Chapter 20 Immense Danger, Martial War realms

<< You have entered Solovons Dark Castle >>

Ethan appeared inside the castle and looked at the interior. Quite frankly, it could only be considered as plain, super plain, maybe a little dreary.

However, there was this small feeling of Ill omen around this place that would give anyone the creeps. Not to mention, the whole place was as dark as night. Without an ability that could provide light, it would be most troublesome to enter into these kind of dungeons.

However, Ru Chan didn't need to worry about that. His perception was high thereby, all his senses had been enhanced to an inhuman degree.

His eyes were sharp and his ears were clear. His skin was in a state of extreme sensitivity that he would be able to sense the minute changes in the airflow, temperature or pressure.

This was the capabilities of a true expert. However, due to his past life's limitations, he could only stop at a certain level, preventing him from advancing in his martial realm.

That however, wouldn't take away his terrifying battle experience. Not to mention, he spent more than half of his life living blind, so the there was no phobia of darkness or uneasiness in his current situation.

In fact, the dark silence felt kinda peaceful, as if he was in the presence of an old friend that he had been accustomed to for years. This was the exact reason why his chosen class was an ace assassin in his previous life.

His compatibility with the darkness was rather profound, and despite the fact that he would have preferred an Supreme class that would cater to his love for magic, his advance class was not too bad either and allowed him to compete with most players who had Elite classes.

So therefore, the next part of the main quest that was supposed to soften the players up by restricting their sense of sight and forcing them to enhance their other senses practically had no effect on him.

His whole body had subconsciously melded into the darkness and any random player wouldn't be able to notice him if they came across him.

Unless of course, their perception was high enough to allow them reach the Sixth sense realm.

<< You are the first person to complete the first phase of the Ancient level Quest by being the first to enter the castle >>

<< Rewards: +10 Stat points, +3 Health potions, +2 bottles of Holy water, + 1 Strength Potion recipe, +1 Bronze grade Luna Short sword >>

"Holy shit! What good stuff! I can't believed I actually received holy water. Looks like the Gods are watching over us".

Ethan laughed inwardly as he felt like he was on cloud 9. He had only rushed to enter the castle because he didn't really want his face to be seen by the other awakened outside.

As for the rewards for killing the skeleton, such as the large sword or a skill book. He wasn't interested in the slightest.

After all, the skills that would be obtained would be mediocre at best. It wasn't worth wasting a slot in his system for a trash skill. As for the thought of selling the skill, it wasn't worth it at all.

Who would have known that being the first to enter the castle could bring such good rewards?

"Actually, getting into the castle was the first phase of the quest. It was also written that there would be some rewards for completing it as well!"

Ethan came to a realisation. He remembered that before those undead hounds had risen and started chasing him, there was an announcement clearly stating this fact.

However, it had escaped his mind.

"Tsk..... What Heavenly luck do I have? I even got a bronze level weapon and a... Wait! Is that a strength potion?"

Ethan's eyes grew wide as he tried to calm the surging excitement in his heart. Forcing himself to calm down, the smile on his face grew resplendent instead of fading away.

"With this, then I can make enough money to cover up the 20 grand in a matter of hours, in fact, I can make much more than that".

Ethan thought as his eyes blazed with fiery passion.

In the early stages of the game, what was the hardest thing to do? What separated the random players from the geniuses? What caused two players in the same level to be completely different in terms of power?

The answer was simple, Attributes.

A players stats were a huge deciding factor during the initial stages of the game. If you had more than 7 points in every stat, then congratulations, you were known as a genius.

With high stats, you could fight monsters of higher levels and be able to level up easier than most players.

With high stats, you would be able to compete with other players for loot drops and monster carcasses.

With high stats, you would basically be a big shot in the early stages of the game.

Basically, it was the same as the so called rule of the cultivation world. Strongest reigns supreme.

However, unless you were a genius with high potential aptitude or you were already an awakened in real life, gaining attributes was as hard as a sickly youth lifting 50 Kilograms from the floor.

Because of the constant deaths and resurrections, even players with decent potential had their talent reduced and therefore, gaining stat points were much harder for them than for talented players.

