Chapter 2: Preliminary Planning

Chapter 2: Initial Planning

"I remember that the later main storyline never provided the specific reason for Viscount Cain's death."

William Cain, who had just realized that he would soon face a death scenario after his rebirth, frowned as he summarized and recalled the information from his previous life. He tried to find a way for the new Viscount Cain to avoid this plotline death.

The game 'Gods Apocalypse' takes place in a world called Gaia Prime World. Surrounding Gaia Prime World in the astral realm are countless alternate planes, divine realms, and the abyss and hell, shrouded in darkness and blood.

Within Gaia Prime World, there are six continents: Fanor, Isen, Kortan, Tudos, Gerna, and Anora. Each continent corresponds to different regions' servers in the game, and the main storylines for each server vary in the early stages of the game. Fanor Continent is the main birthplace for players from Huaguo.

In his previous life, William primarily operated in the Fis Kingdom on the Fanor Continent during the early stages of 'Gods Apocalypse,' so he was quite familiar with the main storyline of the Fanor Continent in the 1.0 version.

The Fanor Continent is shaped like an irregular rectangle, covering billions of square kilometers. The central and eastern plains are home to several human kingdoms. In the south lies the vast, dense Navia Forest, where the Elven Kingdom is situated. The north is a snow-covered expanse, home to various magical creatures and alien races. The majestic Galanar Mountains stretch from the middle to the west of the continent, and beyond the mountains is the desolate, uninhabited desert.

The Fis Kingdom is located in the east of the continent. The Gedo River, originating from the Galanar Mountains, flows through the entire Fis Kingdom towards the Pearl Sea in the east, providing the kingdom with vast, fertile lands and convenient transportation, making it stronger than the surrounding countries.

Every year on October 10th, the Fis Kingdom celebrates the Annual Holy Festival. During this time, the kingdom is bustling and joyful, with people decorating cities to celebrate and enjoy the harvest they worked hard for, while praying to the gods for favorable weather in the coming year.

The grandest celebration takes place at the Victory Square in the capital, Canlight City. The Annual Holy Festival celebration at Victory Square, hosted by the royal family, sees the king and all nobles in Canlight City attending, making it the most important moment of the year in the capital.

Every year at the Annual Holy Festival, the King of Fis sits on the throne on the ceremonial platform. Numerous ministers and nobles ride around the throne to show respect and support for the king. The citizens of the capital, guarded by the royal guards, gather around the square, enjoying free wine and food while watching the Annual Holy Festival ceremony.

This year, as King Morton Fis was about to ignite the sacred torch symbolizing the next year's harvest, a gold tier assassin suddenly attacked and assassinated several nobles around the king. In front of the stunned crowd, several nobles had their throats slit and fell before the king and the onlookers.

Viscount Cain, the current William Cain, was the highest-ranking noble among the unfortunate ones who were assassinated. To minimize the negative impact of this heinous event on the kingdom, the assassination was labeled as the "Viscount Cain Assassination Case."

Almost all players were warlike and unstable. William remembered watching the cutscene of Viscount Cain being assassinated by the assassin, and most players were thrilled by the scene of the assassin elegantly escaping the Golden Lion Knights and court mages after killing several nobles in public. They were all excited, shouting with enthusiasm, eager to experience it themselves.

Later, game statistics showed that the number of players in the Fis Kingdom who chose the assassin profession was several percentage points higher than in surrounding kingdoms, showing the impact of this event on the players.

For the Fis Kingdom, this was a severe humiliation. Such an incident during the kingdom's most important festival, with several nobles killed, was a slap in the face for the entire royal family. This incident was one of the triggers for the Fis Kingdom to start a war and invade other countries in the 2.0 storyline.

Even though the Fis Kingdom eventually won the war and gained numerous benefits, the "Viscount Cain Assassination Case" had no follow-up and seemed to be forgotten by everyone in the kingdom. Even the players who specialized in storyline analysis couldn't find any clues when compiling the history of the Fanor Continent. They recorded the assassination merely as one of the causes of the war.

