Upper Fenghua, April 19th.
Despair Valley.
In the past three days, the Humans of the Oasis haven't dared to approach the central area within the Oasis, because the Hero is temporarily residing there.
They're certainly not afraid of the Hero, but rather of the giant dragon that the Hero captured; that area is shrouded in a terrifying pressure.
The mother who lost Little Nick wanted to see the giant dragon that killed her child, but before she could even get close, she was stunned by that pressure.
In the Oasis, only Yaraal, the most powerful individual, could approach that area.
Step!
Yaraal, holding a meal, stepped on the soft green grass and arrived at the central area near the water source, a thin layer of sweat unconsciously appearing on her forehead.
It wasn't the first time she had approached here, but her body still tensed up uncontrollably, a feeling of deep-seated horror and panic like a cat suddenly fluffing up its fur upon sensing danger.
"Hoo~ Hoo~"
She took two deep breaths to steady her racing heart.
Yaraal walked further in, she had already heard the trickling sound of water and saw a not-so-large wooden house come into view.
There was a faint smell of blood in the air, and one could vaguely feel that the temperature here seemed to be slightly higher than the surroundings.
Just glancing at the wooden house.
Yaraal felt a sense of dread, a thought flashing through her mind to drop the food in her hands and turn to run away; this emotion of "fear" was completely beyond her control.
Even when facing the powerful Gray Dwarf Clan and the entire race was on the verge of extinction, Yaraal had never been as afraid as she was now.
Listening to the Hero mention it, 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.
Yaraal truly couldn't imagine how powerful and magnificent the Hero, who could fight and defeat a dragon, truly was.
Yaraal sighed inwardly, that was already a realm she couldn't comprehend.
This unimaginable power filled the eyes of Yaraal, who admired strength, with fascination and worship, as well as longing and aspiration.
"Thank you, Yaraal."
A faint, gentle voice came from inside the house.
Yaraal's heart trembled involuntarily 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 she was holding about ten meters away from the wooden house.
"Your... your meal is here for now, Hero."
Yaraal stammered slightly, unsure if it was due to the pressure in the air or simply her own nervousness.
She didn't dare to get closer to the wooden house, afraid she would show some unsightly state due to the power of the Dragon's Might and be seen by the Hero.
After placing the food.
Only then did Yaraal leave the area.
"Creak—Squeak—"
Opening the wooden door.
Minori walked out of the wooden house, his face full of thought and complex ideas, and came to where the meal tray was placed, sat down cross-legged, and began to eat heartily.
With his current strength, it wouldn't actually be a problem if he went hungry for a few days, but as a Human, things like breathing, eating, and sleeping wouldn't disappear just because his strength increased.
He had been studying the [True Dragon King's Heart] for the past two days, and the more he studied it, the more he discovered its peculiarity; it not only contained alchemy technology.
It also held the power of some special magic and rituals.
In short, it was quite a headache.
The Eight Greed Kings possessed the World Item [Nameless Spellbook], the basic effect of this World Item was to record all tiered magic in the world.
Naturally, this included all tiered magic from the game "YGGDRASIL" before its descent, and Minori also couldn't be sure if this World Item had developed other derivative abilities after appearing in the Otherworld.
After all, in the background, every World Item was a tool condensed from a destroyed world, possessing the power to rival a world.
If this [True Dragon King's Heart] was made using an ability derived from the [Nameless Spellbook].
No matter how much he studied it, he would inevitably get no results.
Therefore.
Minori's current line of thinking wasn't to figure out how this heart was made, but how it turned the Dragonkin Radong into a dragon.
Simply put, he didn't need to know how to manufacture a refrigerator for now, but needed to figure out how to use it first.
He didn't gain anything in three days, but from the Dragonkin Radong's mouth, Minori did glean some intelligence about the Eight Greed Kings.
For example.
Their respective appearances and guesses about their races, and one thing that particularly concerned him.
Sursana, the only surviving Dark God among the Six Great Gods 500 years ago, didn't 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' Sursana after eliminating a large number of Dragon Kings, and then killed him."
"There must have been some irreconcilable conflict, perhaps the Slane Theocracy knows something."
While Minori was contemplating, he finished all the food in large mouthfuls, then got up and walked back into the wooden house.
Click!
The wooden door closed again.
Inside the empty house, the Dragonkin Radong lay unconscious on the ground, still under the control of [Charm].
The "Dragon's Might" spontaneously emanating from him, Minori speculated, likely originated from the [True Dragon King's Heart].
It didn't affect him much, to the point of being negligible.
The level difference between them wasn't significant to begin with, and [Valkyrie's] "Divine Blessing Body" also had strong resistance to various negative statuses.
Minori didn't look at the Dragonkin Radong for now, but focused on his status panel; besides researching for two days, he also didn't forget to collect experience points.
Experience and Level Up
[Experience Slot: 5500001/360000]
He had collected 4.5 million experience in three days, and with the previous 1 million, it had accumulated to 5.5 million.
"Enough to level up [Dark Knight] to maximum level." A smile appeared on Minori's lips.
In the past, he couldn't afford 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."
Minori thought.
The experience in the experience slot began to rapidly decrease.
Overall Level: 51
[Experience Slot: 440001/850000]
Jobs:
Basic Job: Genius 10Lv (Warrior...)
Mid-Tier Job: Dark Knight 10Lv
High-Tier/Special Job:...
As the 5.5 million experience points were consumed and decreased all at once, [Dark Knight] was also completely leveled up to maximum.
Minori sat cross-legged in the wooden house, his aura constantly surging with the increase in level; as he broke through level 50, a faint, shimmering light flashed across the surface of his entire body.
Unlike a numerical increase,
Minori carefully sensed this time, noticing a change in his life level from the inside out of his physical body, although it was only for an instant, it was incredibly clear.
