Chapter 25

Wu Shaochen looked at each statue, each representing the fall of a War God. He walked all the way to the swirling portal at the end, where a system prompt appeared:

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**"Ding, would you like to challenge the War God Mystic Realm? Each player can challenge once per day."**

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"What's the point of challenging the War God Mystic Realm?" Wu Shaochen asked.

Immediately, information about the War God Mystic Realm displayed before him:

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**"In the War God Mystic Realm, a shadow of a War God corresponding to your current rank will randomly appear. Defeating the shadow counts as a successful challenge. Upon success, your rank will be upgraded. Upgrading your rank enhances your innate potential, grants a large number of attribute points, and awards a corresponding War God Medal. If you perform exceptionally well and are recognized by the War God spirit, you might randomly learn one of the War God's skills!"**

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"Oh, so this is where I can upgrade my rank," Wu Shaochen realized. He had previously thought his talent feature, which allowed poison stacking on bosses not lower than his rank, referred to level, but it actually referred to rank.

"What does enhancing innate potential mean? Can talents be upgraded?" Wu Shaochen wondered. He decided to find out by experiencing it firsthand.

"I've already defeated Black Iron and Bronze bosses, so I can't trigger my talent feature anymore. Let's see what happens when I upgrade two ranks. There might be a reward for the first successful challenger."

With this in mind, Wu Shaochen selected "Yes."

The portal opened, and Wu Shaochen stepped inside, finding himself in an enclosed space with nothing around.

Suddenly, a shadow materialized in front of him, resembling a middle-aged man but too indistinct to see clearly. Wu Shaochen used his Insight skill:

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**[War God Shadow] Black Iron Rank**

Level: 11

Health: 80,000

Physical Attack: 400

Physical Defense: 150

Magical Defense: 80

Speed: 60

Skill 1: Green Light Slash - Slashes forward with a blade of light, dealing 150% damage to targets in its path. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Skill 2: Block - Blocks the next attack. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

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"Is that all?" Wu Shaochen shook his head dismissively at the War God Shadow's stats. He had expected more, but its attributes were only slightly stronger than the Wild Boar King, with fewer skills.

Then he realized it made sense; the War God Mystic Realm was a solo challenge. If it had the same skills as the Wild Boar King, most players wouldn't stand a chance. Even with these stats, soloing it at this stage was nearly impossible without certain levels and equipment.

However, the current attributes of the War God Shadow seemed unimpressive to Wu Shaochen. To save time, he activated his Rapid Speed skill, enduring two attacks from the shadow to apply three stacks of poison. Then he leisurely walked away, his speed over 100 making the shadow's 45 speed seem snail-like in comparison.

With 66 points in defense and 1,750 HP, Wu Shaochen took two attacks from the shadow without losing even half his health. His regeneration rate was 17 HP per second when out of combat, easily restoring him to full health. The shadow's skills weren't a concern either; one medium health potion was enough to handle any damage. The blocking skill that the shadow used every five seconds might be a nuisance to others, but it had no effect on him.

The three stacks of poison dealt 69 damage per second, making it a matter of about twenty minutes to defeat the shadow. Unsurprisingly, twenty minutes later, the shadow fell, and the challenge was successful. Wu Shaochen briefly wondered if any War God spirit had recognized him, but he was soon teleported out, indicating he had not gained any special recognition. He speculated that his low rank or his cautious fighting style might have played a role.

Upon returning to the War God Hall, a system prompt followed:

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**"Ding, congratulations on successfully completing the challenge. Your rank has been upgraded to Black Iron. You have gained +10 to all attributes, 10 free attribute points, and the [War God Medal] Black Iron. As the first player to reach the Black Iron rank, you have been awarded an additional 10 free attribute points."**

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"Hmm, no global announcement? Even better," Wu Shaochen thought, relieved. He didn't want to become a public target again.

"The attribute boost from ranking up is impressive. +10 to all attributes is equivalent to 60 points, plus 10 free attribute points, totaling 70 points. And this is just the lowest rank; higher ranks must offer even more significant boosts."

He realized that besides equipment, rank would be a crucial factor in distinguishing player strength.

He examined the [War God Medal], appreciating its straightforward yet powerful attribute boost: **All attributes increased by 10%**. "I like it."

Glancing at his unallocated free attribute points, he noted he now had 50 points to distribute.

Wu Shaochen considered his attribute allocation, especially after obtaining the Immortal Body skill. He no longer needed to focus on physique and strength, instead concentrating on agility, constitution, and spirit—three attributes that were beneficial to him. After a brief consideration between agility and constitution, he decided to allocate his attribute points, ultimately adding 20 points to agility and 30 points to constitution. With agility already quite high, he could afford to delay further increases, but boosting constitution would enhance his magic defense, crucial for future encounters with magic-using monsters and mages.

With the advancement of his realm and the wearing of the Medal of War, Wu Shaochen's strength soared once more. His current attributes were as follows:

- **Name:** Dust Seal

- **Realm:** Black Iron Level

- **Level:** 11

- **Health:** 1910

- **Mana:** 280

- **Physical Attack:** 157

- **Magic Attack:** 32

- **Physical Defense:** 111

- **Magic Defense:** 70

- **Movement Speed:** 142

- **Attack Speed:** 30%

- **Critical Strike Rate:** 10%

- **Experience:** 2060/30000

- **Strength:** 37 + 10% = 40 (less than 1 point not counted)

- **Intelligence:** 15 + 10% = 16

- **Constitution:** 62 + 10% = 68

- **Vitality:** 55 + 10% = 60

- **Spirit:** 15 + 10% = 16

- **Agility:** 108 + 10% = 118

Wu Shaochen believed this distribution of attributes would better prepare him for upcoming challenges, particularly in maintaining efficiency and agility during combat.

It doesn't look like the attributes of an 11th level character at all. Wu Shaochen has already explored almost the entire Jinling City, but hasn't encountered any NPCs triggering missions. However, he doesn't really care since he never had much hope. This game is primarily about monster hunting, with very few missions in the main city aside from the newbie village.

It's time to go out and fight monsters. It's been a while since he upgraded his talent. He opened the map, carefully looked at it, and finally locked onto a plain five kilometers outside the south gate. There lives a group of goblins, all at level 16, and there are monsters between levels 17-20 in that direction.

After confirming the location, Wu Shaochen headed towards that direction. With a speed of 142, it only took him a few minutes to reach the Goblin Plain. He looked at the small, ugly goblins and immediately used Insight.

\[Goblin\]

Level: 16

Health: 18000

Physical Attack: 320

Physical Defense: 130

Magic Defense: 60

Speed: 45

Skill: Heavy Strike: Waves the fangs in hand and hits the target fiercely, causing 155% physical damage.

To be honest, the increase in monster attributes in the Divine Prophecy game is really high. The attack and defense of these goblins exceed even those of the Wild Boar King, except they have fewer skills. It's frustrating that regular monsters have such attributes.

However, it's not a big deal for Wu Shaochen now. He activated Swift, increasing his movement speed to over 200 and attack speed to 80% (percentages are cumulative, not multiplied). He applied three layers of poison to them, took two hits himself, then ran away. He continued to poison three of them in a row, handling the group. With a defense as high as 111, a goblin's hit only took away 209 health points from Wu Shaochen. Even their skills only inflicted a bit over 300 damage. Dealing with three at once was already his limit, occasionally needing to consume potions.