Chapter 334: Building the [Holy Lord] Class, Brain
2025-05-07 Author: Amnesty L
Looking at the experience gained on his stat panel, Tang Zheng couldn't hide his surprise.
Crack!
Crack!
As the ritual ended, the various magical materials used to set it up emitted a dense series of sounds, like shattering glass, before crumbling into piles of powder.
"By repeating this process, I can gain 1.5 million experience points a day… Hiss…"
Tang Zheng's heart couldn't help but skip a few beats. The loss of a few magical materials was completely insignificant.
For him, currently short on experience, this was a godsend.
Tang Zheng's "Goblin Rearing Plan" in the Great Forest of Tob, and his current indirect control over the Abelion Hills, were both preparations for this farming plan.
But "rearing" takes time. With less than three years remaining, relying solely on farming Goblins was completely insufficient to gain enough experience to reach level 100!
It would inevitably require wiping out a large number of demi-humans to make up for the experience deficit.
To deal with the future crisis.
Tang Zheng certainly didn't mind slaughtering these demi-human races that posed a threat to humans, but he was also aware of the consequences that such a large-scale slaughter would entail.
It was highly likely to attract attention from multiple factions!
The situation in this world was far too complex.
Not to mention the publicly known True Dragon Lord, or the Dragon Emperor and Benevolent Mother, about whom information was scarce.
Players descended every 100 years, but that didn't necessarily mean only one wave of Players arrived each time. What Tang Zheng found most baffling was that all these descended Players seemed to die or disappear within the 100-year period of their arrival.
Due to their limited lifespans, the human race indeed couldn't survive for too long, but that didn't mean all the Players who descended were human!
According to reliable information, the Dark God, one of the Six Great Gods—an undead with a class build like the Bone King's, who had no lifespan limit—had died at the hands of the Eight Greed Kings.
This matter was strange in itself.
Tang Zheng returned to his senses, knowing that the most important thing right now was to increase his strength. It was pointless to overthink anything else.
Seeing the ritual had been a complete success, Tang Zheng, after his excitement subsided, immediately initiated the "Spiral of Death Ritual" again, using up his remaining two magical opportunities in succession.
He gained another million experience, bringing his total to over two million.
Level up!
Tang Zheng stared at his stat panel. With a thought, a massive amount of experience began to be consumed. Waves of life aura, each stronger than the last, radiated out from him.
An invisible aura faintly formed with Tang Zheng at its center, briefly distorting the air around him!
In an instant.
He gained three levels in a row!
——
Comprehensive Level: 48Lv
[Experience Slot: 478160/610000]
Skill Points: 64→73
Class: Holy Knight: 7Lv, Dark Knight 1Lv…
——
"[Holy Knight] is just three levels away. I can get it to max level within the next two days," Tang Zheng thought with certainty.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
He accumulated 1.5 million experience on the first day and only collected 500,000 on the second, since that was all he needed.
"Level up," Tang Zheng murmured.
[Experience Slot: 2478160/610000]
↓
[Experience Slot: 478160/730000]
After leveling up past level 50, the experience required per level increased from 50,000 to 70,000.
His comprehensive level reached 51, and the Mid-Tier Job Class [Holy Knight] also reached level 10!
Ohm—
The stat panel vibrated.
『Class Build Requirements Met』
Tang Zheng's eyes lit up, though he wasn't surprised. As expected, this kind of standard class build could be completely deduced through class information.
『The [Genius] Job Class has been converted to [Paladin].』
『Class Build Achieved—Low-Tier Job Class [Paladin 10Lv], Mid-Tier Job Class [Holy Knight 10Lv]』
『Triggering High-Tier Job Class: Holy Lord』
『Accept this job class?』
"Holy Lord?"
Seeing the resulting High-Tier Job Class, Tang Zheng's expression suddenly darkened a little.
"I hope it's not the class I'm thinking of."
"Accept the class!"
......
Class: Holy Lord
Level: High-Tier Job Class
Ability Effects:
Passive·
Faith's Protection: When HP drops to half, immediately restore 20% of HP and remove all personal debuffs (1/day).
Sacred Judgment: Deal an additional 10% damage to all enemies that are undead or have a negative Positive Karma Value.
Aura of Light: Holy-attribute offensive skills and magic receive a certain enhancement bonus. Gain 20% Dark Attribute Resistance.
Active Skill:
Luminous Sword: Summons a holy sword of light to crash down on the target area, dealing physical and holy attribute damage to enemies within the range and inflicting the "Blindness" debuff.
