The Legend

The day had finally arrived.

After what seemed to be eternity, Ryan had finally reached the tenth level of the Hallowed Heaven. It took him ten days to achieve this feat. With this in mind, he knew his leveling speed was incredibly slow.

Others had reached the fifteenth level in ten days which was a phenomenal pace, but for him, it was understandably different. After all, he was a casual player, working as a delivery driver during the day, and playing for a few hours at night. That meant he only leveled up once a day on average which made him furious.

Although he was a newbie with little experience, at this snail's pace of leveling up, he didn't know when he would ever catch up with the high-level players.

Thinking about the grand prizes, he knew there was no time. He quickly attached the neurological patches to his head and upload his consciousness into the game server. It was nine PM when he returned to Eric Town. This was a newbie-only village, and there weren't many people left.

Today, he would be making an important decision; he would be choosing his permanent class. Once done, there was no going back. The game made sure of that.

Looking at the different classes, he was unsure which class to choose. Wearing shoddy gear, he hesitated for a while before the class instructors, feeling conflicted. He'd heard that becoming a warrior was too gear-dependent, unsuitable for a newbie like him.

Choosing the mage class was out of the question; his skills weren't up to par. The priest class was too passive in the early game, lacking excitement and team support. Lastly, becoming an archer or assassin meant he lacked PvP skills; in PvP battles, it would be suicide on his part.

After much thought, he decided to switch to the warrior class. He had heard there was a guardian-style warrior build; its damage output was average, but its survivability was high, which seemed suitable for him. So he went up to the strong warrior instructor.

The warrior instructor was a burly man in his forties, carrying a sharp greatsword on his shoulder, and with his strong muscles exposed, he displayed a rugged appearance.

Ryan stepped forward and said. "Sir, I want to enroll as a warrior."

The warrior instructor sized up Ryan a few times and said, "It seems you have met the class requirements. Then please select your talent."

The so-called "talent" referred to the choice of the warrior's subclass.

Ryan hesitated for a moment, then asked half-consciously. "Sir, which talent should I choose?"

The warrior mentor smiled and said, "That's your choice to make, but there are two types of warrior talents: Guardian and Berserker. Before you choose, let me give you a brief introduction. Warriors with the Guardian talent have high defense, can equip shields, and have the strongest survivability. Warriors with the Berserker talent cannot equip shields, but their combat power is extremely strong. Now, you choose."

[Host, please select your career talent]

Ryan pondered for a moment after receiving the system's notification. The Guardian Warrior build shouldn't require much skill, but its damage output would be mediocre, making leveling up too tiring. The Berserker Warrior build, on the other hand, boasts powerful damage output, although its defense was inferior. But with practice, leveling up wouldn't be too slow. Okay, Berserker Warrior it was.

At the last minute, Ryan changed his mind from becoming a guardian to choosing the Berserker Warrior build.

[Congratulations on successfully becoming a Berserker! You have received a green-quality sword as a system reward. You can now find an instructor to learn skills]

He was overjoyed and quickly opened his backpack to take a look. Inside it was really a green sword.

Sword of the Warrior [Quality - Green]

Level: 10

Required Classes: Berserker Warrior, Guardian Warrior

Attack: 15-30

Strength +5

This must be the best weapon Ryan has ever seen. He was currently equipped with nothing but plain wooden planks, which were the worst of the worst.

With a broad smile on his face, Ryan quickly equipped the Warrior's Sword, instantly feeling his attack power increase exponentially.

"Sir, I want to learn some skills," Ryan said to the warrior instructor.

"Hmmm, alright. But you can only learn three skills at the moment, and you'll have to pay a learner's f*e of 10 gold coins." The warrior instructor said with a serious expression.

Ryan was speechless, his mood instantly plummeting to the point of despair. He actually had to pay a learner's f*e? All he had was 12 gold coins; wasn't this going to bankrupt him? But then he thought; he could earn it back in a few more days of hard work with learned skills and better weapon.