"Damn it, what did Viscount Cain do wrong to deserve this?"

William Cain bemoaned his fate, feeling sorry for the unlucky viscount who was now himself. Although he had enjoyed watching the cutscene in his previous life, it was a different story now that he was the victim.

In his previous life, some players speculated that the assassination was orchestrated by the Fis Kingdom itself to justify the subsequent war. After all, the kingdom had long coveted the eastern port of the Bertich Kingdom. But there was no evidence, and the logic didn't hold up. With so many major events happening later, this assassination gradually faded from memory.

"I still have too little information, and with more than three months until the assassination, I can't figure out who wants to kill me."

William muttered, pressing his temples. Ultimately, it came down to his lack of power! If he were a legendary mage, he wouldn't worry about being assassinated by a high-level assassin. One legendary spell like Meteor Shower would send the assassin to hell.

So, the immediate priority was to increase his strength. William called up the system panel again and carefully examined each piece of data.

Now, as a Level 30 Bronze Mage, William recalled that the level cap for players in the 1.0 version of Gods Apocalypse was indeed Level 30.

In the game, most professions, including mages, followed this structure: Level 0-50 were Bronze Mages, Level 51-100 were Silver Mages, Level 101-200 were Gold Mages, and Level 200+ entered the Legendary realm. Whether there were higher levels beyond that was unknown since the 200+ stages hadn't been unlocked in the previous version of the game.

His ordinary level and attributes, coupled with his title of Court Viscount, didn't directly enhance his combat power. William even suspected that his title as a Court Viscount was the main reason for his assassination.

So, what should he focus his efforts on? William looked at the talent section of his information panel.

[Talent: Jack of All Trades ]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Effect: Your talents break the limits, allowing you to learn and master other class specializations and skills. The more specializations and class skills (excluding primary class skills) you master, the faster you will grow (Current additional experience bonus: 0%).]

William frowned, his right index finger tapping rhythmically on the bed as he fell into deep thought.

After the initial excitement of discovering his legendary talent, William realized some limitations of this powerful talent. Although Jack of All Trades allowed him to master specializations and skills across different professions, it also introduced a new problem: skill levels.

In Gods Apocalypse, learning and mastering a skill was only the beginning. Skills needed to be leveled up to unleash their true power, increasing both damage and effectiveness. For example, a Level 1 Rogue's [Stealth] skill could be easily detected by any mid-level professional relying solely on their instincts.

Thus, prioritizing skill level upgrades was crucial, and upgrading skills required consuming character experience points. For some professions, upgrading core skills was even more important than leveling up the character itself.

If William learned a bunch of other professions' skills without having enough experience points to upgrade them, those skills would be practically useless in combat, serving only to boost his talent. Even with the extra experience points provided by Jack of All Trades, it wouldn't suffice for upgrading all skills.

However, [Jack of All Trades] didn't just allow William to master other profession skills; it also let him acquire various specializations.

Specializations could be understood as passive states that continually enhance oneself, typically boosting attributes, effects, resistances, and more. Compared to profession skills, specializations didn't require level upgrades, making them more powerful and harder to obtain.

For example, William's mage specialization [Magic Mind] doubled the intelligence attribute value, a core effect for all mage specializations.

Each profession had its unique specializations, and these largely determined the future development path. If William guessed correctly, he could acquire other professions' specializations as well.

Even without considering other effects, merely obtaining the corresponding attribute modifiers from another profession would be immensely powerful. If William acquired any warrior specialization, his strength attribute would also receive a 2x modifier.

What kind of operation was this? Not only could he hit harder, but he'd also be tougher!

William felt he had found the right way to utilize his talent. While selectively learning profession skills, he should focus more on acquiring various specializations.

Conveniently, who was William?

In his previous life, he was a top-tier player in Gods Apocalypse and now a reborn person! He knew all about obtaining powerful skills and specializations for various professions.

Wasn't this his area of expertise? So what was there to worry about? Just grind!