Chapter 24: Temple of the War God

Wu Shaochen quickly finished his meal and returned home. He put on his helmet and logged in. It was now a race against time, and he couldn't waste too much of it. If he wanted to be stronger than others in the game, he had to work harder than them. Those rich players have game storages and don't even need to log out, so he had to grind hard.

Logging in once again, he found himself still standing in the Job Change Hall of Jinling City. The first thing he did was look at his backpack. He hadn't even checked the two skill books that the system had rewarded him yet. But when he saw the two skills in his backpack, especially the golden one, Wu Shaochen felt his breath quicken, and all his previous unhappiness vanished.

[Immortal Body] Special Passive Skill (Unique): Increases maximum health permanently by 1 point for every monster of equal or higher level killed.

"This is definitely a talent skill no less than mine, and it's even a unique skill. It seems like fate wants me to rise. The burst damage of an assassin is already terrifying, but what kind of experience would it be if this assassin is tankier than a guardian? As an opponent, how desperate would one feel!"

The price of this skill if sold would be unimaginable. But it's definitely not something that can be sold. It's a unique skill. Wu Shaochen didn't lack money anymore, so naturally, he wouldn't sell it. Trembling, he took out this invaluable skill book from his bag and silently began to study it. Seeing this skill appear in his skill bar, he finally felt at ease. Otherwise, it would have felt too surreal even if he hadn't learned it yet. Then, he looked at the other skill book in his backpack:

[Void]: Clears all negative effects on oneself, enters a void state where one cannot be targeted for 1 second. Mana cost: 100, Cooldown: 5 minutes. Prerequisite: Assassin.

Another amazing skill! Wu Shaochen quickly learned it. The value of either of these two skills cannot be estimated. It's not in vain that I dragged my hungry body to be the first one to obtain them.

After learning this skill, along with the two basic skills of the assassin, he now had 6 skills in his skill bar.

[Insight]: Allows viewing information of monsters up to 10 levels lower than oneself, no cost, no cooldown.

[Swift]: Increases movement speed and attack speed by 50% for 30 seconds. Mana cost: 50, Cooldown: 2 minutes.

[Sneak]: Enters stealth mode, reducing movement speed by 30% for 5 minutes. Costs 1 mana point per second. Cooldown: 1 minute. Being attacked, attacking, or being touched will break stealth status. It can also be deactivated manually. Note: Bosses higher than oneself by more than 10 levels or regular monsters higher than oneself by more than 30 levels can detect stealth. Additionally, the archer's Hawkeye can also detect it.

[Backstab]: Launches an attack from behind the target, dealing 150% physical damage and ignoring 50% of the target's defense. Mana cost: 30 points, Cooldown: 30 seconds.

[Immortal Body] Special Passive Skill (Unique): Increases maximum health permanently by 1 point for every monster of equal or higher level killed.

[Void]: Removes control effects and clears all negative effects on oneself, entering a void state where one cannot be targeted for 1 second. Mana cost: 100, Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Looking at these skills, Wu Shaochen couldn't wait to start grinding monsters immediately, but he restrained himself and decided to explore the main city first, see if there were any quests available.

Wu Shaochen walked out of the Job Change Hall and onto the street. He noticed that the buildings on both sides of the main street were mostly shops for daily necessities, such as weapon shops, clothing stores, jewelry stores, pharmacies, and grocery stores.

Wu Shaochen went to the weapon shop and checked the available items for purchase. His face instantly darkened. What the hell, they're stealing business! They are actually selling level 11-100 white-grade equipment here. Does that mean his white-grade equipment won't sell at all in the future?

Fortunately, he had already dealt with the white-grade equipment in the newbie village and made the money he needed. He shrugged it off, thinking that it didn't matter. Besides, white-grade equipment after level 10 also had level requirements, so players probably wouldn't be interested in them anymore.

Apart from buying and selling weapons, the weapon shop also offered the opportunity to learn the life skill of weapon crafting. Once you learned weapon crafting, you could make your own weapons. Each player could learn up to three life skills, but Wu Shaochen had no intention of learning life skills. They took too much time, especially in the early stages. It was costly and time-consuming, and the equipment they crafted was still inferior. It would be better to spend that time killing a few bosses instead.

He figured the clothing stores and jewelry stores were probably similar. When he arrived at the grocery store, he bought two teleport scrolls for 10 silver coins each. It was quite expensive. Suddenly, he noticed a map scroll priced at 1 gold coin.

"What's so expensive about this?" Wu Shaochen looked at it:

[Map Scroll]: Activates the map function when used. This scroll records the distribution of monsters within a 10-kilometer radius of Jinling City.

"I knew it! How could this game not have a map? Fortunately, the newbie village isn't that big, otherwise, I would get lost. So you have to spend money to buy the [Map Scroll] to activate it, 1 gold coin, that's really expensive."

Although he said that, Wu Shaochen didn't hesitate to spend the money. After all, he was now carrying over 90 gold coins, and every player needed this item.

After purchasing and using the scroll, the map function in the interface lit up. When he opened it, he could see the map and monster information within a 10-kilometer radius, while the areas outside were still black and needed to be explored. The map would automatically light up and record the areas the player had passed through.

"Not bad, worth the price," Wu Shaochen murmured to himself. He continued to explore Jinling City. The city was large, with not only functional NPC areas but also residential areas where various NPCs lived. Some of them might have special quests, but there were many residents and few quests. It was a matter of chance. Special quests usually had good rewards.

Next was the player trading area, where players could set up stalls and freely trade without any transaction fees. It was much better than the auction house. There were also shops available for sale, where players could put their equipment for sale without being present. It was much more convenient than setting up stalls. However, the shops had to be purchased with gold coins, and they were quite expensive. To be honest, Wu Shaochen really wanted to buy a shop so he could sell the equipment he obtained there and save on transaction fees. But after asking around, he found out that they cost over 10,000 gold coins as a starting price, so he gave up on the idea and stuck with the auction house.

After that, there were the arena, tavern, and city lord's mansion, which made Wu Shaochen's head spin.

As he walked, he arrived in front of a huge building of equivalent size to the Job Change Hall. On top of the building were three large characters: "Temple of the War God."

Curiosity piqued, Wu Shaochen walked in. Inside the massive temple, lifelike statues stood on both sides of a central passage, leading to a swirling portal at the end.

Wu Shaochen approached one of the statues of a middle-aged man and saw the inscription on it:

In the year 356 of the Holy Light Calendar, Greb, the War God, single-handedly killed dozens of Starlight-level demons and intercepted an Immortal-level demon for a full 2 hours before ultimately perishing! Sealed as the War God, entered the Temple of the War God!

Looking at the description, Wu Shaochen was reminded of the scene when he first entered the Oracle, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of reverence!

Then he walked to another statue, depicting a noble-looking woman with silver hair, and read the inscription:

In the year 487 of the Holy Light Calendar, Silvana, the Ice Frost Mage, sacrificed herself to cast a forbidden curse, freezing three thousand miles and sealing the Demon Lord of Sin along with a million demons under him, making a tremendous contribution to the survival of humanity. Sealed as the Mage God, entered the Temple of the War God.