Description: When a knight can no longer eradicate evil and is trapped in self-blame and crisis, in the name of the "Lord," I shall judge all sins with absolute light.
(Note: For every level increased, the four attributes (MP, HP, Physical Defense, Magic Defense) increase by 15 points.)
......
"It really is this class." Tang Zheng's face grew even darker.
He had been a little uncertain before, but after seeing the class name and the "Luminous Sword" skill, he was completely sure.
This was the class possessed by Selabrei, the leader of the Dragon Kingdom's sole Adamantite-rank Adventurer Team, 「Crystal Tear」.
"I didn't expect [Holy Lord] to be a High-Tier Job Class. After all, people in the Otherworld who possess a High-Tier Job Class are exceedingly rare."
That was ten levels of experience!
Tang Zheng could have directly acquired this class from Selabrei himself.
"Whatever. It's just a waste of three or four million experience points, which is only two or three days' worth anyway," Tang Zheng said to himself magnanimously. Only then did he carefully examine the class information.
If this were in the past, a loss of three or four million experience points would have been enough to make him ache for a long time!
"A High-Tier Job Class built from a Low-Tier and a Mid-Tier class is indeed stronger than the [Magic Swordsman] class, which is built from two basic job classes."
"But compared to [Cursed Knight], it's certainly a bit weaker."
This wasn't Tang Zheng's first time obtaining a High-Tier Job Class, so he could instantly analyze the class's level and quickly discover its core.
"As expected of a tank class."
Tang Zheng noticed the information on the passive, Faith's Protection, and immediately connected it to the passive of the Mid-Tier Job Class [Holy Knight], Power of Faith.
The effects of the two were similar. Both triggered when HP fell below half; one instantly restored 10% of HP, while the other restored 20%.
With the two passives from [Holy Knight] and [Holy Lord] combined, it was equivalent to instantly restoring 30% of HP when it dropped to half.
Furthermore, when the passive abilities were activated, Power of Faith could increase healing effects by 100%, and Faith's Protection could clear debuffs.
Combined with the basic job [Paladin], the two classes clearly had the bonuses of a standard class build.
"A pity."
Tang Zheng shook his head.
He was indeed tempted by the combined passive ability to "instantly restore 30% HP," but he wouldn't keep the Mid-Tier Job Class just for this one passive.
While [Genius] brought him convenience, it inevitably meant sacrificing the class bonuses that came from a conventional build.
There are gains and losses.
Tang Zheng was very open-minded about this point. His class-building path had been relatively clear from the very beginning.
"Next, I need to induce a level drop to remove [Holy Knight]. I still have two casts of 「Armageddon (Good)」 for today."
A glint flashed in Tang Zheng's eyes. "What would happen if I don't use the 「Experience Conversion Technique」?"
Thinking of this, he began.
"10th Tier Magic—Huh?"
Tang Zheng prepared to cast the magic, but after a brief surge, the magic power in his body returned to calm.
"It failed."
"I can't cast it because I don't have enough experience. So, normal spellcasting doesn't cause a level drop."
"If I cast using experience, a tenth-tier spell would cost an additional 1.5 million experience, for a total of 2 million."
Thinking of this, Tang Zheng made a simple calculation. Consuming so much experience at once would inevitably cause him to lose several levels.
It was indeed a good way to induce a level drop.
"「XP Casting」·Tenth Tier Magic…"
"Hm!"
Tang Zheng's pupils constricted as he realized with some astonishment that the spellcasting had failed. "How could this be?"
His expression turned grave.
This was the first time such a situation had occurred. Fortunately, it wasn't during combat; otherwise, this unknown situation alone would have been enough to put him in a perilous position.
There was no problem with his class skills, so was the problem with the tier magic itself?
—「Experience Conversion Technique」: You can use regular tier magic without magic power by consuming (Tier Level x 50,000 experience points).
"I see. I really didn't notice the 'regular tier magic' condition before."
"「Grand Ritual · Armageddon (Good)」 probably doesn't count as regular tier magic, which is why it failed to cast via XP Casting."
Tang Zheng was lost in thought. He really hadn't paid attention to these details before. This served as a warning.
Fortunately, using the cruder method, he could just cast ordinary tier magic. After consuming the remaining 400,000 experience points, casting any first-tier spell would immediately cause a level drop.
Rumble!
Rumble!
The scorching red lava in the Magma Sea churned like a stormy ocean, vibrating violently as magic spells bombarded it.
In just a moment, Tang Zheng had completed the level drop and used 「Mad Meditation」 to cast a spell, gaining 1 million experience.
