Wu Shaochen gazed at the statues, each one representing the fall of a War God, and his mood naturally grew heavy. He made his way toward the swirling vortex gate, when a system notification echoed:
"Ding! Would you like to challenge the War God's Secret Realm? Each player may challenge it once per day."
"What's the purpose of challenging the War God's Secret Realm?" Wu Shaochen inquired.
Soon, a message regarding the War God's Secret Realm appeared before him: "Within the War God's Secret Realm, a corresponding War God's illusory shadow will randomly materialize. Defeating this shadow will be considered a successful challenge, and upon success, your realm will be elevated. Elevating your realm enhances your potential and talent. For each realm ascended, you will gain a significant number of attribute points, as well as the corresponding War God's Medal. If you perform exceptionally well and gain the approval of the War God's spirit, you may also randomly learn a skill from the corresponding War God!"
"Ah, so this is the place to elevate my realm," Wu Shaochen realized. He had previously thought that his talent feature, where killing a boss of equal or higher level allowed him to stack toxin layers, was related to levels. It turned out it was about realms.
"But what does enhancing talent potential mean? Can my talent level up?" Wu Shaochen wondered. Never mind, he would find out after defeating the challenge.
Having already defeated Black Iron and Silver-tier bosses, there were no more talent features to activate, so he decided to ascend two realms for now. Surely the first player to succeed would also earn a reward.
With that thought, Wu Shaochen promptly chose, "Yes."
The vortex gate opened, and Wu Shaochen stepped inside, only to find himself in a confined space, with nothing but emptiness surrounding him.
Before long, a shadow materialized ahead. It resembled a middle-aged man, though it was too unclear to discern his features. Wu Shaochen quickly cast Insight:
[War God's Illusory Shadow] Black Iron Tier
Level: 11
Health: 80,000
Physical Attack: 400
Physical Defense: 150
Magical Defense: 80
Speed: 60
Skill 1: Azure Slash: A forward slash that deals 150% physical damage to targets in its path. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Skill 2: Block: Blocks the next incoming attack. Cooldown: 5 seconds.
Is that it? Just this? Wu Shaochen scoffed, shaking his head. He had expected something far more formidable. Its stats were only slightly stronger than the Wild Boar King's, and it had one less skill.
Then again, it made sense. The War God's Secret Realm was a solo challenge. If the shadow had skills like the Wild Boar King's, no one else would have a chance. With these stats, a solo challenge was nearly impossible for most players at this stage. Only after class advancement, and with certain levels and gear, would it become feasible.
For Wu Shaochen, however, these stats were hardly intimidating. To save time, he activated Swift, enduring two attacks from the shadow, while layering three stacks of poison on it. Then, he casually walked away, his movement speed of over 100 leaving the shadow, with its speed of 45, feeling sluggish like a snail.
With 66 defense and 1,750 health, Wu Shaochen endured the shadow's two attacks without losing even half his health. After disengaging from combat, his health regenerated at 17 per second, easily returning to full. As for the skills, their damage was underwhelming—a medium health potion easily countered them. As for the Block skill, though it could annoy other players, it was meaningless against him.
With three stacks of poison, the shadow lost 69 health per second, and the defeat came in about twenty minutes.
As expected, after twenty minutes, the shadow collapsed, and the challenge was deemed successful. Wu Shaochen briefly wondered if the War God's spirit would acknowledge him, but before he could receive an answer, he was teleported out. It seemed he had not garnered the War God's approval. Perhaps his low realm had prevented the spirit's attention, or perhaps his underwhelming combat style had failed to impress.
Back at the War God's Hall, a system notification arrived promptly:
"Ding! Congratulations on your successful challenge. Your realm has ascended to Black Iron Tier. You have gained +10 to all attributes, 10 free attribute points, and the War God's Medal of Black Iron Tier. As the first player to reach Black Iron Tier, the system rewards you with +10 free attribute points."
"Huh, no server-wide announcement?" Wu Shaochen thought, relieved. He was beginning to feel like a public enemy at this point.
"Gaining +10 to all attributes is a huge bonus—equivalent to 60 attribute points. Add the 10 free points, and that's 70 attribute points. And this is only the lowest tier of realms. As I progress, the bonuses will only increase."
It seemed that, aside from equipment, realm advancement was also a crucial factor in determining a player's power.
He took out the War God's Medal and looked at its attributes, which were simple but powerful: 10% increase to all attributes. He was pleased.
Turning to the 50 unallocated free attribute points, Wu Shaochen contemplated his options. With Immortal Body, he no longer needed to invest in constitution. Strength wasn't necessary either, and intelligence was irrelevant for him. The three attributes that mattered were agility, root bone, and spirit. Agility was clearly the primary focus, but root bone was important, too, especially with the likelihood of encountering mages and magic-based enemies. His current magical defense was too low, so improving his root bone was necessary. As for spirit, with the increase in skills, his mana would eventually run low, though it was still adequate for now.
After considering the balance between agility and root bone, Wu Shaochen decided to allocate 20 points to agility and 30 to root bone. His agility was already quite high, so he could afford to prioritize defense for now.
With his realm ascended, points allocated, and the medal equipped, Wu Shaochen's strength surged once more.
Name: Chen Feng
Realm: Black Iron Tier
Level: 11
Health: 1,910
Mana: 280
Physical Attack: 157
Magical Attack: 32
Physical Defense: 111
Magical Defense: 70
Movement Speed: 142
Attack Speed: 30%
Critical Hit Rate: 5%
Experience: 2060/30000
Strength: 37+10%=40
Intelligence: 15+10%=16
Constitution: 62+10%=68
Root Bone: 55+10%=60
Spirit: 15+10%=16
Agility: 108+10%=118
This certainly didn't look like the stats of an 11th-level player. After exploring nearly all of Jinling City, Wu Shaochen hadn't encountered any NPCs triggering quests, but it didn't matter. He hadn't expected much. This game was primarily about monster hunting, and aside from the novice village, quests in the main city were few and far between.
It was time to hunt. He hadn't upgraded his talents in a while. He opened the map, studied it for a moment, and then pinpointed a location five kilometers south of the city gate—a plains area inhabited by goblins, all at level 16. There were monsters ranging from levels 17 to 20 in that direction.
After confirming the location, Wu Shaochen sprinted toward it, his movement speed of 142 allowing him to reach the goblin plains in just a few minutes. Seeing the small, grotesque goblins, he immediately cast Insight.
[Goblin]
Level: 16
Health: 18,000
Physical Attack: 320
Physical Defense: 130
Magical Defense: 60
Speed: 45
Skill: Heavy Strike: Swings a wolf-tooth club to deal 155% physical damage to the target.
To be honest, the stat growth in *The Oracle* was incredibly high. The goblins' attack and defense surpassed the Wild Boar King's, with fewer skills. But still, for an ordinary monster to have such stats was ridiculous.
However, for Wu Shaochen, this was no challenge. He activated Swift, boosting his movement speed to over 200 and his attack speed to 80%. He quickly poisoned three of them, enduring two blows before running off, poisoning the next three in turn. With his high defense of 111, the goblins could barely scratch him—one strike only dealt around 200 damage, while their skills could only do a little over 300. He could easily tank three at a time, occasionally needing to pop a potion.