This was why there were millions of players who couldn't even get past the 1st seal at level 25. This was because the requirements for advancement was very strict.

The players had to have reached a certain threshold for base stats such as strength, speed and stamina before even thinking of taking the advancement trials. If not, the gaming system would reject them without thinking.

This was why, despite the fact that so many years had passed and Ethan was only a 2nd Seal expert, he was still highly valued by Sky reapers. In the game, even after 15 years, the registered powerhouses who had reached the 2nd seal from millions of players, only numbered a little more than 15000 while 3rd Seal powerhouses were merely 1000.

Ethan was very close to reaching the 3rd seal, so he was unsurprisingly more valued than other 2nd seal experts in the eyes of the upper management of the guild.

His stats were also slightly above the average players for his level.

This could clearly explain how important stats were. So, one could imagine the value of stat potions that could directly raise the stats of normal players by a certain percentage when consumed.

Recipes like these were extremely rare to come by in the game. Any guild that got their hands on such a recipe would definitely rise above all others.

That would have an overwhelming advantage as they would be able to load their experts with such stat potions that would grant a permanent stat a few points.

Not to mention, they would also be able to control the market.

At the thought of this, Ethan almost cursed aloud. Those damnable criminal Storm Guild had actually found such a rare potion in his last life.

During that time, the Storm guild had basically monopolized the appearance of the Strength as well as stamina potions. Not only did they find the Strength potions, but Bloodstorm was lucky enough to find another one of such recipes during a dungeon raid.

In his past life, this event had been kept a secret as only the first player that made it into the dark castle would receive the rewards. However, it was now in his hands in this life... Hehe.

However, Storm guild was unable to put this potion to use during the early stages of the game because, they didn't have anyone with the proper talent to create such potions.

Basically, they needed someone with the talent to become an alchemist. It wasn't until later in the game that this problem was solved, however, a lot of time had passed and it had already been three months.

If this was Ethan from his past life, this recipe would also be useless to him as he didn't have the corresponding talent to become an alchemist. However, this world was no longer dealing with the old Ethan Wilde, but a reincarnated powerhouse.

The solution to this problem had already popped up in his head and could be solved in the matter of a day or two.

At this moment, Ethan felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. With this, he didn't need to worry about making money and could completely focus on clearing this quest.

Ethan didn't dally any longer as he advanced forward into the darkness that covered the interior of the castle. The darkness would make it extremely hard for regular players to see their way through.

As for the other players, they would soon come out of their stupor and follow after him. He didn't want to be discovered by those experts yet as he had other plans for the meantime.

After he awakened, he could forget about being lowkey.

However, as a former assassin with an advanced class, he was completely comfortable as he maneuvered his way through the hallways with ease.

He moved with nimble footsteps and even had both his eyes closed. Such was the ease of an assassin who was accustomed to the darkness.

Soon, Ethan arrived at a staircase. The whole place was still dark and he could barely make out the outline of the place whenever he opened his eyes.

Looking at the ascending staircase that led to the castles peak, Ethan had already braced himself for a tough fight ahead of him.

If he remembered correctly in his previous life, dungeons like these usually had floors that the players would need to clear as they ascended. If he wanted to advance from floor to floor, he would have to clear the monsters on each one.

Not to mention clearing every single monster, he would have to do it fast as he wanted to make sure that Bloodstorm and the others wouldn't be able to catch up with him in fast enough.

As he maneuvered through the hallways earlier, he had avoided countless traps and pitfalls set by someone to slow people down in this place.

It came as a slight surprise to think that a ruler of the undead actually laid traps along the way. However, from the difficulty of those traps, he was sure it would take the others some time to catch up.

At the same time, he took out the short sword that had been awarded to him as a reward.

<< Luna Short sword/ Grade: Bronze >>

<< Effects: Strength +3, Damage power +1, Movement speed +1 >>

<< Special attribute: Attack speed +4 >>

<< Equipment Level: Level 7 >>

<< Durability: 100/100 >>

"Good sword!" Ethan's eyes lit up as he nodded at the info placed before him. This sword was only bronze grade, however, it was a level 7 weapon and would be useful for all monsters at level 7 and below.