So Ryan took out 10 gold coins and handed them to the warrior instructor, but secretly felt extremely distressed.

[Congratulations! You have learned the Berserker skill, Berserk Power]

[Congratulations! You have learned the Berserker skill, Heroic Blade]

[Congratulations! You have learned the Berserker skill, Wild Roar]

Ryan couldn't wait to open the skill bar and take a closer look.

Berserk Power - Beginner, Proficiency 0000/0000.

Heroic Blade - Beginner Level, Proficiency 0000/0000.

Wild Roar - Beginner, Proficiency 0000/0000.

After observing for a while, Ryan was quite satisfied. Despite being a newbie, he had gained some experience. All three skills were practical, and their combined use when killing monsters would save a lot of effort. Especially Berserk Power, a status skill that increased critical hit rate and critical hit damage by 10%. It would be incredibly powerful once he had better equipment.

Looking at his own attributes again, Ryan felt much more at ease.

Game Name: Unholy Saint

Level: 10

Class: Berserker

Health: 550

Magic Power: 95

Attack: 15-35

Defense: 5-10

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 0

Physical condition: 0

Agility: 0

Reputation: 0

Luck: 0

All resistances: 0

Attribute Enhancement: 0

According to the game's mechanics, 1 point of Strength increased 1 point of Attack. Ryan's Hero's Sword had increased by 5 points of Strength, which translated to 5 points of Attack, bringing his current Attack to 10-35. For the average player, that's quite low, but for Ryan, it was more than double what it was before.

Ryan closed the attribute panel, went straight to the alchemist shop, spent all his remaining two gold coins, and bought a bunch of intermediate red and blue potions. Now that he was ready, it was time to find a place to level up.

Level ten monsters weren't enough for him; he wanted to find monsters of even higher levels, at least level twelve. He'd heard that killing monsters of higher levels was the fastest way to level up.

After thinking for a while, he came up with a good leveling spot: the Dark Cave.

A few days ago, he went there with a large group of players. The monsters inside were all level twelve skeletons. Unfortunately, Ryan was only level eight at the time, and he was instantly killed as soon as he entered. Every in-game death was traumatic.

Now that he had changed class, he shouldn't die so quickly if he went back.

Having made up his mind, Ryan immediately walked to the dark cave.

Currently, the highest level player in Hallowed Heaven was only level sixteen, and the level two main city had not yet been opened. Therefore, the leveling speed of those high-level players had also slowed down because they couldn't find better leveling spots, so their speed would definitely be slower.

The Dark Cave, however, was a truly terrifying place. It had four levels, and the Dark Cave was merely the entrance. Inside lied the Dark Palace, where level twelve monsters were spawned. Further in was the second level of the Dark Palace, where level fifteen monsters spawned from. And beyond that was the third level, where level eighteen monsters were made. As for the fourth level, no one had ever entered it.

These days, many clans and guilds have gathered in the Dark Palace to level up, and due to competition for monsters, numerous battles have broken out. Therefore, the second and third floors were the most lively places.

Ryan was new to the area and unfamiliar with the situation, so he dared not venture deeper. He cautiously passed through the dark cave and stepped into the first phase of the cave.

[Battle prompt: You have entered the first level of the Dark Palace. Please proceed with caution]

Ryan became more vigilant. Looking ahead, he saw a dark, gloomy landscape filled with blood mist, and the ground littered with bones and bloodstains. It was as if he had entered a battlefield of carnage, a truly terrifying and horrifying sight.

In every corner of the main hall, there lurked monsters with white bones—skeletal spearmen.

Ryan stopped and checked the monster's attributes.

Skeleton Lancer (Green-named Monster)

Level: 12

Health: 750

Attack: 50

Defense: 30

Ryan was startled, thinking to himself, "It's a green-named monster. No wonder I was instantly killed last time without even figuring out what was going on."

