that killed her child. However, before she could even get close, she was knocked unconscious by that pressure.
Within the Oasis, only Ya La'er, the strongest in terms of power, could approach that area.
Step!
Ya La'er held a meal in her hands and walked on the soft green grass towards the central area near the water source. A thin layer of sweat unconsciously appeared on her forehead.
It wasn't the first time she had approached here, but her body still tensed up uncontrollably. The feeling of genuine terror and panic was like a cat's fur suddenly standing on end upon sensing danger.
"Hoo~ hoo~"
She took two deep breaths, calming the palpitations in her heart.
Ya La'er walked further into the depths. She could already hear the rustling sound of flowing water and saw a not-so-large wooden house come into view.
There was a faint smell of blood in the air, and she could vaguely feel that the temperature here seemed to be higher than the surroundings.
Just by looking at the wooden house.
Ya La'er felt a sense of dread and the urge to drop the food in her hands and turn to flee. This emotion of "Fear" was completely beyond her control.
Even when facing the powerful Gray Dwarf race and the brink of extinction for her entire tribe, Ya La'er had never been this terrified before.
She heard the Hero mention that this seemed to be a power called "Dragon's Might," which could suppress enemies.
It was too terrifying.
Even after being defeated and captured alive by the Hero, it could still release such power.
Ya La'er couldn't imagine how powerful and magnificent the Hero, who could fight and defeat a dragon, truly was.
Ya La'er sighed inwardly. That was a realm she could no longer comprehend.
This unimaginable power filled Ya La'er, who revered strength, with infatuation and worship in her eyes, as well as a longing and yearning.
"Thank you, Ya La'er."
A faint, gentle voice came from inside the house.
Ya La'er's heart trembled slightly with the appearance of this voice, like a believer's uncontrollable excitement and worship after receiving a response from a deity.
She carefully placed the meal in her hands about ten meters away from the wooden house.
"Your, your food is here for now, Hero."
Ya La'er stammered slightly, unsure if it was due to the pressure in the air or if she was simply nervous.
She didn't dare to get closer to the wooden house, afraid that she would make a fool of herself due to the power of the Dragon's Might and be seen by the Hero.
After placing the food down.
Ya La'er then left the area.
"Creak—creak—"
The wooden door opened.
Tang Zheng walked out of the wooden house, his face full of thought and complex ideas. He came to where the meal was placed, sat down cross-legged, and began to eat heartily.
With his current strength, it wouldn't be a problem even if he didn't eat for a few days. However, as a human, breathing, eating, and sleeping wouldn't disappear just because his strength increased.
He had been studying the [True Dragon Lord's Heart] for the past two days. The more he studied it, the more he discovered the uniqueness of this heart. It not only contained alchemy techniques.
It also contained the power of some special magic and rituals.
In short, it was very troublesome.
The Eight Greed Kings possessed the World-Class Item [Nameless Spellbook]. The basic effect of this World-Class Item was to record all the tier magic in the world.
Naturally, this included all the tier magic from the game "YGGDRASIL" before its arrival. Moreover, Tang Zheng couldn't be sure if this World-Class Item had developed other derivative abilities after appearing in the Different World.
After all, in the background story, every World Item was an item condensed from a destroyed world, possessing power comparable to a world.
If this [True Dragon Lord's Heart] was created using an ability derived from the [Nameless Spellbook].
No matter how much he studied it, he would inevitably get no results.
Therefore.
Tang Zheng's current line of thought wasn't to figure out how this heart was made, but how it turned the Dragonkin Ladon into a dragon.
Simply put, he didn't need to know how to manufacture a refrigerator for now, but rather needed to figure out how to use one first.
He didn't gain much in three days, but from the Dragonkin Ladon's mouth, Tang Zheng learned some more information about the Eight Greed Kings.
For example.
Guesses about the individual appearances and races of the Eight Greed Kings, and one thing that particularly concerned him.
The only surviving Dark God among the Six Great Gods 500 years ago, Surshana, did not have a conflict with the Eight Greed Kings at first.
"Based on the timeline, the Eight Greed Kings only suddenly went to war with the 'Dark God' Surshana and killed him after eliminating a large number of Dragon Lords."