As for the durability rating, that would be shown for weapons at bronze grade and above.

He thought to himself as he advanced with his eyes closed. Despite the fact that he was closing his eyes, he could still see the system notification in front of him.

It clearly showed that even if he closed his eyes, as long as he wanted to, he would be able to see the system.

"Open System Character screen".

Name >> Neo

Level >> 3

Bloodline >> Human/ ?????

Class >> None

Health >> 225

<< Strength: 17 +3/ Agility: 29(+29)/ movement speed 28 (+28) +1/ Stamina: 16/ Defences: 10/ Mana: - / Perception: 30 / Endurance: 10 >>

( Angels Source: Assimilation... 17% )

Spiritual Power >> 50

Damage power >> 35 (+1)

Stat points: +13

......

<< Passive skills: Infinite Mana Regeneration, Super sonic speed/ Reflexes, Blue inferno >>

<< Items: Silver grade Inter spatial ring, Common grade poison dagger, bronze grade Luna Short sword, +1 Strength potion recipe, +2 Bottles of holy water, +3 Health potions >>

These were Ethan's current stats, and speaking of which, he was quite pleased with himself because of it.

His free attribute points had increased by a whole 12. If he added these points to speed, then he would basically have speed stats that surpassed level 10 and would be almost invincible in the game.

However, Ethan decided against using his stat points so soon. He was already, one of the strongest players in the game and few could be a match for him. However, these didn't apply to the in game monsters that could flatten him if he wasn't careful.

So, saving the stat points was the best route to take as no one would ever know when he would need them for emergencies. Plus, as long as he wasn't instantly killed, he would be able to recover with the health potions he had on hand.

At this moment, Ethan's sixth sense suddenly acted up as his expression turned grim. With his enhanced perception, raised his head up as he saw a trace of white shoot towards him from the upper staircases.

Without needing to think twice, his fast reflexes kicked in as he hurriedly dodged to the side.

As soon as he moved, Ethan felt a gust of wind blow past his original position and a large crack appeared where he previously stood.

"WTF?" He quickly rolled on the floor and leaped a couple meters away as both the common poison dagger and the bronze Luna short sword appeared in his hands.

If not for the fact that his perception stat had reached 30 points thereby granting him the faint ability to detect danger, his whole body would have probably turned to a mishmash of flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

Seriously, this dungeon was too horrifying! However, his pupils constricted as the white streak suddenly reappeared and dashed towards him from its spot.

He had barely gained regained his footing, however, the white streak was already upon him.

"So fast!"

Its speed was so fast that Ethan barely had time to react as his scalp turned numb. However, if this was all it took to kill him, then his second life as a reincarnate would have been lived in vain.

Despite not being a high ranked awakened or a top tier player in his previous life, he was a high time martial arts fanatic who indulged himself in the martial path. And if there was anything that he praised himself on being able to accomplish in his previous life, it was the fact that he was able to comprehend the Martial War realms

A cold gleam flashed through his eyes as his senses twitched. Pushing his sensory capabilities to the max as his closed eyes instinctively directed his weapons to block a certain spot of his body.

Clang! The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard clearly as Ethan successfully blocked the attack. However, the consequences of such an action was not something that Ethan with his current strength stats could bear.

His whole body was sent flying as he crashed into a nearby wall.

"Ugh!" He couldn't hold himself back as he spat out a mouthful of blood as he landed on the floor. A frightening damage of -159 points appeared in the air.

Ethan however, didn't dwell on the pain for even a second longer as he hurriedly flipped upward and got into a defensive stance.

<< Congratulations Host for reaching the Entry level to comprehend the Martial War realms >>

<< You have broken through to the Half step Apprentice War realm >>

Ethan's pupils nearly constricted as a shocked expression appeared on his face, however, what followed next reminded him of his current situation.

<< Warning host! Extreme danger level detected. You have encountered a Level 10 Demon ghost Elite with a Martial War realm comprehension >>

<< Plundering system Side Quest: Survive >>