Green-named monsters were indeed twice as fierce as ordinary monsters, and they gave more experience too.

This was the prime time for players to log in and level up.

Several low-level players were frantically leveling up on the first floor of the Dark Palace.

Ryan found a secluded corner where monsters and players were scarce before engaging in combat. He first unleashed a Berserk Power spell, increasing his critical hit rate and damage by 10%, then lunged at a lone skeleton spearman, activating his Berserk Hero Sword and unleashing a flurry of sword strikes.

The skeleton spearmen, under attack, immediately wielded their spears in retaliation.

Fortunately, Ryan now possessed some offensive power, barely managing to break through the skeleton spearman's defenses, each strike reducing the spearman's health by over 50 points.

However, enduring the skeleton spearman's attacks head-on was still a serious challenge for him, as his defense was too low, causing his health to plummet rapidly, dropping at least fifty points each time, almost equal to the skeleton spearman's.

Ryan kept chugging red potions, and after taking over the class, his attack frequency was much faster than before, so the skeleton spearmen lost health faster than him. But even so, he still faced the possibility of being instantly killed at any time.

Grrrrrh! Ryan let out a wild roar, the sound as deafening as thunder.

The skeleton spearman was suddenly dizzy and stood there swaying, unable to move.

Ryan was extremely happy, thinking to himself, "It really works. I should have roared first; it would have saved me so much energy."

He launched another fierce attack, his own health fluctuating around 200, and after a great deal of effort, he finally managed to defeat the skeleton spearman.

The skeleton spearmen dropped a pile of copper coins and a piece of equipment that shimmered green.

Happily, Ryan picked up the copper coins and counted them; there were 50 in total, quite a generous sum. Then he picked up the equipment and saw that it was a piece of armor.

Warrior Armor: Green Quality

Level: 10

Restricted classes: Berserker, Guardian Warrior

Defense: 5-15

Strength +5

Ryan couldn't stop laughing. He had been worried about not having any armor to protect himself, and now the skeleton spearmen had dropped it. He quickly put it on.

Immediately, his attributes underwent a series of changes: defense increased to 5-22, and attack increased to 15-40. Not only did his defense increase, but his attack also improved.

It seemed that choosing the Berserker Warrior build was the right decision.

Just then, Ryan's voice call rang. It was from his good friend Teagan. Teagan was Ryan's only friend in real life, and they were very close.

"Ryan, where are you ? Have you changed your class yet?" Teagan had just logged in and was already level 12, having chosen the Warlock class.

"It's changed, Berserker Warrior!" Ryan replied excitedly.

"Damn, you dare to choose a profession that costs a lot of money? You'll suffer later on."

"Maybe not."

"That's because you just started playing."

"Well, if it doesn't work out, I'll delete the account and start over."

"That will cost you greatly, you know."

"Yea, so hopefully, it all works out fine."

"By the way, where are you? I'll come find you."

"The dark cave."

"Hm?" Teagan was speechless with surprise.

"Are you coming or not?" Ryan asked as he unleashed the Berserk skill, then resumed fighting monsters.

"The dark cave? Aren't you afraid of dying?" Teagan exclaimed in astonishment.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"What's there? The last time I had my head cut off, do you know how many minutes I spent in front of the mirror, checking if my real head was still there?!!"

"You turned out fine, didn't you? Forget about the past. Come on over, we can fight monsters faster together." As he was speaking, Ryan let out another wild roar, stunning the skeleton spearman in front of him. He then slashed wildly with his sword, knocking the spearman to the ground.

A golden light shone down, and he felt a warmth all over his body—he had leveled up!

"Is it that easy to fight there?" Teagan asked hesitantly.

"I guess! I leveled up after killing just two monsters." Ryan was grinning from ear to ear. Leveling up by killing green-named monsters above his level was indeed incredibly satisfying.

Upon closer inspection, the skeleton spearman dropped a bunch of copper coins and a piece of green, shimmering equipment—a helmet.