"There must have been some irreconcilable conflict, perhaps the Slane Theocracy knows more."
While Tang Zheng was contemplating, he finished the large meal in front of him, then got up and walked back into the wooden house.
Creak!
The wooden door closed again.
Inside the empty house, Dragonkin Ladon lay unconscious on the ground, still under the control of All-Race Charm.
Tang Zheng speculated that the "Dragon Might" emanating from the opponent's body was likely from the True Dragon Lord's Heart.
It didn't affect him much, to a negligible degree.
The level difference between the two wasn't significant, and the Valkyrie's Divinely Blessed Body also had strong resistance to various negative statuses.
Tang Zheng didn't look at Dragonkin Ladon for the moment, but instead focused on his Attribute Panel. Besides researching for the past two days, he hadn't forgotten to collect Experience Points.
[Experience Bar: 5500001/360000]
He had collected 4.5 million experience in three days, adding to the previous 1 million experience, accumulating to 5.5 million.
"Enough to raise Dark Knight to max level," a smile appeared at the corner of Tang Zheng's mouth.
In the past, he wouldn't have been able to waste time researching magic and items; just collecting 5.5 million experience points would have been enough to give him a headache.
"Consume experience."
Tang Zheng's heart stirred slightly.
The experience in the Experience Bar began to rapidly decrease.
----
Comprehensive Level: 51
[Experience Bar: 440001/850000]
Classes:
Basic Class: Genius 10Lv (Warrior...)
Intermediate Class: Dark Knight 10Lv
High-Tier/Special Class: ...
----
Along with the 5.5 million experience points being consumed in one go, Dark Knight was also completely raised to max level.
Tang Zheng sat cross-legged in the wooden house, his aura continuously rising with the increase in level. As he broke through level 50, a faint, almost imperceptible stream of light flashed across the surface of his skin.
Different from the numerical increase,
Tang Zheng carefully sensed this time and noticed a change in the level of life emanating from his physical body, from the inside out. Although it was only for an instant, it was incredibly clear.
If he didn't pay close attention, it would be easy to confuse it with the increase in physical strength that occurs when numerical values increase.
"If the 'Hero Domain' from level 28 to 29 was a bottleneck, then level 50 is the second layer of bottleneck."
"Judging by the tier of magic, it belongs to the 8th tier (50-56Lv)."
This thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind. After Dark Knight reached max level, it also completely stabilized.
In an instant!
The light in the entire wooden house seemed to be distorted around Tang Zheng, causing the brightness in the room to drop by several degrees.
A black energy overflowed, turning into a faint black mist that was sometimes visible and sometimes not, forming irregular shapes around Tang Zheng!
Buzz—
The Attribute Panel vibrated.
『Satisfied Class Construction Information』
Tang Zheng's gaze fell on the Attribute Panel, looking at the information that appeared, with a look of 'as expected', but his heart was still a little excited.
『[Genius] Class has been converted to [Paladin]』
『Class Construction Achieved - Low-Tier Class [Paladin 10Lv], Intermediate Class [Dark Knight 10Lv]』
『Triggered High-Tier Class: Fallen Lord』
『Do you wish to take the class?』
"Take the class," Tang Zheng responded in his mind.
...
Class: Fallen Lord
Level: High-Tier Class
Ability Effects:
Passive ·
"Power of Corruption": All attacks or skills can inflict negative attribute erosion damage.
"Fallen Grace": Gains a certain bonus to negative attributes and stealth-type abilities, increasing Holy Attribute Resistance by 20%.
"Heart of Darkness": Gains complete resistance to movement hindrance.
Active Skill:
Spiritual Aura of Depravity: Releases a special aura that covers a 15m radius, inflicting a binding effect on everyone within the area.
Description: Betray that useless faith, the shell is merely a useless vessel, only darkness and despair are eternal, we are the destroyers of order.
(Note: For every 1 level increase, the four attributes (MP, HP, Physical Defense, Magic Defense) increase by 15 points.)
...
—Whoosh!
Following the successful acquisition of the job.
The faint black mist surrounding Tang Zheng rapidly thickened, its surface flickering with a subtle black light, appearing somewhat eerie and terrifying.