If not paid close attention, it could easily be confused with the increase in physical strength during a numerical increase.
"If the increase from level 28 to 29, the 'Hero Domain', was one bottleneck, then level 50 is the second bottleneck."
"Judging by the tier of magic, it belongs to the 8th tier (Lv 50-56)."
This thought flashed through Minori's mind, and [Dark Knight] completely stabilized after reaching maximum level.
New Job: Lord of Depravity
Instantly!
The light in the entire wooden house seemed to be distorted around Minori as the center, causing the brightness in the room to decrease by several degrees.
A black energy overflowed, turning into a faint black mist that flickered in and out of existence, forming irregular shapes around Minori!
Buzz—
The status panel vibrated.
'Job construction information satisfied'
Minori's gaze fell on the status panel, looking at the information that appeared, wearing an expression of 'as expected', but his heart was still a little excited.
'[Genius] job has been converted to [Holy Knight]'
'Job construction achieved - Low-Tier Job [Holy Knight 10Lv], Mid-Tier Job [Dark Knight 10Lv]'
'Triggered High-Tier Job: Lord of Depravity'
'Do you wish to take the job?'
"Take the job." Minori replied in his mind.
Job: Lord of Depravity
Tier: High-Tier Job
Ability Effects:
Passive·
"Power of Corruption": All attacks or skills can add damage with negative attribute erosion.
"Depravity's Blessing": Gains a certain bonus to negative attributes and stealth-type effects, increases Holy attribute resistance by 20%.
"Heart of Darkness": Gains complete resistance to movement hindrance.
Active Skill:
Lingering Aura: Releases a special aura that can cover a 15m radius, causing a binding effect on everyone within the range.
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, (MP, HP, Physical Defense, Magic Defense) four attributes increase by 15 points.)
——Whoosh!
Along with the successful acquisition of the job.
The faint black mist surrounding Minori rapidly thickened, its surface slightly flickering with black light, looking somewhat eerie and terrifying.
Opening his eyes.
A sense of oppression permeated the room.
A black light faintly flashed in Minori's eyes, looking at the black mist Entanglement around his body, he raised his arm and waved it casually.
Swish!
The black mist completely dissipated.
"Similar to the situation with [Sacred Knight] and [Holy Knight], they are both further enhancements of the previous jobs."
Minori scanned the job information of [Lord of Depravity] on the status panel, comparing it with [Holy Knight].
He found that the new job seemed more practical.
Dark Knight's "Power of Suffering" and "Power of Corruption" seemed somewhat similar.
But the effect of "Power of Corruption" not only allows adding negative attributes to normal attacks but also to skills, making the attack methods more diverse.
"The job name sounds impressive, but overall, it's still relatively ordinary." Minori made his assessment.
Among the job's passive abilities, what surprised Minori 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 the Magic Greatsword appeared in his hand.
"Holy attribute."
The surface of the blade slightly vibrated, a layer of Holy energy covered the Magic Greatsword, Minori flipped his wrist: "Negative attribute."
The Holy energy on the Magic Greatsword immediately twisted and dissipated, replaced by a layer of black energy, looking somewhat terrifying.
"With [Crazy Mage] and [Magic Swordsman], I can use physical attack methods of the four elements."
"Now with [Lord of Sanctity] and [Lord of Depravity], I can also use Holy attribute and negative attributes."
Minori chuckled lightly, realizing that without knowing it, he could already use the power of six attributes.
He looked at the resistances he possessed on the status panel.
Complete Curse Resistance, Complete Movement Hindrance Resistance, Fire Attribute Nullification, Poison Attribute Resistance II (below 30Lv), Dark Attribute Resistance (80%), Holy Attribute Resistance (40%), Extra Weapon Specialization (Slash·100%, AOE·50%)
"Holy and negative attributes are supposed to be completely opposite, yet now I can use both powers simultaneously." Minori mused.
He hadn't forgotten the situation where he found a skill conflict between "Undead Summoning" and "Angel Summoning" when he was preparing to learn it.
However, there was no job conflict now, which he assumed was related to the fact that the basic construction of both high-tier jobs originated from the basic job [Holy Knight].
"Next is to level up these two high-tier jobs, I wonder if it will trigger a special job." Minori's eyes lit up.
Next.
He continued to downgrade, removing [Dark Knight] from the job construction, retaining only the newly acquired high-tier job.
Minori continued to research the Dragonkin Radong's "True Dragon King's Heart", and also indirectly learned about the true situation around this Despair Valley from his mouth.
This place was located at the easternmost edge of the entire continent, a very remote location, and besides the Dragonkin Radong, there were no strong individuals at all.
What worried Minori the most, whether there were other True Dragon Kings or lingering Player forces, also did not exist.
The following night.
Minori walked out of the wooden house and came to the outer area of the water source, seeing the two people who had already been waiting.
"Hero!"
"Hero!"
Yaraal and Chief Yarmanj quickly spoke respectfully.
Since Minori defeated a giant dragon witnessed by everyone, the Humans of the entire Oasis were no longer just respectful towards Minori, but also had more worship and fanaticism.
"I plan to leave the Oasis tomorrow, so I'm telling you in advance."
Minori waved his hand casually, indicating that they didn't need to be so restrained, and spoke with a smile.
"Ah!"
Yaraal exclaimed, quickly looking up: "Hero is leaving so soon."
Last time the Hero stayed here for half a month, she thought he would stay longer this time.
Yaraal unconsciously pinched her pants.
"Yaraal, the Hero naturally has his own ideas." Chief Yarman chided.
"No need to be so serious, Yarman."
"I obtained more detailed intelligence about this area from the Dragonkin that attacked you, so I have new ideas." Minori said gently.