————
Comprehensive Level: 42Lv
[Experience Slot: 1000001/360000]
Skill Points: 73→82
Class:
Mid-Tier Job Class: Dark Knight 1Lv
High-Tier Job Class: Holy Lord 1Lv…
————
Having completed a new round of class resetting, Tang Zheng didn't raise his level immediately. Instead, he planned to wait until he had saved up enough experience to raise [Dark Knight] to max level all at once and obtain his second High-Tier Job Class.
"I last left Despair Valley in October of last year. Almost half a year has passed now. It's time to go back and check on the human tribe's situation."
Tang Zheng gazed at the surging, flowing Magma Sea, its fiery red light reflected in his pupils.
"Despair Valley" was a good entry point to the other regions of this continent.
However, that region was different from the northwestern corner of the continent where the humans lived. Tang Zheng's knowledge of it was pitifully scarce, so he acted with extreme caution.
"Neither the Holy Kingdom nor the Slane Theocracy will be coming to the hills for the time being," Tang Zheng analyzed.
The more important the 「Blend Potion」 was to both sides, the less likely the higher-ups of the two nations would be to contact him casually. Because if they did, they would be at a disadvantage in the subsequent negotiations.
After receiving the potion, they would probably focus all their efforts on figuring out how to concoct it. Only after confirming that it was completely impossible for them to produce would they come looking for him again.
"That's fine. There's something else that needs to be done before then."
Tang Zheng's body flickered.
"—High-Tier Teleportation!"
......
Re-Estize Kingdom.
The Northwest.
A small town called Pashui Town.
A caravan consisting of ten carriages was hauling carts full of goods, making its way out of the town along the uneven, bumpy street.
The cargo on the carts was miscellaneous. Most of it was ore, along with some grain and supplies. This was because there were mineral deposits near Pashui Town.
Therefore, several caravans gathered here, specializing in transporting the ores from this place to various other locations.
However, this caravan was clearly different, as its escort team actually consisted of two Adventurer Teams.
It wasn't hard to guess the reason for this situation. The caravan must be carrying something of great value.
Rumble—
Rumble—
The horses pulling the carts were panting heavily, dragging the creaking wheels that pressed into the road steadily forward.
As the caravan passed a street near the city gate, a figure wrapped in a gray cloak, cradling a longsword, was curled up in a corner, completely inconspicuous.
Only after the carts had rumbled past on the street and gradually left the town did the gray-robed figure slowly open his eyes, revealing a pair of sharp yet indolent eyes.
"It should be them."
The gray-robed figure lifted his head, yawned, and glanced out of the corner of his eye in the direction the caravan was disappearing, muttering to himself.
Beneath the hood, a slightly world-weary face with strands of blue hair was revealed. This person was none other than Brain, who had been wandering from place to place.
Pushing off with his feet, Brain stood up with ease, rolling his shoulders as he unhurriedly followed them out.
As the town gradually disappeared behind the caravan, the two Adventurer Teams escorting the caravan suddenly exchanged glances and raised their hands in a guarded gesture.
In an instant, the entire caravan came to a halt!
The ordinary members of the caravan looked around in a panic, clearly not expecting to be attacked so soon after leaving town.
"Come on out."
"I've felt someone watching us since we left town. Sorry, but your tracking skills are really terrible."
The captain of one of the Adventurer Teams sneered, turning to look behind him. "Will you come out on your own, or shall we persuade you?"
As he spoke, several adventurers had already drawn their weapons, their eyes fixed on a figure that was gradually appearing.
"Oh my, I've been found."
Brain still had that casual, lazy look, one hand in his pocket while the other scratched at the blue hair under his hood.
"Hmph!"
"Stop pretending. You didn't even try to hide," the adventurer leader sneered. After seeing Brain appear, his eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area.
He speculated that this guy was just a decoy and the real enemies were likely hidden elsewhere.
"No need to look."
"It's just me."
Brain tilted his head up slightly and waved his hand impatiently. "I've been a bit short on cash lately, so I was thinking of borrowing some money."
"Could I trouble you all not to get in my way?"
The air turned cold!
"Captain, there's really no one else around, just this guy."
The team's rogue and magic caster had already confirmed the situation in the vicinity and reported back.
Although they couldn't see a great distance, there were at least no enemies in the immediate area.
"Captain?"
There was no response to the report. Several team members looked at their leader in confusion.
They saw their usually composed leader staring intently at the figure opposite them, cold sweat beading on his forehead, as if he had seen some terrifying enemy.
(end of chapter)