He opened his eyes.
A sense of oppression filled the room.
A faint black light flashed in Tang Zheng's eyes. Looking at the black mist wrapped around him, he raised his arm and waved it casually.
Swish!
The black mist completely dissipated.
"It's similar to the situation with [Holy Knight] and [Saintly Master], both are further enhancements of the previous job."
Tang Zheng scanned the job information for [Fallen Lord] on the Attribute Panel, comparing it with [Saintly Master].
He found that the new job seemed more practical.
The Dark Knight's "Power of Pain" and "Power of Corruption" looked somewhat similar.
However, the effect of "Power of Corruption" not only allows negative attributes to be added to normal attacks but also to skills, making the attack methods more diverse.
"The job name is quite impressive, but overall, it's still relatively mediocre," Tang Zheng commented.
Among the job's passive abilities, what surprised Tang Zheng the most was the addition of "complete resistance to movement hindrance." Even the job skill was a range control skill, both being quite practical types.
He raised his hand and grabbed at the void, and a Magic Greatsword appeared in his hand.
"Holy attribute."
The surface of the blade vibrated slightly, and a layer of holy energy covered the Magic Greatsword. Tang Zheng flipped his wrist: "Negative attribute."
The holy energy on the Magic Greatsword immediately twisted and dissipated, replaced by a layer of black energy, which looked somewhat terrifying.
"[Mad Mage] and [Magic Swordsman] can be used together to employ physical attacks with the four elements."
"Now with [Saintly Master] and [Fallen Lord], I can also use holy and negative attributes."
Tang Zheng chuckled lightly. Unconsciously, he realized that he could now use the power of six attributes.
He looked at the resistances he possessed in the Attribute Panel.
...
Curse Complete Resistance, Movement Hindrance Complete Resistance, Fire Attribute Nullification, Poison Resistance IⅠ (below 30Lv), Dark Attribute Resistance (80%), Holy Attribute Resistance (40%), Weapon Additional Specialization (Slash · 100%, Area · 50%)
(PS: New information has been updated in the comment section)
...
"Holy and negative attributes are supposed to be completely opposite, yet now I can use both powers simultaneously." Tang Zheng mused.
He hadn't forgotten that when he was preparing to learn "Undead Summoning," he found that it conflicted with "Angel Summoning."
However, there was no job conflict now, which he assumed was related to the fact that the basic structure of both High-Tier Jobs originated from the basic job [Paladin].
"Next is to level up these two High-Tier Jobs. I wonder if it will trigger a Special Class." Tang Zheng's eyes lit up.
Next.
He continued to downgrade, removing [Dark Knight] from the job structure and only retaining the newly acquired High-Tier Jobs.
Tang Zheng continued to study Dragonkin Ladon's "True Dragon Lord's Heart" and also indirectly learned about the true situation around this Despair Valley from him.
This place was located at the easternmost part of the entire continent, in a very remote location. Apart from Dragonkin Ladon, there were no other strong individuals.
What Tang Zheng was most worried about, such as the existence of other True Dragon Lords or remaining Player forces, also did not exist.
The following night.
Tang Zheng walked out of the wooden house and came to the outskirts of the water source, seeing the two people who were already waiting.
"Hero-sama!"
"Hero-sama!"
Ya La'er and Chief Dieylong quickly spoke respectfully.
Ever since Tang Zheng defeated a giant dragon in front of everyone, the humans in the entire Oasis no longer just showed respect towards Tang Zheng, but also a bit of worship and fanaticism.
"I plan to leave the Oasis tomorrow. I wanted to let you know in advance."
Tang Zheng waved his hand casually, indicating that the two didn't need to be so reserved, and spoke with a smile.
"Ah!"
Ya La'er let out a cry of surprise and quickly looked up: "Hero, you're leaving so soon?"
Last time, the Hero stayed here for half a month. She thought he would stay longer this time.
Ya La'er unconsciously squeezed her pants.
"Ya La'er, the Hero naturally has his own plans," Chief Dieylong reprimanded.
"No need to be so serious, Chief Dieylong."
"I obtained more detailed information about this area from the Dragonkin that attacked you, so I have a new idea," Tang Zheng said gently.
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